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Eight Chinese Plays: From the Thirteenth Century to the Present
Eight Chinese From the Thirteenth Century to the Present
1 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 1978
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March 27, 2016
This is a wide-ranging book covering eight centuries of Chinese drama. All the works – regardless of their form or time period – include songs, poetry and prose. (And, I would imagine, music, dance and acrobats.) From these translations, it’s hard to see a significant difference between the time periods they were written.
The plays included in this set cover a vast time period, and one can imagine that a selection of European drama covering 800 years would barely touch the surface on the possible variety. Dolby seems to select traditional plays, most of which are hundreds of years old.
Overall, they seem to have more in common than different. As noted above, they all include songs and poetry and prose. Most seemed to be based on ancient stories and freely quote the classic Chinese texts.
I enjoyed Dolby’s translations. He uses rhyme to a good effect – not so slavishly that the reader is beat over the head with it and the text is contorted into non-English, but the reader is aware of it and it’s coming and going creates a nice effect.
Many Chinese plays are very long (40-plus scenes) and are thus just a few scenes are often presented. This is the case with Dolby’s selection, and it may explain their fragmented feel. Here are my thoughts on the plays I read:
The Battling Doctors *** – An amusing skit about corruptible doctors. It’s quite good, but it doesn’t really go anywhere. It seems to just stop. I’d like to see these characters developed more fully.
Grandee’s son takes the wrong career *** – A rich son leaves home to follow an actress and suffers many hardships. It ends rather abruptly. I not sure if it’s supposed to be a happy ending or a cautionary ending.
Qui Hu tries to seduce his own wife ** – A man goes away for 10 years and finds his fortune. When he finally returns home, he murders his son (unknowingly) and, not recognizing his wife, tries to rape her. All’s forgiven at the end. A fully formed play, but the morality is kind of creepy.
The Wolf of Mount Zhong *** – This is kind is a fairytale about a man who helps a wolf escape death but then must convince the wolf not to eat him. It’s very entertaining (though it is anti-pacifist).
Hegemon King says farewell to his queen *** – This is a 20th century Beijing Opera about an ancient king whose army is surrounded due to his own rashness, leading to his death. This is a moving work that highlights the king’s hubris and passion.
The plays included in this set cover a vast time period, and one can imagine that a selection of European drama covering 800 years would barely touch the surface on the possible variety. Dolby seems to select traditional plays, most of which are hundreds of years old.
Overall, they seem to have more in common than different. As noted above, they all include songs and poetry and prose. Most seemed to be based on ancient stories and freely quote the classic Chinese texts.
I enjoyed Dolby’s translations. He uses rhyme to a good effect – not so slavishly that the reader is beat over the head with it and the text is contorted into non-English, but the reader is aware of it and it’s coming and going creates a nice effect.
Many Chinese plays are very long (40-plus scenes) and are thus just a few scenes are often presented. This is the case with Dolby’s selection, and it may explain their fragmented feel. Here are my thoughts on the plays I read:
The Battling Doctors *** – An amusing skit about corruptible doctors. It’s quite good, but it doesn’t really go anywhere. It seems to just stop. I’d like to see these characters developed more fully.
Grandee’s son takes the wrong career *** – A rich son leaves home to follow an actress and suffers many hardships. It ends rather abruptly. I not sure if it’s supposed to be a happy ending or a cautionary ending.
Qui Hu tries to seduce his own wife ** – A man goes away for 10 years and finds his fortune. When he finally returns home, he murders his son (unknowingly) and, not recognizing his wife, tries to rape her. All’s forgiven at the end. A fully formed play, but the morality is kind of creepy.
The Wolf of Mount Zhong *** – This is kind is a fairytale about a man who helps a wolf escape death but then must convince the wolf not to eat him. It’s very entertaining (though it is anti-pacifist).
Hegemon King says farewell to his queen *** – This is a 20th century Beijing Opera about an ancient king whose army is surrounded due to his own rashness, leading to his death. This is a moving work that highlights the king’s hubris and passion.
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