Persons, Roles, and Minds: Identity in Peony Pavilion and Peach Blossom Fan by Tina Lu
Publisher: Stanford University Press; 1 edition (July 1, 2002) | ISBN: 0804742022 | Pages: 376 | PDF | 49.08 MB
Focusing on two late-Ming or early-Qing plays central to the Chinese canon, this thought-provoking study explores crucial questions concerning personal identity. How is a person, as opposed to a ghost or animal, to be defined? How can any specific person (as distinguished, for example, from an impostor or twin) be identified? Both plays are chuanqi, representatives of a monumental genre that represents Chinese dramatic literature at its most complex: Tang Xianzu's Peony Pavilion is a romantic comedy in 55 acts, and Kong Shangren's Peach Blossom Fan narrates the fall of the Ming Dynasty in 40 acts.