Berlin will today mark the centenary of the birth of Bertolt Brecht with a frenzy of tributes, talks, performances and readings. The playwright's face stares out from countless magazine covers and newspapers and a giant photograph of the writer has been mounted at the top of the Kurfuerstendamm, the city's main shopping street.
The publication in Germany of a book claiming that much of Brecht's work was written by his lovers has simply served to heighten interest. His sexual adventurousness fits neatly with the playwright's image of a cigarsmoking boxing enthusiast with a keen insight into the minds of ordinary people.
"My name is a trade mark," Brecht boasted after the success of one of his plays. But, more than 40 years after the communist regime in East Germany gave him a hero's funeral, it is Brecht's face that is becoming his family's fortune.
Magazine features focus on the playwright's personal habits and dress sense, especially the look he adopted in the 1920s, when he wore a leather jacket, close-cropped hair and soft cap.
"He was styling himself in a pseudo-proletarian way and now people are using this image without thinking just because the picture looks good," according to Stephan Wetzel of the Berliner Ensemble, the theatre Brecht founded in East Berlin in 1949.
Just in time for the centenary, John Fuegi has published an expanded, German edition of his book, Brecht & Co, which claims that much of Brecht's work was written by three of his lovers. The book prompted the heirs of Elisabeth Hauptmann, Brecht's secretary, to sue for a share in the royalties of The Threepenny Opera.
Brecht's daughter, Barbara Brecht-Schall, dismisses the accusation as absurd and claims that Hauptmann did nothing more than translate John Gay's Beggar's Opera into German.
"It's ridiculous. How did Brecht manage to get three women who wrote in exactly the same style?" she said.
Although Brecht retained an Austrian passport and a Swiss bank account, he moved to East Berlin after the second World War and supported the communist regime there. His family had privileges shared by few East German citizens and formed the heart of East Berlin's socialist bourgeoisie.
Mr Wetzel believes that the media-driven elevation of Brecht into a cult figure could finally bury the writer's reputation as an official voice of East German socialism.
"It's going to liberate Brecht at least in east Germany because it's taking him out of state possession and making him a commercial commodity. I'm not sure which is worse. Here at the Berliner Ensemble we have to play the game in a way, but we're trying to do it tongue in cheek," he said.
The theatre has been staging a "Brechtathon" since yesterday, with performances, readings and discussions and a centenary birthday party was due to start at midnight last night.
Ms Brecht-Schall, who earned an estimated 1 million deutschmarks in royalties within Germany last year, is no longer on speaking terms with the Berliner Ensemble following a dispute over performing rights. She views the celebrations with cool scepticism and laughs at the idea of her father as a cult figure.
"He was very charming, very funny and great fun to talk to but he didn't wash enough and he smelt of cigars. I think that, by the time this year is over, nobody will ever want to hear of Brecht again," she said.
Mr Wetzel is more optimistic about the effect the centenary events will have on interpretations of Brecht's work. He points out that many plays which have long been unfashionable are now being rediscovered by a new generation of directors.
"I think you'll see a big shake-up. All of Brecht will go into a big mixer and we'll see what comes out after the 100th birthday mixer has done its work," he said.
See Irishwoman's Diary: page 15
