Nice appreciation.
I remember being fascinated and nourished by "Playwright as Thinker" and I didn't realize that it was published so early in 1947. In retrospect, it does seem like a very post-War pantheon. Is Sartre still seen as a foundational dramatist, even in France? And Pirandello has always struck me as a playwright to be read rather than sat through. But it's been so long since I read the book that I don't know if Bentley makes distinctions betweens ideas wedded to dramatic intersest vs ideas in drama worthy in themselves, perhaps he does.
The American formulation of Bertolt Brecht was very influenced by Bentley and I have actually heard contesting points of views to McNulty's idea that Bentley found Brecht the poet slighted by Americans who were fascinated by Brecht the Marxist theorist. I've actually heard it was the other way round, that Bentley over-emphasized elements of Brecht's theory which was only a snapshot in a long career. Still, I'm glad McNulty mentions Brecht's poetry which, sometimes tender and touching and sometimes black with cynicism, has often lifted my spirits. All of Brecht's poetry is a steely but good companion in the days of the tryants. |
