These are the final lines of part one of Brecht's poem “Verwisch die Spuren” (“Cover your Tracks”). They serve as a provocation, with Brecht's typically sarcastic tone, and ask his readers to wipe out their own tracks after their time has run out. Of course, this should not be understood literally but rather should be read as a plea for us to think about what we all want to leave behind and how we wish to be remembered by future generations. “Verwisch die Spuren” was also the title of an anthology published in 2008 by Rodopi on the usefulness and “use value” of Brecht and his works. Such questions and provocations have indeed been a preoccupation (and/ or perhaps even a small obsession!) in contemporary Brecht scholarship, one that doesn't seem to be subsiding any time soon. Brecht and his works are as timely as ever in our current world; he still has much to say and we still have much to learn and change. The anthology under review here, Recycling Brecht, seeks to intervene in this discussion. One can readily see Brecht's popularity by simply perusing through Theater der Zeit's own publication list in the series “Recherchen,” of which this volume is number 136: studies on various aspects connected to Brecht constitute thirteen volumes out of 137 in total, by far the greatest number of any artist in the list, with Heiner Müller (also Brecht-related!) coming in second.

Recycling Brecht offers fifteen essays by scholars and artists from Europe (Germany, Italy) and Asia (Korea, Japan) and is a very welcome and diverse contribution to current Brecht scholarship. The volume is divided into three main sections: “Wiederholungen, Trennungen/Übertragungen, Resonanzen” (“Repetitions, Separations/Transferences, Resonances”) and includes both scholarly and performative essays, production images, an interview, and a short story touching on a wide range of topics, literary works, and theories on the theme of “recycling” Brecht.