writing brecht is an international research and translation project devoted to extending and developing the corpus of Brecht’s works in English, led by Tom Kuhn. It incorporates a major AHRC-funded project, ‘Brecht into English’, which proposes a parallel critical appraisal of the transmission of Brecht’s writings and ideas and a historical assessment of the reception of Brecht in the English-speaking world.

For more information see the Writing Brecht project web site.

The aspiration is to advance our understanding of the ways in which, not just Brecht, but foreign literatures in general and across the full range of genres, negotiate cultural difference. There will be major research publications, and the project will attract the triennial conference of the International Brecht Society to Oxford in 2016. Significant additions to the corpus of Brecht’s writings in English will include: two volumes of theatre theoretical writings, a volume of the adaptations for the Berliner Ensemble, a volume of dramatic fragments, and a major new edition of the Poems. Other projects under consideration include translations of Brecht’s Caesar novel and of his collection of stories, aesthetic reflections and aphorisms, Me-Ti.

There will also be a cultural programme of workshops, performances and recitals. Kuhn is a leading scholar of Brecht in the English-speaking world. As general editor of the ‘Methuen Drama’ Brecht list since 1996 (some 40 titles, now published by Bloomsbury) he has enjoyed a privileged overview of Brecht translation and of the reception of those translations. Other members of the team include Steve Giles (Nottingham), Marc Silberman (Madison, Wisconsin), David Constantine (Oxford), and David Barnett (Sussex).