''Lux in Tenebris'', in Latin, meaning "Light in Darkness," is a short one-act farce, written in

prose Prose is a form of written or spoken language that follows the natural flow of speech, uses a language's ordinary grammatical structures, or follows the conventions of formal academic writing. It differs from most traditional poetry, where the ...

, by the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

dramatist A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

Bertolt Brecht. It is thought that he wrote it in 1919, under the influence of "that great

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

clown

Karl Valentin Karl Valentin (born Valentin Ludwig Fey, 4 June 1882 in Munich – 9 February 1948 in Planegg) was a Bavarian comedian. He had significant influence on German Weimar culture. Valentin starred in many silent films in the 1920s, and was sometimes ...

".Willett and Manheim (1994, viii). The Latin phrase belongs to the Latin translation of the

Gospel of John The Gospel of John ( grc, Εὐαγγέλιον κατὰ Ἰωάννην, translit=Euangélion katà Iōánnēn) is the fourth of the four canonical gospels. It contains a highly schematic account of the ministry of Jesus, with seven "sig ...

: "et lux in tenebris lucet et tenebrae eam non comprehenderunt", meaning "The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it". (Fifth verse of Chapter I)Chapter 1, The Gospel According to Saint John, Jerome's Latin Vulgate (405 A.D.)
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Sources

* Willett, John and Ralph Manheim. 1994. Introduction and Editorial Notes. ''Collected Plays: Two'' by Bertolt Brecht. Bertolt Brecht: Plays, Poetry, Prose Ser. London: Methuen. .

Notes

Plays by Bertolt Brecht 1919 plays {{1910s-play-stub