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Full Description
Interweaving a star-crossed romance with the decline and fall of the Ming dynasty in mid seventeenth-century China, The Peach Blossom Fan by Kong Shangren (1648-1718) is a masterpiece of world literature. This sweeping historical drama encompasses the pleasures and passions of courtesan culture, the allure and pitfalls of political idealism, the complex twists of court intrigues, and the horrors and trauma of war. While the play traces the fall of the Ming dynasty through the love story of its two main characters—Hou Fangyu, a young scholar, and a courtesan named Li Xiangjun (or,"Sovereign Fragrance")—its cast of characters also includes various scholars and military commanders; a villain who is also a playwright; an ambiguous mediator who is also a painter, a storyteller who becomes a fisherman; a singing teacher who becomes a woodcutter; an officer who becomes a Daoist; and a ritual master who is both onstage and a member of the audience.
As the play takes the readers inside the choices, dilemmas, and emotional turmoil of its diverse characters, it asks probing questions: How and why did the Ming dynasty, almost three hundred years old, come to an end? What is the scope of human agency during historical cataclysms? What forces shape memory and historical judgment? This compelling, readable, and faithful translation of the play includes an introduction on interpretive perspectives and the life and times of the playwright Kong Shangren as well as explanatory notes and a preface for each scene that serve as guides for the reader.
Contents
Abbreviations
Introduction
Dramatis Personae
Prologue: Before the First Scene
Scene 1: Listening to the Storyteller
Scene 2: Learning the Songs
Scene 3: Commotion at the Sacrifice
Scene 4: Reporting on the Performance
Scene 5: Visiting the Beauty
Scene 6: Sleeping in Fragrance
Scene 7: Rejecting the Trousseau
Scene 8: Bustle at the Riverside Pavilion
Scene 9: Soothing the Troops
Scene 10: Writing the Letter
Scene 11: Delivering the Letter
Scene 12: Leaving the Old Quarters
Scene 13: Lamenting the Emperor
Scene 14: Blocking the Malefactors
Scene 15: Welcoming the Emperor
Scene 16: Setting up Court
Scene 17: Resisting the Matchmaker
Scene 18: Fighting for Precedence
Scene 19: Pacifying the Conflict
Scene 20: Moving the Garrison
Extra Scene 20: Idle Chat
Additional Scene 21: Solitary Chants
Scene 21: Flattering the Powerful
Scene 22: Guarding the Tower
Scene 23: Sending the Fan
Scene 24: Denouncing the Revelers
Scene 25: Choosing the Actors
Scene 26: Tricking the General
Scene 27: Meeting on the Boat
Scene 28: Inscribing the Painting
Scene 29: Arresting Revival Society Members
Scene 30: Returning to the Mountains
Scene 31: Drafting the Impeachment
Scene 32: Offering Sacrifice at the Altar
Scene 33: Meeting in Prison
Scene 34: Blocked at Banji
Scene 35: Declaration to the Troops
Scene 36: Fleeing from Calamity
Scene 37: Seizing the Treasure
Scene 38: Drowning in the River
Scene 39: Finding Refuge in Temples
Scene 40: Entering the Way
Sequel to Scene 40: Lingering Notes
Bibliography
