Literatura e ciência: Galileu e Brecht

Abstract

My paper deals with the relationship between literature and science in Bertolt Brecht’s theatre. Taking in consideration the author’s theoretical writings as well as his play Galileo (in its three versions), I try to show that science is a seminal part of the epic theatre. Both in his dramaturgic categories, which he developed in the thirties and forties, and in his treatment of the 17th century mathematician Galileo Galilei — as a means of discussing the modern scientists’ social responsibility —, Brecht manages to surpass the alleged opposition between art and science. As he once wrote, this opposition is nothing but “a tremendous commonplace” and he believes that the theatre intended for “the children of the scientific era” cannot fulfill its aims of entertaining and educating the audiences without turning to the sciences.