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Gerstle, Andrew (2001) Chikamatsu: Five Late Plays. New York: Columbia University Press.

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Abstract

Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653-1725), often referred to as "Japan's Shakespeare" and a "god of writers," was arguably the most famous playwright in Japanese history and wrote more than 100 plays for the kabuki and bunraku theaters. Today, the plays of this major literary figure are performed on kabuki and bunraku stages and in the modern theater, and forty-nine films of his plays have been made, thirty-one of them from the silent era. In this volume, Gerstle translates five plays never before available in English that complement other collections of Chikamatsu's work. Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653-1725), often referred to as "Japan's Shakespeare" and a "god of writers," was arguably the most famous playwright in Japanese history and wrote more than 100 plays for the kabuki and bunraku theaters. Today, the plays of this major literary figure are performed on kabuki and bunraku stages as well as in the modern theater, and forty-nine films of his plays have been made, thirty-one of them from the silent era. Translations of Chikamatsu's plays are available, but we have few examples of his late work, in which he increasingly incorporated stylistic elements of his shorter, contemporary dramas into his longer period pieces. Translator C. Andrew Gerstle argues that in these mature history plays, Chikamatsu depicted the tension between the private and public spheres of society by combining the rich character development of his contemporary pieces with the larger political themes of his period pieces. In this volume Gerstle translates five plays—four histories and one contemporary piece—never before available in English that complement other collections of Chikamatsu's work, revealing new dimensions to the work of this great Japanese playwright and artist.

Item Type: Authored Books
SOAS Departments & Centres: Legacy Departments > Faculty of Languages and Cultures > Department of the Languages and Cultures of Japan and Korea
Subjects: P Language and Literature > PL Languages and literatures of Eastern Asia, Africa, Oceania
ISBN: 9780231504980
DOI (Digital Object Identifier): https://doi.org/10.7312/gers12166
Date Deposited: 29 May 2008 15:06
URI: https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/id/eprint/3867

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