Tom Kuhn studied German and History as an undergraduate and wrote his doctorate on German exile literature. His main research interests are in political literature in the 20th century. He has worked particularly on Bertolt Brecht, and is the series editor of the main English-language edition of Brecht’s works. In addition, he has written on exile and anti-fascist literature, and on more recent drama. His current projects include a book on Brecht’s use of visual art and other pictorial material and several further edited volumes and translations of Brecht’s own writings.
Teaching
German language and literature, especially 20th-century literature. Special interests: 20th-century drama and theatre, Brecht, Kafka, Heine, music and literature, art and literature, history and literature.
Selected publications
- with Steve Giles and Marc Silberman (eds), Brecht on Theatre and Brecht on Performance (London: Bloomsbury 2014)
- with David Constantine, Bertolt Brecht: Love Poems (New York: Norton 2014)
- ‘Poetry and Photography: Mastering Reality in the Kriegsfibel’, in Bertolt Brecht: A Reassessment of his Work and Legacy, ed. Robert Gillett and Godela Weiss-Sussex (Amsterdam: Rodopi 2008), pp. 169-189
- with Steve Giles (eds), Brecht on Art and Politics (London: Methuen, 2003)
- with Karen Leeder (eds and contributors), Empedocles’ Shoe: Re-reading the Poems of Bertolt Brecht (London: Methuen, 2002)
- ‘Brecht als Lyriker’, in: Brecht-Handbuch: Gedichte, ed. Jan Knopf (Stuttgart: Metzler, 2002), 1-21
- ‘ “Ja, damals waren wir Dichter”: Hanns Otto Münsterer, Bertolt Brecht and the dynamics of literary friendship’, The Brecht Yearbook 21, ed. Maarten van Dijk (Madison WI: University of Wisconsin Press 1996), pp.49-66
Writing Brecht
Dr Kuhn is the holder of a large AHRC research grant which will support his work on Brecht and the activities of his research group through until 2018. As well as publications, the project includes a programme of outreach activities and cultural events. See the project website for more details.
