The Life and Lies of Bertolt Brecht - Tapa blanda

In this first full biography of Bertolt Brecht, John Fuegi presents a devastating demystification of one of the giants of modern theatre. Drawing on previously unpublished correspondence and diaries made available to the author by Brecht’s widow and son, on interviews and intelligence files, Fuegi reveals a lifetime of personal and political deception.

Brecht, a misogynist, plagiarist and anti-Semite, possessed extraordinary charisma which dazzled women and men alike; his genius at masterminding creativity, his mesmerizing charm allured such luminaries as Kurt Weill, Auden, Isherwood, and Charles Laughton. But Fuegi brilliantly shows that Brecht’s written contribution to his own supposed 'oeuvre' was slim: as much as eighty percent of works such as 'The Threepenny Opera', which have given Brecht his stature as an icon, were written in a ‘sex-for-text’ scheme by other writers, particularly Elisabeth Hauptmann, but also Grete Steffin and Ruth Berlau – three of his lovers – none of whom have received appropriate recognition until the publication of John Fuegi’s utterly compelling book.

“In 'The Life and Lies of Bertolt Brecht', John Fuegi has produced one of the most important critical studies of the century.”
JOHN SIMON, critic for 'Wall Street Journal'

“A fascinating, vivid and compelling read.”
ELON SALMON, 'Yorkshire Post'

“This account breaks the mould. The charting of Brecht’s Moscow exile and his silence in the face of the purges which annihilated friends and lovers is more thorough than in any other work I have come across on the subject.”
ANNE MCELVOY, 'The Times'

“Brecht scholar John Fuegi shatters all our assumptions about the premier theatrical artist of the twentieth century.”
LEE WOCHNER, 'Los Angeles Times'