Download or read book The Complete Dramatic Works of Tang Xianzu written by Tang Xianzu and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2018-02-22 with total page 1067 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tang Xianzu (1550–1616) is acclaimed as the 'Shakespeare of the East' and widely regarded as China's greatest playwright, yet his work has not reached Western readers in its entirety. The Complete Dramatic Works of Tang Xianzu represents a literary landmark: this is the first English-language collection of the revered dramatist's most important works to be made available outside China. Translated over two decades, the collection showcases the playwright's major pieces, including The Purple Flute, The Purple Hairpins, The Nanke Dream, The Handan Dream – and The Peony Pavilion. The Peony Pavilion is the playwright's most celebrated work and has drawn comparisons to Homer's Odyssey, Virgil's Aeneid, Dante's Divine Comedy and John Milton's Paradise Lost. Known for his lyrical use of metaphor, Tang Xianzu weaves the beauty of nature with the tragedy of emotion. His plays offer an extensive exploration of love, and remain at the heart of Chinese culture. This important collection represents an opportunity for a wider audience to discover the profound and poetic works of this classic playwright.

Download or read book The Complete Dramatic Works of Tang Xianzu written by Tang Xianzu and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2018-02-22 with total page 1068 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tang Xianzu (1550–1616) is acclaimed as the 'Shakespeare of the East' and widely regarded as China's greatest playwright, yet his work has not reached Western readers in its entirety. The Complete Dramatic Works of Tang Xianzu represents a literary landmark: this is the first English-language collection of the revered dramatist's most important works to be made available outside China. Translated over two decades, the collection showcases the playwright's major pieces, including The Purple Flute, The Purple Hairpins, The Nanke Dream, The Handan Dream – and The Peony Pavilion. The Peony Pavilion is the playwright's most celebrated work and has drawn comparisons to Homer's Odyssey, Virgil's Aeneid, Dante's Divine Comedy and John Milton's Paradise Lost. Known for his lyrical use of metaphor, Tang Xianzu weaves the beauty of nature with the tragedy of emotion. His plays offer an extensive exploration of love, and remain at the heart of Chinese culture. This important collection represents an opportunity for a wider audience to discover the profound and poetic works of this classic playwright.

Download or read book Playwrights and Literary Games in Seventeenth Century China written by Jing Shen and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2010-08-04 with total page 335 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Playwrights and Literary Games in Seventeenth-Century China: Plays by Tang Xianzu, Mei Dingzuo, Wu Bing, Li Yu, and Kong Shangren is a full-length study of chuanqi (romance) drama, a sophisticated form with substantial literary and meta-theatrical value that reigned in Chinese theater from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries and nourished later theatrical traditions including jingju (Beijing Opera). Highly educated dramatists used chuanqi to present in artistic form personal, social, and political concerns of their time. There were six outstanding examples of these trends, considered masterpieces in their time and ever since. This study presents them in their social and cultural context during the long seventeenth century (1580D1700), the period of great experimentation and political transition. The romantic spirit and independent thinking of the late Ming elite stimulated the efflorescence of the chuanqi, and that legacy was inherited and investigated during the second half of the seventeenth-century in early Qing. Jing Shen examinees the texts to demonstrate that the playwrights appropriate, convert, or misinterpret other genres or literary works of enduring influence into their plays to convey subtle and subversive expressions in the fine margins between tradition and innovation, history and theatrical re-presentation. By exploring the components of romance in texts from late Ming to early Qing, Shen reveals creative readings of earlier themes, stories, plays and the changing idea of romanticism for chuanqi drama. This study also shows the engagement of literati playwrights in closed literary circles in which chuanqi plays became a tool by which literati playwrights negotiated their agency and social stature. The five playwrights whose works are analyzed in this book had different experiences pursuing government service as scholar-officials; some failed to achieve high office. But their common concerns and self-conscious literary choices reveal important insights into the culture of the seventeenth century, and into the sociopolitical implications of the chuanqi genre. In addition to classical Chinese commentaries on chuanqi drama, this book uses modern critical theories and terminology on Western drama to enhance the analysis of chuanqi plays.

Download or read book The Cambridge History of Chinese Literature From 1375 written by Kang-i Sun Chang and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2010 with total page 830 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Stephen Owen is James Bryant Conant Professor of Chinese at Harvard University. --Book Jacket.

Download or read book A Concise History of Chinese Literature 2 vols written by Yuming Luo and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2011-06-09 with total page 1024 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A history of Chinese literature from its early beginnings through the end of the Qing dynasty, this recent work from Professor Luo Yuming of China’s Fudan University seeks to provide, by adopting new theoretical perspectives and using updated research, a coherent, panoramic description of the development of Chinese literature and its major characteristics. As one of the very few English translations of such works by Chinese authors it seeks to inform the Western audience of the recent viewpoints and scholarship on the topic from a leading Chinese scholar. It may also provide some grounds of comparison and contrast with equivalent works in the West.

Download or read book 1616 Shakespeare and Tang Xianzu s China written by Tian Yuan Tan and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2016-02-25 with total page 349 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The year is 1616. William Shakespeare has just died and the world of the London theatres is mourning his loss. 1616 also saw the death of the famous Chinese playwright Tang Xianzu. Four hundred years on and Shakespeare is now an important meeting place for Anglo-Chinese cultural dialogue in the field of drama studies. In June 2014 (the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare's birth), SOAS, The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and the National Chung Cheng University of Taiwan gathered 20 scholars together to reflect on the theatrical practice of four hundred years ago and to ask: what does such an exploration mean culturally for us today? This ground-breaking study offers fresh insights into the respective theatrical worlds of Shakespeare and Tang Xianzu and asks how the brave new theatres of 1616 may have a vital role to play in the intercultural dialogue of our own time.

Download or read book Transmutations of Desire written by Qiancheng Li and published by The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press. This book was released on 2020-11-15 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the West, love occupies center stage in the modern age, whether in art, intellectual life, or the economic life. We may observe a similar development in China, on its own impetus, which has resulted in this characteristic of modernity--this feature of modern life has been securely and unambiguously established, not the least facilitated by the thriving of literature about qing, whether in traditional or modern forms. Qiancheng Li concentrates on the nuances of a similar trend manifested in the Chinese context. The emphasis is on critical readings of the texts that have shaped this trend, including important Ming- and Qing-dynasty works of drama, Buddhist texts and other religious/philosophical works, in all their subtlety and evocative power. "The power of qing or strong emotion is a major theme in late imperial Chinese literature--some writers asserting that it can transcend even life itself. Qiancheng Li surveys a number of seventeenth-century philosophical, religious, and literary texts to elucidate the metaphysical aspects of emotional attachment and of sexual desire in particular. Through his broad and penetrating reading, Li demonstrates incontrovertibly how, to seventeenth-century writers, qing and religion were inextricably linked. To those writers, qing could bring enlightenment, and certainly Li’s study enlightens its readers to new levels of complexity in major literary works of that period. Transmutations of Desire sets a major new milestone in the study of traditional Chinese culture."--Robert E. Hegel, Washington University in St. Louis

Download or read book Kunqu written by Joseph S. C. Lam and published by Hong Kong University Press. This book was released on 2022-11-07 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Kunqu: A Classical Opera of Twenty-First-Century China, Joseph S. C. Lam offers a holistic and interdisciplinary view on kunqu, a 600-year-old genre of Chinese opera that is being fashionably performed inside and outside of China. He explains how and why the genre charms and signifies Chinese culture, history, and personhood. As the first comprehensive and scholarly book on kunqu written in English, the book not only discusses the genre in cultural and historical terms but also analyzes its shows as performative, cultural, social, and political communications. It approaches the genre from several perspectives, ranging from those of performers and producers to those of casual audience, dedicated connoisseurs, and scholarly critics. Lam also employs a judicious blend of Chinese and international theories and methods. Through this comprehensive study of kunqu, Lam has established the significance of the genre not only in the sphere of Chinese music, but also among the cultural heritage and performing arts at a global level. “This work would be of terrific interest to amateur kunqu performers and to kunqu supporters. It will also be an essential reference work for scholars conducting research not only on kunqu, but on all forms of Chinese opera, particularly as they are being performed contemporarily.” —Nancy Guy, UC San Diego; author of Peking Opera and Politics in Taiwan “It is the first book-length work devoted to studying kunqu opera from historical and ethnomusicological perspectives. At the same time, the study engages various sociocultural theories and methods of humanities studies. It will be a significant addition to the scholarships of ethnomusicology, Chinese cultural history, Chinese drama, and theater/performance studies.” —Yung Sai-shing, National University of Singapore

Download or read book A History of Literature in the Ming Dynasty written by Shuofang Xu and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2022-01-22 with total page 460 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores poems, novels, legends, operas and other genres of writing from the Ming Dynasty. It is composed of two parts: the literary history; and comprehensive reference materials based on the compilation of several chronologies. By studying individual literary works, the book analyzes the basic laws of the development of literature during the Ming Dynasty, and explores the influences of people, time, and place on literature from a sociological perspective. In turn, it conducts a contrastive analysis of Chinese and Western literature, based on similar works from the same literary genre and their creative methods. The book also investigates the relationship between literary theory and literary creation practices, including those used at various poetry schools. In closing, it studies the unique aesthetic traits of related works. Sharing valuable insights and perspectives, the book can serve as a role model for future literary history studies. It offers a unique resource for literary researchers, reference guide for students and educators, and lively read for members of the general public.

Download or read book A General History of Chinese Art written by Xifan Li and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2022-10-03 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume analyses the history of Chinese art during the time of the Ming Dynasty during which the various traditions of painting academies were developed further leading to new painting styles and schools. The volume also highlights the developments in music, crafts, porcelain, and architecture. A General History of Chinese Art comprises six volumes with a total of nine parts spanning from the Prehistoric Era until the 3rd year of Xuantong during the Qing Dynasty (1911). The work provides a comprehensive compilation of in-depth studies of the development of art throughout the subsequent reign of Chinese dynasties and explores the emergence of a wide range of artistic categories such as but not limited to music, dance, acrobatics, singing, story telling, painting, calligraphy, sculpture, architecture, and crafts. Unlike previous reference books, A General History of Chinese Art offers a broader overview of the notion of Chinese art by asserting a more diverse and less material understanding of arts, as has often been the case in Western scholarship.

Download or read book Desire and Fictional Narrative in Late Imperial China written by Martin W. Huang and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2020-03-23 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In this new study of desire in Late Imperial China, Martin Huang argues that the development of traditional Chinese fiction as a narrative genre was closely related to changes in conceptions of the fundamental nature of desire. He further suggests that the rise of vernacular fiction during the late Ming dynasty should be studied in the context of contemporary debates on desire, along with the new and complex views that emerged from those debates. Desire and Fictional Narrative in Late Imperial China shows that the obsession of authors with individual desire is an essential quality that defines traditional Chinese fiction as a narrative genre. Thus the maturation of the genre can best be appreciated in terms of its increasingly sophisticated exploration of the phenomenon of desire."

Download or read book Fusion of Critical Horizons in Chinese and Western Language Poetics Aesthetics written by Ming Dong Gu and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-07-07 with total page 371 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book begins with a reflection on dichotomies in comparative studies of Chinese and Western literature and aesthetics. Critiquing an oppositional paradigm, Ming Dong Gu argues that despite linguistic and cultural differences, the two traditions share much common ground in critical theory, aesthetic thought, metaphysical conception, and reasoning. Focusing on issues of language, writing, and linguistics; metaphor, metonymy, and poetics; mimesis and representation; and lyricism, expressionism, creativity, and aesthetics, Gu demonstrates that though ways of conception and modes of expression may differ, the two traditions have cultivated similar aesthetic feelings and critical ideas capable of fusing critical and aesthetic horizons. With a two-way dialogue, this book covers a broad spectrum of critical discourses and uncovers fascinating connections among a wide range of thinkers, theorists, scholars, and aestheticians, thereby making a significant contribution to bridging the aesthetic divide and envisioning world theory and global aesthetics.

Download or read book Love for a Laugh The Comic in Romantic Chuanqi Plays of the 17th and 18th Centuries written by Yanbing Tan and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2023-05-25 with total page 181 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After the strikingly beautiful Peony Pavilion, how could one write about love and the ideal of emotional authenticity (qing) in the chuanqi genre? This book presents a group of creative dramatists who confronted this challenge by giving the romantic theme of chuanqi their unique comic twists. This book demonstrates how their comic articulations bring the qing ideal down to the mundane world of family obligations, political ambitions, commercial interests, and gender frustrations. By highlighting the crucial but understudied role that the comic plays, this book enriches our understanding of the intellectual depth and critical scope of the chuanqi genre.

Download or read book A Glossary of Words and Phrases in the Oral Performing and Dramatic Literatures of the Jin Yuan and Ming written by Dale Johnson and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 2020-08-06 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For many years, the oral performing and dramatic literatures of China from 1200 to 1600 CE were considered some of the most difficult texts in the Chinese corpus. They included ballad medleys, comic farces, Yuan music dramas, Ming music dramas, and the novel Shuihu zhuan. The Japanese scholars who first dedicated themselves to study these works in the mid-twentieth century were considered daring. As late as 1981, no comprehensive dictionary or glossary for this literature existed in any language, Asian or Western. A Glossary of Words and Phrases fills this gap for Western readers, allowing even a relative novice who has resonable command of Chinese to read, translate, and appreciate this great body of literature with an ease undreamed of even two decades ago. The Glossary is organized into approximately 8,000 entries based on the reading notes and glosses found in various dictionaries, thesauruses, glossaries, and editions of works from the period. Main entries are listed alphabetically in the pinyin romanization system. In addition to glosses, entries include symbolic annotations, guides to pronunciation, and text citations. The result is a broadly useful glossary serving the needs of students of this literature as well as scholars researching Jin and Yuan language and its usage.

Download or read book Inscribing Jingju Peking Opera written by David Rolston and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2021-08-09 with total page 817 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What was the most influential mass medium in China before the internet reaching both literate and illiterate audiences? The answer may surprise you...it’s Jingju (Peking opera). This book traces the tradition’s increasing textualization and the changes in authorship, copyright, performance rights, and textual fixation that accompanied those changes.

Download or read book McGraw Hill Encyclopedia of World Drama written by McGraw-Hill, inc and published by VNR AG. This book was released on 1984 with total page 538 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ranging from the earliest drama to the theater of the 1980's this encyclopedia includes coverage of national drama and theater around the world, theater companies, and musical comedy. Arrangement of the 1,300 entries is alphabetically by name or subject with nearly 950 of these devoted to individual playwrights and their works.

Download or read book The Eternal Present of the Past written by Li-ling Hsiao and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2007-05-31 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study draws together various elements in late Ming culture – illustration, theater, literature – and examines their interrelation in the context of the publication of drama. It examines a late Ming conception of the stage as a mystical space in which the past was literally reborn within the present. This temporal conflation allowed the past to serve as a vigorous and immediate moral example and was considered a hugely important mechanism by which the continuity of the Confucian tradition could be upheld. By using theatrical conventions of stage arrangement, acting gesture, and frontal address, drama illustration recreated the mystical character of the stage within the pages of the book, and thus set the conflation of past and present on a broader footing.