The Business Affairs of Mr Julius Caesar - by Bertolt Brecht (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Bertolt Brecht's extraordinary historical novel presents an aspiring scholar's efforts to write an idealized life of Julius Caesar twenty years after his death. But the historian abandons his planned biography, confronted by a baffling range of contradictory views. Was Caesar an opportunist, a permanently bankrupt businessman who became too big for the banks to allow him to fail - as his former banker claims? Did he stumble into power while trying to make money, as suggested by the diary of his former slave? Across these different versions of Caesar's career in the political and economic life of Rome, Brecht wryly contrasts the narratives of imperial progress with the reality of grasping self-interest, in a sly allegory that points to the Weimar Republic and perhaps even to our own times.

Brecht reminds his readers of the need for constant vigilance and critical suspicion towards the great figures of the past. In an echo of his dramatic theories, the audience is confronted with its own task of active interpretation rather than passive acceptance -- we have to work out our own views about Mr Julius Caesar.

This edition is translated by Charles Osborne and features an introduction and editorial notes by Anthony Phelan and Tom Kuhn.

Review Quotes

[Conveys] the wonderful conceit behind the novel. The text shows Brecht in exceptional form as he develops a new approach to ancient Roman history.
Studies in Theatre and Performance

Throughout the book, Brecht also sets up a Caesar whose political life and business life are indistinguishable, laying the groundwork for a larger argument about the interconnectedness of these realms. In a letter from 1937, he said he wanted this work to show, 'how democratic measures can be exploited financially' (Brecht 1990, 269). This is one of the major contributions of the book and gives it a use-value today, especially if we view it against the backdrop of the current U.S. election. Brecht's account shows that even where democratic structures exist, politics tend toward the machinations of the rich.
Marx and Philosophy Review of Books

About the Author

Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) is acknowledged as one of the great dramatists of the twentieth century whose plays, work with the Berliner Ensemble and writing have had a considerable influence on the theatre. His landmark plays include The Threepenny Opera and, while exiled from Germany and living in the USA, such masterpieces as The Life of Galileo, Mother Courage and The Caucasian Chalk Circle.

Anthony Phelan is an Emeritus Fellow of Keble College, the University of Oxford, UK.
Tom Kuhn is Professor of Twentieth-Century German Literature at the University of Oxford, UK.