Baal, A Man's a Man, and The Elephant Calf

Download or read book Baal, A Man's a Man, and The Elephant Calf written by Bertolt Brecht and published by Grove Press. This book was released on 1964 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of a charming, ruthlessly amoral young poet, Baal (1918) is Brecht's first play and "a passionate acceptance of the world in all its sordid grandeur" (Martin Esslin). A Man's A Man (1926), Brecht's first excursion into "epic theater," traces the terrifying transformation of the sweet, good Galy Gay into a bloodthirsty "human fighting machine." Galy reappears in the brief, sardonic Elephant Calf, a sort of coda. Powerful stage works in their own right, these three early plays also provide crucial insights into Brecht's dramatic techniques and preoccupations before the decisive embrace of Marxism in 1928.