This illuminating collection of 37 crisp, economically turned stories is the first US publication-on the occasion of Brecht's centenary-of a volume that originally appeared in England in 1983. It's a welcome display of the great playwright and poet (who was also, like Pirandello and Strindberg, a masterly writer of fiction) in several of his less celebrated roles: as sharp-eyed analyst of social and political life in Berlin between the World Wars (""The Monster,"" ""The Job""); mischievous historical revisionist (""Socrates Wounded""); and purveyor of commercial detective stories (""A Question of Taste""). A few stories (""Four Men and a Poker Game,"" ""Safety First"") adumbrate plays to come, and at least one-the unfinished ""Life Story of the Boxer Samson-K…rner""-suggests that this truly protean man of letters might well have become an important novelist as well.