East Asian Drama (Volume D)

• Interest in short, lyrical poetry

Asian Literature: Development

• Dance dramas (combining dance, music, chant, and singing)

• Role types

• Fixed musical repertoire

• Anonymous authorship (due to oral transmission)

• Vigorous and lengthy training for performers

Characteristics

Chinese Variety Plays

• Zaju (Northern)• Chuanqi (Southern)• “Tales of the

marvelous”• Ming Dynasty• Qu-pai• Stylization • Minimal scenery• Interwoven plots

• Perfection through personal growth, communal experience

• Righteousness, altruism, propriety

• Attention to social order, loyalty

• Respect for elders

• Self-governance

Confucianism: The Peach Blossom Fan

• “Noh” = talent, skill, accomplishments• Patronage by shoguns, the military leaders• Kabuki and puppet theater• Hereditary performance• Buddhist chanting • Imperial court song and dance• Limited actors• Austere, undecorated stage• Stylization

Japanese Noh Drama

Noh Masks

“As the Teaching that enjoins the Good

is seldom found, birth in the human realm

quickly ends, like a spark from a flint.

This we never knew, nor understood

that vigour is followed by decline.

Lords of the land, we were, but caused

much grief; blinded by wealth, we never

knew our Pride” (Atsumori, Act 2: 14).

Atsumori

Kabuki Theater

• Stylization, gesture• Make-up• Urbanization• Social classes

Monzaemon: Buraku, Puppet Theater

• Popular art form• Puppets• Joruri chanting• Shamisen• Voice training

“Poor creatures, though they would discover today their destiny in the Sutra of Cause and Effect, tomorrow the gossip of the world will scatter like blossoms the scandal of Kamiya Jihei’s love suicide, and, carved in the cherry wood, his story to the last detail will be printed in illustrated sheets” (Act 3, Scene 2).

From the Love Suicides at Amijima

P’ansori: Korean narrative drama

• Shaman song, folktales

• Percussive art form• Sorikkun• Gosu• Chuimsae (verbal

sounds)• Audience interaction• Use of hand props

“What was my crime? I have not stolen government grain. Why was I beaten so fiercely? I am not a murderer. Why am I put in the cangue and the stocks? I have not broken the laws. Why have I been bound hand and foot? I have not committed adultery. I will take the waters of the rivers for ink and the blue sky for my paper; and protest my innocence, a petition to the heavenly king” (87-8).

from The Song of Ch’un-Hyang

• William Butler Yeats

• Ezra Pound

• Bertolt Brecht

Influences on Western Writers

Chinese, Japanese, and Korean drama share all of the following similarities except _____.

• a. they depend on stock characters

• b. works are usually anonymous

• c. actors begin performing as young children

• d. they combine singing, chant, dance, and music

Test Your Knowledge

Which of the following were early supporters of Japanese Noh drama?

• a. samurai

• b. royalty

• c. commoners

• d. shoguns

Test Your Knowledge

East Asian literary traditions began with a focus on ___________.

• a. courtly romances

• b. drama

• c. lyric poetry

• d. epic

Test Your Knowledge

Which of the following is a famous modern Western author who was deeply influenced by East Asian drama?

• a. William Blake

• b. Joseph Conrad

• c. John Keats

• d. Bertolt Brecht

Test Your Knowledge

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