Mother Courage and Her Children
by Bertolt Brecht · Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder
Assigned by 1 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only
- Written
- 1939, first performed 1941
- Form
- Drama
- Language
- German
- Length
- Short · 110 ppunder 120 pages
- Difficulty
- Moderate2 of 5 for a first-year reader
We recommendMother Courage and Her Children, translated by John WillettBloomsbury (Methuen Drama), 2006Willett's translation with Brecht's own notes and the songs; the Tony Kushner version is freer and more playable.
These links go straight to Amazon and Bookshop.org and earn this site nothing today. Prices are the same either way. How this works.
Twelve scenes spanning 1624 to 1636, during the Thirty Years' War. Anna Fierling, called Mother Courage, follows the armies with a canteen wagon and her three children, selling to whichever side is paying. She haggles too long over a bribe while her son Swiss Cheese is shot, sees her other son executed for looting in a moment of peace, and loses her mute daughter Kattrin, who is killed drumming on a roof to warn a town of a night attack. At the end she harnesses herself to the wagon alone and follows the army again.
No reading guide yet
The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns Mother Courage and Her Children are verified against each program's published list.
What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.
