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Abstract: This article examines Bertolt Brecht’s development of Epic Theatre as the most politically engaged and formally radical artistic project of the Weimar Republic, arguing that it constituted a systematic assault on the ideological foundations of bourgeois society. It posits that Brecht’s theory and practice—centered on the Verfremdungseffekt (alienation effect)—represented not merely an alternative theatrical style but a comprehensive philosophical and political program designed to transform audiences from passive spectators into critical, historically conscious agents of change. Through analysis of Brecht’s key theoretical writings, his collaborative partnerships with Kurt Weill and Erwin Piscator, and his seminal works The Threepenny Opera…
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This article examines the Cotton Club, Harlem’s most notorious Prohibition-era nightclub, as a critical nexus of racial fantasy and cultural innovation in Jazz Age America. It argues that the club functioned as a hegemonic institution where white ownership meticulously crafted an exoticized “jungle” aesthetic for a wealthy, whites-only clientele, effectively commodifying Black bodies and artistry within a framework of primitivist desire. However, far from being a mere site of oppression, the club also became an unlikely incubator for Black musical excellence. Through a tripartite analysis of the club’s ownership and theming, the compositional strategies of Duke Ellington, and the politics…
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The cultural ferment of the Jazz Age in the United States was soundtracked by a deeply segregated music industry, which produced two distinct, parallel musical economies. This article examines the genesis and implications of this dichotomy, contrasting the mainstream, white-dominated popular music market with the niche-marketed “Race Records” industry. It argues that the commercial category of “Race Records,” while a product of exploitative corporate structures designed to profit from racial segregation, inadvertently created a crucial platform for autonomous Black artistic expression. By analyzing the aesthetic divergences between these parallel soundscapes, the role of the Black press as a curatorial force,…