Page 383

 
Book Reviews 
    Kalb's book is the first general survey and introduction to the theatre
of Heiner Moller in English. It is published in'the "Cambridge Studies
in 
Modern Theatre," a series with a particular interest in the political,
social, 
and cultural functions of the theatre but also performance analyses. Both
aspects- historical contextualization and theatrical actualization are 
well covered and unified through the structuring perspective on Muller's
artistic method, characterized by Kalb as an act of (dis)possession of other
bodies of work, occupying them like a "historically subversive vampire
or virus." Moller's ironic demonstrations of the "Death of the
Author" 
underline for Kalb the insight that a playwright of lasting value can no
longer lay claim to subjective identity. The outcome is the fascinating 
paradox of a self-consuming avant-gardism, which succeeded in drawing 
fresh life from the corpse of European history and drama. That Moller now
belongs postmortem with Brecht, Artaud, Beckett, and Genet to the 
dramatic tradition seems assured, at least in Germany and Europe. 
Whether he can be translated to the New World remains to be seen. In 
the meantime we must be grateful for Jonathan Kalb's persuasive 
advocacy of the theatre of Heiner Muller. 
David Roberts 
Monash University, Melbourne 
Fredric Jameson. Brecht and Method. London and New York: Verso, 
     1998. 
 ) ust in time for the conclusion of the Brecht centenary, one of North 
   America's most prominent literary theorists and critical Marxists turns
   his atention to this preeminent political poet, playwright, and thinker.
ameson's long essay is an incisive reflection on Bertolt Brecht's topicality
in the narrow sense: what relevance do his writings have for us today? 
Thus, it represents an appropriate contribution to the recapitulation and
revision of a major writer's legacy in this retrospective celebration. More
expansively it offers an energetic, philosophically grounded investigation
into the possibility of praxis, that is, of useful activity at a moment in
contemporary political and intellectual life characterized by paralysis and
breathlessness. That Jameson (re)discovers or (re)turns to Brecht for this
larger undertaking may surprise some, and his insistence on the utility of
the didactic and pedagogical (in Brecht's writings and for us) will strike
many as a step backward from his more recent critiques inflected by 
postmodern concerns. Yet his careful strategy of focusing on Brecht's key
383