This is the first comprehensive English-language study of the world of Heiner Muller. Widely regarded as Bertolt Brecht's spiritual heir and as one of the most important German playwrights of the 20th century, Muller wrote almost all his plays in direct response to other literary works, posing ever more radical challenges to prevalent notions of originality and appropriation. In his book Jonathan Kalb analyses Muller's basic artist method: taking on the mantle of other writers and inhabiting the 'bodies' of their works like a vampire or a historically subversive virus. His artist-hosts include, among others, Brecht, Shakespeare, Artaud, Beckett, Genet and Wagner. Kalb's intention is to illuminate Muller texts by showing how they relate to the writings of his carefully chosen alter egos.