Downfall of the Egotist Johann Fatzer
Encyclopedia
Downfall of the Egotist Johann Fatzer is an unfinished play by Bertolt Brecht
, written betyween 1926 and 1930. Der Untergang des Egoisten Johnann Fatzer, is translated as Downfall of the Egotist Johann Fatzer or Demise of the Egotist Johann Fatzer and often called the Fatzer Fragment, or simply Fatzer.
Like other plays produced in the context of the Lehrstücke
the Fatzer text is written in verse and contains passages for a commenting chorus.
Due to the inaccessibility of the text (until the early 1990s only few sections were published) and the fragmentary nature of it the Fatzer text isn’t as widely known as most of Brecht’s other plays. However, Brecht himself considered the Fatzer fragment as his highest standard technically and considered re-using the Fatzer Verse in a project as late as 1951. It was considered as being Brecht’s equivalent to Goethe’s Faust
, that is a material which Brecht kept himself open, throughout his life, for experiment.
Notable statements from the commentary regard the necessity of playing the document before interpreting it, the advice to always approach it taking into account to the most up-to-date practices and understanding of the arts at the time and the suggestion to “throw the whole play apart” for experimental “Selbstverständigung”. The term “Selbstverständigung” can be translated both as acquiring understanding of oneself as an individual as well as elaborating common understanding within a group.
Brecht also reflects that he writes the Fatzer Document first of all as a form of examination for himself. He considers that he doesn’t have to finish it as it is this method of examination which can become the focus for recipients’ own examinations. Literally: “The intention for which a work is produced is not identical with the way it is used.”
Brecht not only displays a significant shift with the Fatzer text from producing texts/drama as something to be put before an audience to using it as a means for the elaboration of meaning for himself: in the light of acquiring the concepts of materialistic dialectic for himself, he goes a step further in (rudimentary) laying this out as a general approach for theatrical elaboration, potentially as an ongoing process emancipated from the delivery of productions and emancipating in the way individuals are involved.
as a form of pedagogical theatre intended for practicing participants rather than being staged by actors for an audience. Reiner Steinweg was responsible for re-discovering and piecing together Brecht’s Lehrstück theory, which he managed, in the 1970s, to get recognized as Brecht’s most radical and advanced aesthetical work, abandoned less due to formal maturation Brecht’s but as response to external political circumstances: the fight against Fascism
, exile, then Brecht’s support in establishing the newly formed GDR.
Heiner Müller
, who played a central role in recognizing the Fatzer text as a major drama of the 20th century, interpreted this latest effort as a deliberate lowering of standards in an attempt to „clear out the bodies form the cellars, while the houses are built on the same foundations“, identified as a crucial dilemma of GDR cultural politics. He holds against this the aesthetical quality and experimental possibilities of the Fatzer text, which, in its unresolvedness is closer to Kafka’s way of writing under the “pressure of experience”.
The loose nature of the 500 pages of the Fatzer Material stand in stark contrast to the very concise form of the completed Lehrstücke. The central theme of the confrontation of the individualistic urges of a strong (male) individual (Fatzer) versus the solidarity to a group is described by Müller as Brecht’s immense effort to consolidate the stance of his early plays with the new Marxist approach to the Lehrstücke, as “attrition warfare Brecht against Brecht (=Nietzsche against Marx, Marx against Nietzsche)“.
Reiner Steinweg published pieces regarding the Lehrstück theory
in 1976. Also the program to the premiere of the play at the Schaubühne am Halleschen Ufer from the same year contains selected fragments of the text.
The first German publication of the text as an overall play in book form appeared in 1994 as a stage version produced by Heiner Müller for the production of the Deutsche Schauspielhaus
in Hamburg
in 1978.
to approaches which reflect Brecht's experimental theories in-depth both for publicly accessible productions and university research projects examining possibilities of integrating theatrical praxis and theory as suggested by Brecht's approach to the Fatzer text.
Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...
, written betyween 1926 and 1930. Der Untergang des Egoisten Johnann Fatzer, is translated as Downfall of the Egotist Johann Fatzer or Demise of the Egotist Johann Fatzer and often called the Fatzer Fragment, or simply Fatzer.
Plot and Importance
The plot, as far as it is consistent, centers around of group of soldiers who desert from The First World War and hide out in the German city Mülheim, among them Johann Fatzer. Other figures vary. Conflicts arise around the individualistic approach Fatzer’s and the group, which none-the-less depends on Fatzer to see them through.- "KOCH
- The battle hasn’t
- Killed us, but
- At calm air in the quiet room
- We kill ourselves."
Like other plays produced in the context of the Lehrstücke
Lehrstücke
The Lehrstücke are a radical and experimental form of modernist theatre developed by Bertolt Brecht and his collaborators from the 1920s to the late 1930s. The Lehrstücke stem from Brecht's Epic Theatre techniques but as a core principle explore the possibilities of learning through acting,...
the Fatzer text is written in verse and contains passages for a commenting chorus.
Due to the inaccessibility of the text (until the early 1990s only few sections were published) and the fragmentary nature of it the Fatzer text isn’t as widely known as most of Brecht’s other plays. However, Brecht himself considered the Fatzer fragment as his highest standard technically and considered re-using the Fatzer Verse in a project as late as 1951. It was considered as being Brecht’s equivalent to Goethe’s Faust
Goethe's Faust
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust is a tragic play in two parts: and . Although written as a closet drama, it is the play with the largest audience numbers on German-language stages...
, that is a material which Brecht kept himself open, throughout his life, for experiment.
Fatzer Document and Fatzer Commentary
The overall fragment includes, besides the dramatic text (the “fatzerdocument”), instructive sections which Brecht calls the “fatzerkommentar” (Fatzer Commentary).Notable statements from the commentary regard the necessity of playing the document before interpreting it, the advice to always approach it taking into account to the most up-to-date practices and understanding of the arts at the time and the suggestion to “throw the whole play apart” for experimental “Selbstverständigung”. The term “Selbstverständigung” can be translated both as acquiring understanding of oneself as an individual as well as elaborating common understanding within a group.
Brecht also reflects that he writes the Fatzer Document first of all as a form of examination for himself. He considers that he doesn’t have to finish it as it is this method of examination which can become the focus for recipients’ own examinations. Literally: “The intention for which a work is produced is not identical with the way it is used.”
Brecht not only displays a significant shift with the Fatzer text from producing texts/drama as something to be put before an audience to using it as a means for the elaboration of meaning for himself: in the light of acquiring the concepts of materialistic dialectic for himself, he goes a step further in (rudimentary) laying this out as a general approach for theatrical elaboration, potentially as an ongoing process emancipated from the delivery of productions and emancipating in the way individuals are involved.
Context and Interpretation
The Fatzer text, in particular the Fatzer Commentary was considered by Reiner Steinweg as contributions to Brecht’s conception of the LehrstückeLehrstücke
The Lehrstücke are a radical and experimental form of modernist theatre developed by Bertolt Brecht and his collaborators from the 1920s to the late 1930s. The Lehrstücke stem from Brecht's Epic Theatre techniques but as a core principle explore the possibilities of learning through acting,...
as a form of pedagogical theatre intended for practicing participants rather than being staged by actors for an audience. Reiner Steinweg was responsible for re-discovering and piecing together Brecht’s Lehrstück theory, which he managed, in the 1970s, to get recognized as Brecht’s most radical and advanced aesthetical work, abandoned less due to formal maturation Brecht’s but as response to external political circumstances: the fight against Fascism
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
, exile, then Brecht’s support in establishing the newly formed GDR.
Heiner Müller
Heiner Müller
Heiner Müller was a German dramatist, poet, writer, essayist and theatre director. Described as "the theatre's greatest living poet" since Samuel Beckett, Müller is arguably the most important German dramatist of the 20th century after Bertolt Brecht...
, who played a central role in recognizing the Fatzer text as a major drama of the 20th century, interpreted this latest effort as a deliberate lowering of standards in an attempt to „clear out the bodies form the cellars, while the houses are built on the same foundations“, identified as a crucial dilemma of GDR cultural politics. He holds against this the aesthetical quality and experimental possibilities of the Fatzer text, which, in its unresolvedness is closer to Kafka’s way of writing under the “pressure of experience”.
The loose nature of the 500 pages of the Fatzer Material stand in stark contrast to the very concise form of the completed Lehrstücke. The central theme of the confrontation of the individualistic urges of a strong (male) individual (Fatzer) versus the solidarity to a group is described by Müller as Brecht’s immense effort to consolidate the stance of his early plays with the new Marxist approach to the Lehrstücke, as “attrition warfare Brecht against Brecht (=Nietzsche against Marx, Marx against Nietzsche)“.
Publication
Brecht himself published a 13 page fragment called "Fatzer, 3" in the first issue of the Versuche in 1930. The publication of "Der Untergang des Egoisten Johann Fatzer" is announced for an upcoming issue of the Versuche but never happened.Reiner Steinweg published pieces regarding the Lehrstück theory
Lehrstücke
The Lehrstücke are a radical and experimental form of modernist theatre developed by Bertolt Brecht and his collaborators from the 1920s to the late 1930s. The Lehrstücke stem from Brecht's Epic Theatre techniques but as a core principle explore the possibilities of learning through acting,...
in 1976. Also the program to the premiere of the play at the Schaubühne am Halleschen Ufer from the same year contains selected fragments of the text.
The first German publication of the text as an overall play in book form appeared in 1994 as a stage version produced by Heiner Müller for the production of the Deutsche Schauspielhaus
Deutsches Schauspielhaus
The Deutsches Schauspielhaus is a theatre in the St. Georg quarter of the city of Hamburg, Germany. With a capacity for 1192 spectators, it places it as Germany's largest theatre...
in Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
in 1978.
Theatrical Performances
Despite its late publication, there have been several theatrical adaptations of the text starting from 1976. Aesthetically they range from rather traditional stage productions in the style of the Epic TheatreEpic theatre
Epic theatre was a theatrical movement arising in the early to mid-20th century from the theories and practice of a number of theatre practitioners, including Erwin Piscator, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Vsevolod Meyerhold and, most famously, Bertolt Brecht...
to approaches which reflect Brecht's experimental theories in-depth both for publicly accessible productions and university research projects examining possibilities of integrating theatrical praxis and theory as suggested by Brecht's approach to the Fatzer text.
Chronology of Selected Performances
- Der Untergang des Egoisten Johnann Fatzer, Schaubühne am Halleschen Ufer, (West) Berlin, 1976. Director: Frank Patrick Steckel
- Downfall of the Egotist Johann FatzerDownfall of the Egotist Johann Fatzer (American Premiere)The American premiere of Downfall of the Egotist Johann Fatzer took place November 9, 1978, Off Broadway at the Shelter West Theatre Company, directed by W. Stuart McDowell, then Artistic Director of the Riverside Shakespeare Company of New York, where McDowell subsequently staged the New York...
, Shelter West Theatre Company, New York, 1978. Director: W. Stuart McDowell
- Der Untergang des Egoisten Johnann Fatzer, Deutsches SchauspielhausDeutsches SchauspielhausThe Deutsches Schauspielhaus is a theatre in the St. Georg quarter of the city of Hamburg, Germany. With a capacity for 1192 spectators, it places it as Germany's largest theatre...
, HamburgHamburg-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
1978. Directors: Wolfgang Karge / Matthias Langhoff
- FatzerMaterial, TheaterAngeluNovus, Vienna 1985
- FatzerMaterial. Vom Theater ist daher zu sagen, was man vom Körper sagt. University of ViennaUniversity of ViennaThe University of Vienna is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world...
1988/89. Direction: Josef SzeilerJosef SzeilerJosef Szeiler is an Austrian theatre director. As co-founder of the group TheaterAngelusNovus he is first of all known for his experimental approach to texts by Heiner Müller, Bertolt Brecht, Homer and Greek dramas....
/ Monika Meister
- Duell Traktor Fatzer, Berliner EnsembleBerliner EnsembleThe Berliner Ensemble is a German theatre company established by playwright Bertolt Brecht and his wife, Helene Weigel in January 1949 in East Berlin...
, Berlin 1993–1996. Director: Heiner Müller (Based upon Müller's Volokolomsk Highway III, The Duel (Wolokolamsker Chaussee III, Das Duell), Mommsens Block, and Tractor (Traktor), as well as Heiner Müller's compilation of Brecht's Fatzer fragment)
- massakermykene. bertolt brecht «fatzer-fragment» /aischylos «agamemnonAgamemnonIn Greek mythology, Agamemnon was the son of King Atreus and Queen Aerope of Mycenae, the brother of Menelaus, the husband of Clytemnestra, and the father of Electra and Orestes. Mythical legends make him the king of Mycenae or Argos, thought to be different names for the same area...
» (oresteia). theatercombinat wien, Abbatoire St. Marx, Vienna 1/1999 - 12/2000
- Traces of: Fatzer. International youth project on occasion of the anniversary of the town Mülheim. Mülheim an der Ruhr, 2008-2010