Brecht e Benjamin: carattere e personaggio

Abstract

Walter Benjamin had an assiduous relationship with Bertolt Brecht, especially during the latter’s exile in Svendborg in Denmark from 1933 to 1938. The importance of Brecht figure for Benjamis is widely attested. This influence has created several problems for Benjamin. From Adorno to Scholem the criticism towards this relationship was very heavy, fed by a strongly negative judgment against Brecht. The increasing radicalism of their positions gradually led, over the years, to a strong isolation in their respective fields for both Brecht and Benjamin. The attention to the world of children is a common element which ties the work of Brecht and Benjamin. Benjamin came into contact with Brecht thanks to his Latvian assistant director and actress Asja Lacis. For Asja Lacis Benjamin drew up in 1928 the Program for a proletarian theater of children, which can be considered one of the bases for Brecht’s revolutionary practice of theatre. Certainly Benjamin has influenced the development of Brecht’s drama theory, especially the concept of the non- tragic hero in the context of the epic scene.