This selection from Brecht’s notes and theoretical writing is meant to give English-language readers the main texts and set these in chronological order so as to show how his ideas evolved, gradually forming a quite personal aesthetic which applied to other spheres besides the theater. Too often the theory is treated as if it were a coherent whole which sprang from Brecht’s head ready-made. The endless working and re-working which it underwent, the nagging at a particular notion until it could be fitted in, the progress from an embryo to an often very differently formulated final concept, the amendments and after-thoughts; all this is something that tends to be overlooked. The translation tries to convey the flavour to Brecht’s style as it too evolved, from the aggressiveness of the first essays to the slightly forced formality of some of his late pronouncements.
–Introduction.