The Orphan of Zhao and Other Yuan Plays: The Earliest Known Versions(Translations from the Asian Classics)

This is the first anthology of Yuan-dynasty zaju (miscellaneous comedies) to introduce the genre to English-speaking readers exclusively through translations of the plays' fourteenth-century editions. Almost all previous translations of Yuan-dynasty zaju are based on late-Ming regularized editions that were heavily adapted for performance at the Ming imperial court and then extensively revised in the seventeenth century for the reading pleasure of Jiangnan literati. These early editions are based on leading actor scripts and contain arias, prose dialogue, and cue lines. They encompass a fascinating range of subject matter, from high political intrigue to commoner life and religious conversion. Crackling with raw emotion, violent imagery, and colorful language and wit, the zaju in this volume explore the consequences of loyalty and betrayal, ambition and enlightenment, and piety and drunkenness. The collection features seven of the twenty-six available untranslated zaju published in the fourteenth century, with a substantial introduction preceding each play and extensive annotations throughout. The editors also include translations of the Ming versions of four of the included plays and an essay that synthesizes recent Chinese and Japanese scholarship on the subject.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments A Note to the Reader Table of Dynasties Introduction Conventions 1. The Orphan of Zhao The Orphan of Zhao, Fourteenth-Century Edition The Orphan of Zhao Greatly Wreaks Vengeance, A Selection of Yuan Plays Edition 2. Huo Guang Remonstrates as a Ghost Newly Printed in Hangzhou with Plot Prompts: Huo Guang Remonstrates as a Ghost, a Fourteenth-Century Edition 3. Xue Rengui Returns Home Clad in Brocade A Newly Cut Full Text: Xue Rengui Returns Home Clad in Brocade, with the Complete Prompts, a Fourteenth-Century Edition A Selection of Yuan Plays Edition of the Zaju Xue Rengui Returns Home in Glory 4. The Bamboo-Leaf Boat Newly Cut with Plot Prompts: Chen Jiqing Is Enlightened to the Way on a Bamboo-Leaf Boat A Selection of Yuan Plays Edition of the Zaju Chen Jiqing Mistakenly Boards a Bamboo-Leaf Boat 5. Tippler Zhao Yuan Encounters the Prior Emperor Newly Cut with Plot Prompts: Tippler Zhao Yuan Encounters the Prior Emperor, a Fourteenth-Century Edition Tippler Zhao Yuan Encounters the Prior Emperor, a Ming Manuscript Edition 6. The Affair of the Eastern Window Exposed Newly Printed at the Great Capital, a Complete Text with Plot Prompts: The Affair of the Eastern Window Exposed, a Fourteenth-Century Edition 7. Little Butcher Zhang Immolates His Child to Save His Mother Newly Printed in Hangzhou: Little Butcher Zhang Immolates His Child to Save His Mother, a Fourteenth-Century Edition Works Cited and Suggested Readings

About the Author :
Stephen H. West is Foundation Professor of Chinese at Arizona State University and professor emeritus in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of California, Berkeley. With Wilt L. Idema, he recently has edited three collections of Chinese drama: Monks, Bandits, and Lovers: Eleven Early Chinese Plays; Battles, Betrayals, and Brotherhood: Early Chinese Plays on the Three Kingdoms Period; and The Generals of the Yang Family: Four Early Plays. Wilt L. Idema is Research Professor of Chinese literature at Harvard University and has published widely in both English and Dutch, especially on Chinese drama and fiction. Among his publications are A Guide to Chinese Literature; The Red Brush: Writing Women in Imperial China; Meng Jiangnu Brings Down the Great Wall: Ten Versions of a Chinese Legend; and The Resurrected Skeleton: From Zhuangzi to Lu Xun.

Review :
The most important contribution to studies on Yuan drama in recent years and a book that will raise and set the bar for future work in this field. -- Tian Yuan Tan, SOAS, University of London This anthology, together with original introductory segments, opens a new window onto the urban milieu of the formative period of early Chinese theater. For anyone interested in not only the literary but also the performance aesthetics of traditional Chinese drama, this collection is indispensable. -- Patricia Sieber, Ohio State University These translations and introductory essays present the distillation, in a single volume, of decades of study by two leading scholars on the traditions of performance and textual reproduction and adaptation of Yuan drama. Their erudition and deep conversancy with these traditions is presented here in an accessible and engaging form that will benefit both specialists and general readers alike. -- Yuming He, University of California, Davis This collection provides modern readers with both a means to better appreciate the formative period of Chinese theater and an opportunity to imagine how the plays were actually performed in Yuan dynasty China... Highly recommended. Choice