The Many lives of Galileo: Brecht, theatre and translation's political unconscious

Abstract

Bertolt Brecht's Leben des Galilei is considered one of his finest dramatic achievements and its reception in the United Kingdom, along with Brecht's political and aesthetic theories, other dramatic writings and general 'influence', has been of enormous importance in the development of post-war British theatre. Brecht's work is of considerable importance to post-war British theatre, socialist theatre in particular, and yet at the same time much of the existing literature around his work has examined this importance without first studying the process by which his work has gained such purchase and significance. The main task of this dissertation is to examine the development of The Life of Galileo into English and for English-speaking audiences. This dissertation addresses the process of translation, production and reception - both in critical terms and as part of a broader scholarly literature - in Britain for Brecht's The Life of Galileo, using all three key terms in their broadest definitions to try to understand some of the ways that this play has earned such currency in debates around modern theatre, and modern socialist or left-wing theatre in particular, and to reflect upon some of the historical and political pressures and forces that have impacted upon this process. Developing methodologies proposed by Raymond Williams and, more recently, Frederic Jameson, to consider the implications of drama in performance and the political unconscious at work in the organizing and implicitly evaluative act of translation, this dissertation examines and interrogates the efforts of Charles Laughton, Howard Brenton and David Hare to bring The Life of Galileo to English-speaking audiences and developing political moments. Although the main focus of this dissertation is Brecht in Britain, some attention is given to Charles Laughton's initial Los Angeles translation Galileo as this work in many ways defined and set the terms of reference for all later attempts at Leben des Galilei in English. The analyses presented in this dissertation draw on literatures within theatre studies, Marxist literary theory, literary studies, German and Brecht scholarship.