The Influence Of Mao Zedong’s On Contradiction On Brecht’s Dialectical Drama

Bertolt Brecht(1898—1956)was a famous German dramatist,poet and theorist,and also a Marxist.Because of his Marxist identity,he was forced to exile in the United States,the Soviet Union and European countries since the collapse of Weimar Republic.The sufferings of life created the brilliance of his art.Brecht created many plays throughout his life,and in the process of creation,the drama concept is constantly updated with new vision.He divided drama into “Aristotelian drama” and “narrative drama”.The former is a traditional western drama,with conflict and conflict resolution as the main plot.The latter is a new drama that he advocates adding narrative factors and not pursuing resonance.His drama theory and practice have experienced the development process of “educational drama” “arrative drama” and“dialectical drama”.“Dialectical drama” is the summary and distillation of his life’s drama creation.Mao Zedong’s On Contradiction has contributed greatly to the development of “dialectical drama”.“Dialectical drama” is the summary and sublimation of Brecht’s drama creation in his life.Its formation and development are deeply influenced by Mao Zedong’s On Contradiction,especially the dialectic thought.Due to the great influence of Mao Zedong and his On Contradiction in the world,as well as their similar political and cultural perspectives,Brecht,who lived in the distant western world,also have an eye on Mao Zedong’s outstanding achievements,studied the dialectics thought in On Contradiction,absorbed it into his own development of drama,and made it became the guiding ideology of the theory and creation of“dialectical drama” in the later period.The influence of On Contradiction on Brecht’s dialectical plays is mainly reflected in Brecht’s creative application of the thought of main contradiction and secondary contradiction,the thoughts of the primary and secondary aspects of contradiction,the thought of unity of opposites promoting the development of things,and the thought of mutual transformation between contradictions in his later dialectical plays.These influences mainly existed in Brecht’s late theoretical articles and conversations with others,including not only his creative application of dialectics of contradiction in drama,but also his integration of dialectics with life.The main body of the paper is divided into three parts.The first part mainly outlines the reasons why Mao Zedong’s On Contradiction had an impact to Brecht,and discusses the multiple conditions of the impact from the social,historical and cultural context.First of all,Marxism has sown a seed for the power of the world’s proletariat,guiding many proletarians to gain a sober understanding.Both Brecht and Mao Zedong studied Marxism,shared a common belief,and both explored the practice of how literature and art served the proletarian literature and art.The common belief and practical pursuit urge both parties to affirm that literature and art serve the proletariat,demand that literature and art express the real life of the people,and pursue artistic forms that the people enjoy.In addition,Brecht,like Mao Zedong,had a deep pursuit of realistic literature and art — — Brecht was committed to breaking the illusion created by capitalist art,hoping that art would express real reality and change reality,which has the same practical significance as Mao Zedong’s idea that literature and art come from life and are higher than life,unite and serve the people,and promote social development.In addition,Mao Zedong’s achievements in philosophy,literature,art,and the world proletarian revolutionary movement have established his unique position in the history of Marxist development,exerted a profound impact on the Western world,and provided a basic possibility for Brecht to contact and read Mao Zedong’s works.Finally,Brecht’s wartime background,the social-cultural context of the German left-wing,and the emphasis and learning of the law of contradiction in the ideological community all provide an internal impetus for the occurrence of influence.The second part focuses on the basic process of impact occurrence.Brecht’s theories of drama changed with the transformation of his circumstances,and has gone through the process of “educational drama” — —“narrative drama”——“dialectical drama.” This section analyzes the differences of Brecht’s early and late dramas,discusses the uniqueness of his later dialectics,introduces the process of Brecht’s contact with On Contradiction,and Brecht’s further comprehensive understanding of dialectics after accepting the influence of On Contradiction,as well as his deeper practice of using dialectics in drama to change society.The third part focuses on the basic content of influence.Through the careful reading of Brecht’s later theory,to show his application of the primary and secondary contradictions,the dialectical thought of the primary and secondary aspects of contradictions,the unity of opposites and the transformation thought of contradictions.Among them,focuses on the analysis of specific dramatic texts,and then explores the creative application of the dialectic thought of On Contradiction in Brecht’s plays,such as the layout of the story logic,the way the actors perform,the development of the story plot,the contradiction of the characters and the tension of the stage layout.The fourth part discusses the value of influence.The spread of Mao Zedong Thought abroad and the study of his thoughts by Western theorists,means the exchange and integration of cultures.Mao Zedong’s influence on Brecht means the improvement of Chinese cultural strength and has positive significance for the construction of Chinese local discourse system.In addition,the occurrence of influence also provides a way of dialogue for the equal exchange of world cultures.Brecht was deeply influenced by Mao Zedong,his creative acceptance of On Contradiction,and use it to transformed and developed western drama,reflecting the strong influence of Chinese Marxist literature,art and philosophy in the western world,expressing the conflict and integration of Chinese and western cultures,embodying the dialogue and integration of cultures that break through the distance under different social backgrounds,and highlighting the “learning from the east to the west” under the “learning from the west to the east” in the 20 th century.Taking Brecht’s “dialectical drama” and Mao Zedong’s On Contradiction as objects for in-depth research from a cross-cultural perspective and from the perspective of influence and acceptance can not only refine the understanding of Brecht and his drama practice and theory,but also help to comprehensively and deeply interpret the On Contradiction from the perspective of foreign cultures,explore the profundity and scientificity of Mao Zedong Thought,it is of great cultural value,theoretical significance and practical reference to the communication,dialogue and integration of Chinese and Western cultures.