Abstract
"Sie werden lachen: Die Bibel," Brecht replied on 1 October 1928 when asked by the editors of the fashionable Berlin magazine Die Dame about the strongest influence on his work. This pithy remark, which surely must be counted among the playwright's better-known and often-quoted phrases, is quite literally true. Although the Biblical influence on Brecht's work is all-pervasive—Reinhold Grimm called it Brecht's "lebenslange und höchst komplexe Abhängigkeit von der Bibel"—as yet no comprehensive study exists which fully explores Brecht's use of the Bible and Christianity. In the absence of such a comprehensive study it is in order to examine individual works in general and dramas in particular to determine the exact nature and function of Biblical influences.
Recommended Citation
Mews, Siegfried
(1979)
"Biblical Themes and Motifs in Brecht's Herr Puntila und sein Knecht Matti,"
University of Dayton Review: Vol. 13:
No.
3, Article 9.
Available at:
https://ecommons.udayton.edu/udr/vol13/iss3/9