Jan button

Jan Knopf (born July 10, 1944 in Arnstadt ) is a German literary scholar and head of the Bertolt Brecht (ABB) department at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology , formerly University of Karlsruhe, Fridericiana (TH).

Career

Jan Knopf lived in Chemnitz / Karl-Marx-Stadt until his escape to the Federal Republic in 1958. In 1965 he graduated from high school in Hanover and then studied German Philology , Philosophy , Middle and Modern History, as well as German and History at the same time for teaching in Göttingen. In July 1972 he received his doctorate with a dissertation on calendar stories, in particular Hebels and Brechts, and in December 1972 the state examination in Göttingen. From October 1972 Jan Knopf worked as a research assistant at the Institute for Literary Studies at the University of Karlsruhe (now the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology ). In 1977 he completed his habilitation with a thesis on the novel of the early modern period ( Wickram , Grimmelshausen , Schnabel ) and was appointed private lecturer, and in 1984 he was appointed professor. In 1988, Knopf worked on the plebiscite against Pinochet in Santiago de Chile (awarded the "Red Copihue"). Since 1989 he has been head of the Bertolt Brecht (ABB) department at the University's Institute for Literary Studies, now the Institute for German Studies at KIT (from 2016 in the West University, South Campus). The ABB comprises the largest collection of documents on Bertolt Brecht , his time and his topics, based on the material of the GBA (see below) from Berlin, Tübingen, Frankfurt and Karlsruhe, on the Brecht Chronicle by Werner Hecht and on the materials volumes of Suhrkamp -Base library. ABB cooperates with numerous research institutes all over the world, including a. with ABB Osaka / Japan, the Brecht Center Korea, Miryang / South Korea, with the Goethe Institute Beijing / PR China, and organized the Augsburg Brecht Festival from 2006–2015 on a scientific basis . At the ABB a documentation is being produced about the German-German cooperation on the large annotated Berlin and Frankfurt edition in 30 volumes (33 sub-volumes) (= GBA) and their political-scientific background in the former GDR and FR Germany. The evaluation of the extensive and not yet evaluated material from ABB will be continued with individual publications. As soon as the rights issues have been clarified, corrected Brecht editions that are already available at the ABB will be possible again (including a didactic piece , house postil , Svendborg poems , Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (first version), Mann ist Mann (original version of 1925 = first printing)).

areas of expertise

His areas of expertise include: literary studies (especially German literature from the early modern period to the present day), literature and theater of the 20th century, literary theory , the authors Bertolt Brecht , Johann Peter Hebel , Friedrich Dürrenmatt , Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Thomas Mann . Further focal points are edition studies , literary theory (technification of literature), literature and natural sciences, philosophy, in particular Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel , Karl Marx and Friedrich Nietzsche , and language theory (materialistic).

Projects

1991 visiting professor at the University of Greifswald (advanced program east of the DAAD)
Theater and literary criticism for Theater heute , Spiegel , Die Zeit and others
Director at the Insel-Theater in Karlsruhe
Cabaret at the “Danube Festival East-West” in 1989 in Ulm, at the same time scientific advisor to the artistic director Pierre-Jean Valentin
2006–2008 scientific advisor to the abc Festival Augsburg , artistic director: Albert Ostermaier
2009 exhibition Not staring so romantically! in cooperation with the Literary Society Karlsruhe in the PrinzMaxPalais Karlsruhe (visualization of texts by Bertolt Brecht)
2010–2016 scientific and dramaturgical advisor to the Brecht Festival Augsburg.
2010–2015 projects with South Korea: Brecht Center Korea , director: Won-Yang Rhie, holder of the Federal Cross of Merit 1st class, with a focus on theater; Cooperation with the Street Theater Troupe (STT), Seoul and Busan / South Korea.
2008–2018 projects with ABB Osaka / Japan, led by Akira Ichikawa, with center: Brecht and music as well as Berliner Ensemble (project until 2013), from March 2013 (until the end of 2016) theater works by Bertolt Brecht.
The thwarted “project of the century”: The German-German Brecht edition between the fronts after the fall of the Wall. The continuing cold war of literary studies. 2020.
Complete revision of the Brecht handbook in 2 volumes.
BB18! The camp of the future, Chur, 27. – 30. September 2018, Brecht's Radio Theory and the Renaissance 2.0.
2010–2019 annotated reading and study edition of the works of Johann Peter Hebels in collaboration with the Literary Society Karlsruhe.
Revision of the Brecht manual by Verlag JB Metzler (Springer nature) on a digital basis; Beginning with the media pieces, previously known as "Lehrstücke" ( Lindberghflug , Lehrstück , Measure ).
Death command as an apparatus experience. The heroic songs at the beginning of the global technical revolution of 1927/29. Badische Landesbühne Bruchsal, October 2019.

Publications (selection)

Books

Stories about history. Critical tradition of the "popular" in the calendar stories of Hebels and Brecht. JB Metzler, Stuttgart 1973. (= Phil. Dissertation Göttingen 1972). From 2016: Springer Nature, Berlin-Heidelberg; also as an eBook.
Bertolt Brecht. A critical research report. Questionable issues in Brecht research. (Fischer Athenaeum paperbacks 2028). Fischer Athenaeum, Frankfurt am Main 1974.
with Jan M. Broekman (Ed.): Concrete reflection. Festschrift for Hermann Wein on his 60th birthday. (Editors together). Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague 1975.
Friedrich Dürrenmatt. (Author's books 3). CH Beck / edition text + kritik, Munich 1976 (4th edition 1988) ..
Early Citizenship. Experienced and denied reality in the novels of Wickram, Grimmelshausen and Schnabel. JB Metzler, Stuttgart 1978. (= Habil. -schrift Karlsruhe)
Brecht Handbook Theater. An aesthetic of contradictions. JB Metzler, Stuttgart 1980. From 2016: Springer Nature Berlin-Heidelberg; also as an eBook.
Bertolt Brecht. The good man from Sezuan. (Basics and thoughts to understand the drama). Diesterweg, Frankfurt am Main 1982.
Brecht's “Good Man from Sezuan”. Materials. (Suhrkamp paperback 2021). Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 1982.
Everyday order. A cross-section through the old folk calendar. Compiled from Württemberg and Baden calendars and explained by J'K '. Wunderlich, Tübingen 1983.
Brecht Journal. (edition suhrkamp. NF 1191). Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 1983.
The German calendar history. A work book. (Suhrkamp Taschenbuch 2031). Frankfurt a. M. 1983.
Johann Peter Hebel: Treasure chest of the Rhenish family friend. Reprint of the edition from 1811 as well as all calendar stories from the "Rhineland House Friend" for the years 1808–1819. Edited and provided with an afterword. (Insel paperback 719). Insel-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1984 (8th edition 2012).
Brecht-Handbuch Poetry, Prose, Writings. An aesthetic of contradictions. JB Metzler, Stuttgart 1984. From 2016: Springer Nature, Berlin-Heidelberg; also as an eBook.
Bertolt Brecht. Saint Joan of the slaughterhouses. (Basics and thoughts to understand the drama). Diesterweg, Frankfurt am Main 1985.
Bertolt Brecht's "Buckower Elegies". with comments by Jan Knopf. (edition suhrkamp, 1397). Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 1985 (6th edition 2013).
Brecht's »Saint Joan of the Slaughterhouses«. Materials. (Suhrkamp Taschenbuch 2049). Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 1986.
Brecht-Journal 2. (edition Suhrkamp, 1396). Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 1986
Brecht handbook. Special edition. 2 volumes. JB Metzler, Stuttgart 1986. (several further editions and pirated prints in Korea, China, Japan).
(Ed.): Interpretations. Poems by Bertolt Brecht. (Reclams Universal Library. 8814). Philipp Reclam jun., Stuttgart 1995 (further editions)
Occasionally: poetry. An essay on Bertolt Brecht's poetry. Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 1996.
with Werner Hecht, Wolfgang Jeske (ed.): Bertolt Brecht: Selected works in six volumes. Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1997. (= anniversary edition for 100th birthday)
Bertolt Brecht's "Terzinen on Love". Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 1998.
Bertolt Brecht. (Reclams Universal Library, 17619). Philipp Reclam jun., Stuttgart 2000 (further editions)
(Ed.): Bertolt Brecht: The poems. Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 2000.
with Werner Hecht, Werner Mittenzwei, Klaus-Detlef Müller (Ed.): Bertolt Brecht: Works. Large annotated Berlin and Frankfurt edition in 30 volumes (33 sub-volumes). Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main / Berlin / Weimar (special edition in 32 volumes + supplement, 2003)
(Ed.): Bertolt Brecht: Calendar stories. (Library Suhrkamp 1343). Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 2001.
(Ed.): Brecht manual. Volume 1: Pieces. JB Metzler, Stuttgart 2001. From 2016: Springer Nature, Berlin-Heidelberg; also as an eBook.
(Ed.): Brecht manual. Volume 2: Poems. JB Metzler, Stuttgart 2001. From 2016: Springer Nature, Berlin-Heidelberg; also as an eBook.
(Ed.): Brecht manual. Volume 3: prose, films, scripts. JB Metzler, Stuttgart 2002. From 2016: Springer Nature, Berlin-Heidelberg; also as an eBook.
(Ed.): Brecht manual. Volume 4: Writings, journals, letters. JB Metzler, Stuttgart 2003. From 2016: Springer Nature, Berlin-Heidelberg; also as an eBook.
(Ed.): Brecht manual. Volume 5: Register, Chronicle, Materials . JB Metzler, Stuttgart 2003. From 2016: Springer Nature, Berlin-Heidelberg; also as an eBook.
Bertolt Brecht: Calendar Stories. (Suhrkamp Taschenbuch 3443). Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 2002.
Bertolt Brecht: The message in a bottle and other stories from the Weimar period. Frankfurt am Main 2003.
with Fritz Hennenberg (ed.): Brecht's »Mahagonny«. Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 2003.
(Ed.): Brecht manual. Volume 5: Register, Chronicle, Materials. JB Metzler, Stuttgart 2003.
with Werner Hecht, Wolfgang Jeske (ed.): Bertolt Brecht: Selected works in 6 volumes. (Suhrkamp Taschenbuch 3732). Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2005.
Bertolt Brecht. Life - work - effect. (Suhrkamp basic biography. 16). Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 2006 (3rd edition 2018). Translations into Korean in 2007, into Bulgarian in 2010.
(Ed.): Bertolt Brecht: The poems. Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2007.
(Ed.): Bertolt Brecht. The poems. (island paperback 3331). Insel Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2008 (further editions).
(Ed.): The new Brecht. Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2006–2016:
- Volume 1 Frank. D. Wagner: Ancient Myths. Kafka and Brecht. The new Brecht. 2006. 2nd edition 2012.
- Volume 2 Simon Karcher: Objectivity and elegiac tone - The late poetry of Gottfried Benn and Bertolt Brecht - a comparison . 2006.
- Volume 3 Reinhold Grimm: The expansion of the continent. Brecht's “Threepenny Opera” in Nigeria and Turkey. 2007.
- Volume 4 Barbara Konietzny-Rüssel: The media practitioner Bertolt Brecht. Interviews, radio talks and minutes of conversations in the Weimar Republic. 2007.
- Volume 5 Stephen Brockmann, Mathias Mayer, Jürgen Hillesheim (eds.): End, limit, end? Brecht and death. 2008.
- Volume 6 Denise Kratzmeier: Times change. The importance of history in the work and aesthetics of Bertolt Brecht. 2010.
- Volume 7 Simone Finkele: Substrate of ancient traditions. Brecht's general model Lukullus. 2011.
- Volume 8 Mathias Mayer (ed.): The philosopher Bertolt Brecht. 2011.
- Volume 9 Andreas Zinn: Iconoclasm Games. Intermediality in Bertolt Brecht's work. 2011.
- Volume 10 Jürgen Hillesheim : "I instinctively leave gaps here ...". Bertolt Brecht's pre-Marxist epic theater. 2011.
- Volume 11 Jürgen Hillesheim: Bertolt Brecht's house postil. Introduction and analysis of all poems. 2013.
- Volume 12 Reinhold Grimm: Brecht and Goethe as morality singers. A rhapsodic consideration. 2014.
- Volume 13 Frank D. Wagner: Hegel and Brecht. To the dialectic of freedom. 2015.
- Volume 14 Jürgen Hillesheim (Ed.): “You have to try to establish yourself in Germany!” Brecht in his twenties. 2015.
- Volume 15 Frank D. Wagner: Myth of the Nation. Bronnen and Brecht. 2015.
- Volume 16 Jürgen Hillesheim (Ed.): “This is how they did it with something out of flesh and bone ...” A spectacular murder case and a poem by Bertolt Brecht. 2016. (Can only be obtained from Bertolt Brecht's office at KIT (ABB), Karlsruhe)
Bertolt Brecht. Art of living in dark times. Biography. Hanser, Munich 2012. - Translations into Chinese (Beijing: Social Science Academic Press 2018), American (New Haven: Yale University Press 2020).
with Gernot Meier (Ed.): Bertolt Brecht. Displaced person between the worlds. Karlsruhe, Evangelical Academy Baden 2015 (= Herrenalber Forum. 78).
Bertolt Brecht's successful brand. Threepenny for food and morale . Stuttgart: J. B- Metzler / Springer Nature, Berlin-Heidelberg 2017; also as an eBook.
with Hansgeorg Schmidt-Bergmann , Franz Littmann (eds.): Johann Peter Hebel: Complete works. Commented reading and study edition in 6 volumes. Wallstein: Göttingen 2019.
Globule. World farewell views on orbit south of the earth. Thrown in 2013 and picked up excessively by JK 2020.
Poetry of inclusion. A theory of literature. Pamphlet. Will be released in 2020.
Brecht handbook. Theatre. Stuttgart: JB Metzler, Berlin-Heidelberg, Springer Nature 2021; also as an eBook.
Brecht handbook. Poetry, prose, writings. Stuttgart: JB Metzler, Berlin-Heidelberg, Springer Nature 2022; also as an eBook.
The genius in Goethe's poems . Erotica + Priapeia. Will be released in 2021.

Movies

Brecht - The Art of Living (2006). Documentation by Joachim Lang. Jan Knopf: Scientific advice and collaboration on the script. Awarded the LiteraVision 2007 television prize . Article in the Badische Neuesten Nachrichten (August 2, 2007). Available in the Bertolt Brecht Edition at Arthaus.
Mackie Messer - Brecht 3 Groschenfilm (Zeitsprung Pictures: 2018). Provision of the sources from the material of the ABB, elaboration of the - then only eclectically used - treatments (printed in: JK: Bertolt Brechts Success Brand, see above, pp. 79–110).

theatre

Do you know levers? First performance on July 26th, 1996, Stadthalle Ettlingen, as part of the 175th anniversary of the Evangelical Church in Baden.
The insidious lever - unheard of stories from Johann Peter Hebel. Scenic collage. - World premiere: Sandkorn Theater Karlsruhe, Ständehaus Karlsruhe, July 12, 2017. Heimattage Baden-Württemberg, Karlsruhe 2017.
The lightest death penalty . A scene based on Johann Peter Hebel. World premiere: Karlsruhe Palace, July 22, 2018. 200 years of the Baden Constitution, Karlsruhe 2018 (printed in: Badische Heimat , Issue 4, 2018 with documentation).

Audio books

Jan Knopf: Bertolt Brecht ; read by Ulrike Johannson and Peter Kaempfe . 2006.
Jan Knopf: Traces - People who move us: Bertolt Brecht ; read by Ben Becker . 2006.
The unusual Lindberghflug . Radio play 2019 (ZKM, HfG, SWR).

Articles / Reviews

Over 100 articles on all areas of interest and specialty, published nationally and internationally with a focus on South Korea and Japan; In addition, numerous theater reviews , especially for Theater heute and SWR, theater reviews, reviews and travel reports for the Deutsche Volkszeitung , literary reviews for DIE ZEIT and SPIEGEL, as well as reviews of scientific articles in relevant specialist journals such as Germanistik , Zeitschrift für Deutsches Altertum , Deutsche Vierteljahreschrift , Sense and Form , Buccaneers , Simpliciana , Universitas u. v. a. Last:

Brecht was always on the hit list somewhere . Adelbert Reif in conversation with the Brecht biographer Jan Knopf. In: Conturen der Zeit 2–3, Vienna 2012, pp. 90–106.
“What could die died - there was too much”. Johann Peter Hebel's "patriotic" disgrace . In: all ends. Zeitschrift für Literatur 100, Karlsruhe, pp. 96-109.
The sense makers Bertolt Brecht's fairy tale piece about the Tuis': “Such a clean sheet / covered with scars” . In: The theater of the fifties. Edited by Günter Häntzschel / Ulrike Leuschner / Sven Hanuschek. Greenhouse, Volume 14/15. Munich: Text + review 2019.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Button, Jan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German literary scholar
DATE OF BIRTH	July 10, 1944
PLACE OF BIRTH	Arnstadt