Women in Traditional Chinese Theater: The Heroine&#039;s Play

Qian Ma

doi:10.5771/9781461693956

Summary

Women in Traditional Chinese Theatre seeks to introduce Western readers to Chinese classical drama as well as investigate how women have traditionally been portrayed on stage by presenting original translations of six plays from the fourteenth to twentieth centuries. Framed with a comprehensive introduction to the Chinese theatre and its representation of women, each play is preceded by an interpretative summary of the plot, and an analysis of each play's theme and significance. The selections in this volume feature women representing the most popular female archetypes in Chinese literature: the paragon of virtue, the stoic sufferer, the faithful wife, the femme fatal, and others. Appealing to both scholars and general enthusiasts of theatre, literature, and women's studies, this book reveals how the cultural constructs of Chinese women are represented in dramatic literature, and how the theatre, in turn, shapes this representation into the cultural perception of women.

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Bibliographic data

Edition: 1/2012
Copyright year: 2012
ISBN-Print: 978-0-7618-3216-4
ISBN-Online: 978-1-4616-9395-6
Publisher: Hamilton Books, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 315
Product type: Book Titles

1. Contents No access
2. Preface No access
1. A Historical Sketch No access
2. Plot, Theme, Form, and Style No access
3. Chinese Women and Their Representation on Stage No access
Injustice to Dou E (Dou E yuan) No access Pages 45 - 88
Qiannü's Soul Leaves Her Body (Qiannü li hun) No access Pages 89 - 128
Mulan (Ci Mulan) No access Pages 129 - 152
Spring Pavilion (Lin chun ge) No access Pages 153 - 196
Laughter in a Flour Barrel (Miangang xiao) No access Pages 197 - 248
The Girl Who Marries a Princess (Nü fuma) No access Pages 249 - 302
Bibliography No access Pages 303 - 304
Glossary of Chinese Characters No access Pages 305 - 315