«Das ABC der Teutschen Misere!». Drei Misere-Figuren im ‘Hofmeister’ von Bertolt Brecht und die Klassenfrage

[«The ABC of German Misery!». Three Misery-Characters in Bertolt Brecht’s ‘The Tutor’ and the class question]

Abstract

In his adaptation of J. M. R. Lenz’s Der Hofmeister oder Vorteile der Privaterziehung [The Tutor or The Benefits of a Private Education], Bertolt Brecht foregrounds the theme of what Marx and Engels, among others, defined as ‘German misery’. This study asks how he succeeds in capturing such a complex phenomenon on stage. It argues that Brecht does so by personifying its facets through key characters: Läuffer, the eternal lackey; Pätus, the philistine; and Wenzeslaus, the teacher of the ‘Untertanen’ [the subordinates]. Their interactions reveal German misery as a pervasive social condition cutting across class boundaries.