Verfremdungseffekt or Entfremdungseffekt ? A Study of Brecht’s Manuscripts on Chinese Theatre

It is well known that Bertolt Brecht’s concept of Verfremdungseffekt was first used in his famous essay on Chinese theatre, “Verfremdungseffekte in der chinesischen Schauspielkunst” [Alienation/estrangement effects in the Chinese art of acting]. Brecht’s essay was completed in 1936 but was not published in German until 1957, one year after his death. 1 It became the text basis of John Willett’s English translation published in 1964. 2 Nevertheless, in the winter of 1936, an English translation by Eric Walter White of Brecht’s essay was published in the London-based journal Life and Letters To-day. 3 White’s translation differs significantly from Willett’s, indicating that White’s and Willett’s translations were based on two different German texts. Although the German text that provided the basis of Willett’s translation, with the difference of a few negligible editorial corrections, has been reprinted (as I discuss below) in different editions of Brecht’s works, the German text for White’s translation has hitherto never been found and published, even as White’s 1936 translation has been reprinted in the now standard Berliner und Frankfurter Ausgabe of Brecht’s works 4