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    Golden Age of Chinese Drama: Yuan Tsa-Chu
    Unavailable
    Golden Age of Chinese Drama: Yuan Tsa-Chu
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    Golden Age of Chinese Drama: Yuan Tsa-Chu
    Ebook337 pages5 hours

    Golden Age of Chinese Drama: Yuan Tsa-Chu

    By Chung-wen Shih

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    About this ebook

    The 171 extant plays of the Yuan period (1279-1368) are the oldest and most brilliant examples of Chinese dramatic literature. In this first comprehensive study, Chung-wen Shih systematically explores the riches of Yuan drama, from its unexcelled lyric poetry to its colorful characterization. After tracing the popular genres that contributed to the flowering of Yuan drama, the author describes conventional features of dramatic construction, methods of characterization, and recurring themes. The central focus is on the use of language: prose passages and lyrics are cited to show how innovative use of spoken language invests the prose with a remarkable strength and suppleness, and how imaginative use of figurative language endows the poetry with an incomparable richness of texture. Attention is also given to the use of music and physical aspects of staging.

    Originally published in 1976.

    The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPrinceton University Press
    Release dateMar 8, 2015
    ISBN9781400871094
    Unavailable
    Golden Age of Chinese Drama: Yuan Tsa-Chu

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    • 3/5
      The Golden Age of Chinese Drama is one of the most comprehensive and useful single-volume books on the subject of Yuan zaju - mediaeval Chinese variety plays popular during Mongol rule in China.

      Shih analyses every aspect of the zaju from its historical and social milieu to the prevalent themes, and its language and music. In each chapter, pertinent translations of zaju libretti or dialogue are given to emphasise the point, and to give the reader some idea of the unique role zaju played in the development of not only vernacular literature but also drama.

      This is a scholarly work and thus it is well-researched with a bibliography using Chinese, Japanese, and Western sources along with the collected editions of zaju. Its main flaw is that it is now nearly forty years old and current scholarship on zaju has developed, particularly in the study of Mongolian language in zaju dialogue (which Shih dismisses rather blithely as only evidence of local colour rather than part of a cultural and linguistic shift during the Yuan). Nevertheless, this book still offers both the scholar and the determined interested reader much useful information about of the most important and lively genres in Chinese literature.