Final Project Quandry

Blog 12

This week has been filled with a quandary:  What to do for the final project on Bertolt Brecht that has not been done already.

I was hoping to get an inspiration from either Frau Wagner or some of my classmates, but that did not work.  It seems that a lot of the theater students want to do a skit or a scene from one of Brecht’s plays.  That is certainly not my style!  One of the German students is going to sing a song.  That is even less my style.  The alternative to doing a final project is to simply write the essay portion of the final exam.

Since last week, I have been more and more fascinated with the works of Grimmelshausen, a 17^th century author whose book Mutter Courage served as  inspiration for Brecht’s play Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder. (Of course, one should first read Simplicissimus before starting Mutter Courage.) 

Two events during the Thirty Years War are important to understanding Brecht’s play, that is, General Tilly’s sacking of Magdeburg and the death of Gustavus Adolphus at Lützen. 

The death of Gustavus Adolphus at Lützen as shown in this painting by Carl Wahlbom. 

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