A couple of soles : a comic play from seventeenth-century China / Li Yu ; translated by Jing Shen & Robert E. Hegel

By:

Li, Yu, 1611-1680? [author.]

Contributor(s):

Material type: Text

TextLanguage: English Original language: Chinese Series: Translations from the Asian classicsPublisher: New York : Columbia University Press, [2020]Copyright date: ©2020Description: 1 online resource (xxv, 330 pages)Content type:

text

Media type:

computer

Carrier type:

online resource

ISBN:

9780231550369
0231550367

Uniform titles:

Bimuyu. English

Subject(s): Genre/Form:

Additional physical formats: Print version:: Couple of soles.DDC classification:

895.1246 23

LOC classification:

PL2698.L52 B5613 2020eb

Online resources:

Click here to access online

Contents:

Intro; Table of Contents; Acknowledgments; Note on the Translation; Introduction, by Jing Shen; Dramatis Personae and Their Role Categories; Preface, by Wang Duanshu; Scenes; A Couple of Soles; Appendix: The Playwright and His Art, by Jing Shen; Notes; Bibliography

Summary: "A Couple of Soles is a classic comedic romance by the seventeenth-century playwright Li Yu. Tan Chuyu, a poor young scholar, falls in love with the beautiful actress Liu Miaogu. He joins her family's acting troupe, and, in plays within the play, romance ensues. After Liu's family attempts to marry her off to a local country squire, she performs a famous scene in which a heroine drowns herself--and then jumps off the stage into a river, followed by Tan. The local river deity rescues the lovers from death by transforming them into a pair of soles. Li balances their romance with the adventures of a retired upright official involving banditry, bribery, and mistaken identity--and who nets and shelters the two fish when they regain human form. Written at a time when China was beginning to recover from the cataclysmic Ming-Qing dynastic transition, A Couple of Soles displays Li's biting wit as well as his reflections on the concerns of his age, including the dangers of administrative service and the role of theater in society. The play combines witty wordplay and caustic satire with a strong emphasis on traditional moral values. The first major comedy from late imperial China to appear in English translation, A Couple of Soles provides an unparalleled view of the theater in seventeenth-century China."-- Provided by publisher

Item type:

Tags from this library: No tags from this library for this title. Log in to add tags.

Average rating: 0.0 (0 votes)

Holdings
Item type	Home library	Collection	Call number	Materials specified	Status	Date due	Barcode
Electronic-Books	OPJGU Sonepat- Campus	E-Books EBSCO			Available

"A Couple of Soles is a classic comedic romance by the seventeenth-century playwright Li Yu. Tan Chuyu, a poor young scholar, falls in love with the beautiful actress Liu Miaogu. He joins her family's acting troupe, and, in plays within the play, romance ensues. After Liu's family attempts to marry her off to a local country squire, she performs a famous scene in which a heroine drowns herself--and then jumps off the stage into a river, followed by Tan. The local river deity rescues the lovers from death by transforming them into a pair of soles. Li balances their romance with the adventures of a retired upright official involving banditry, bribery, and mistaken identity--and who nets and shelters the two fish when they regain human form. Written at a time when China was beginning to recover from the cataclysmic Ming-Qing dynastic transition, A Couple of Soles displays Li's biting wit as well as his reflections on the concerns of his age, including the dangers of administrative service and the role of theater in society. The play combines witty wordplay and caustic satire with a strong emphasis on traditional moral values. The first major comedy from late imperial China to appear in English translation, A Couple of Soles provides an unparalleled view of the theater in seventeenth-century China."-- Provided by publisher