THE THREAD

I was in a bookstore recently looking for something new to read, I bought a copy of Threepenny Novel by Bertolt Brecht. Walking back home I began thinking about what a friend and I call 'The Thread'. The thread is what leads you to a certain author/book/film/music/painting; it can include the multiple layers of influence of those living or dead. My interest in Brecht was peeked by a song by Blyth Power called Execution Song on the b-side of a 12'' single Better to Bat
which came out in 1990. I tried reading some of his plays, but never got to far, I find it nearly impossible to read plays and I rarely get to the theatre, either it's to expensive or it's middle-class crap. About four years ago a friend offered me a free ticket to see a production of Bretcht's The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, of coarse I jumped at the chance and really enjoyed it.
After finishing Threepenny Novel, I felt like keeping the German literature theme going but wasn't sure who to read next, while out walking I found a copy of The Clown by Heinrich Boll in a free box, which reminded me I had Billiards at Half Past Nine buried somewhere in one of the ever growing towers of books sprouting up around me. The thread was expanded further with a viewing of The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum(1972), a film by Volker Schlondorff and Margarethe von Trotta, based on the novel by Boll. The Criterion Collection DVD includes interesting interviews with Boll and members of the film crew, about the films relevance in the post 9-11 political landscape. May the thread remain unbroken in all directions.