by Kimberly Besio
Journal of Sung-Yuan Studies 27 (1997): 63-98
Theaters of Desire: authors, readers, and the reproduction of early Chinese song-drama, 1300-2000 by Patricia Sieber
Call Number: UCF Main Library General Collection -- PL2354.6 .S54 2003
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Blending a flair for textual nuance with theoretical engagement, Theaters of Desire not only contributes to our understanding of the most influential form of early Chinese song-drama in local and international cultural contexts, but adds a Chinese perspective to the scholarship on print culture, authorship, and the regulatory discourses of desire. The book argues that, particularly between 1550 and 1680, Chinese elite editors rewrote and printed early plays and songs, so-called Yuan-dynasty zaju and sanqu , to imagine and embody new concepts of authorship, readership and desire, an interpretation that contrasts starkly with the national and racially-oriented reception of song-drama developed by European critics after 1735 and subsequently modified by Japanese and Chinese critics after 1897. By analyzing the critical and material facets of the early song and play tradition across different historical periods and cultural settings, Theaters of Desire presents a compelling case study of literary canon formation.
Berkshire Encyclopedia of China
Call Number: UCF Main Library Reference -- DS735.A2 B47 2009
Call Number: UCF ONLINE General Collection -- PL2658.E5.C85 2014
NOTE: Online access is limited to a specific number of users per year.
This anthology features translations of ten seminal plays written during the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368), a period considered the golden age of Chinese theater. By turns lyrical and earthy, sentimental and ironic, Yuan drama spans a broad emotional, linguistic, and stylistic range. Combining sung arias with declaimed verses and doggerels, dialogues and mime, and jokes and acrobatic feats, Yuan drama formed a vital part of China's culture of performance and entertainment in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. To date, few Yuan-dynasty plays have been translated into English. Well-known translators and scholars have supervised the making of this collection and add a short description to each play. A general introduction situates all selections within their cultural and historical contexts.
Notable Plays
Chinese Yuan Drama (1271-1368)
Kuan Han-ch'ing (Guan Hanqing) - Snow in Midsummer (The Injustice to Dou E)