Search results for ""Author Mae J. Smethurst""

This volume of five noh translations (containing an introduction, translations, short commentaries and a glossary) differs from most others in that none of the plays are of the mugenno type, but are instead genzaino, real-life noh. The plays focus on living characters rather than spirits or ghosts, and on dramatic action rather than poetry, song and dance. In addition the five noh satisfy several of the most important features of Aristotle's definition of good tragedy. That is, they all have plot, which Aristotle says in his Poetics is the imitation of action. The plot centers on characters who are related to each other or are a part of the same household. In each plot, a fatal or harmful event is either enacted or threatened, and there is an unexpected change in the direction of the action. In Shun'ei, a father, visited by his son, is pardoned from a death sentence; in Dampu, a son visits his father, who is then executed, and upon avenging his father's death, unexpectedly escapes the killer's henchmen; in Shichikiochi and Nakamitsu, a son thought to have been killed turns up alive, much to the amazement of his father; and finally, in Nishikido, a brother turns on his own brother and attacks with military force. This volume is intended to provide the reader with a translation of noh plays that either have not been previously translated into English or have not been translated for a long time. The translations are as faithful as possible to the original Japanese so that the reader can gain a close glimpse of the language and action of this particular type of noh. It is a noh filled with action compared to many that have been translated, a noh that appealed to the public at large during the medieval period. Bibliography and scholarly notes are kept to a minimum.

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In an important and unique contribution to the study of noh, this volume includes, for the first time, essays on the subject of one noh play written by scholars from both sides of the Pacific Ocean in their own language, Japanese or English (with a summary of each contribution translated into the other language also included). The essays show some of the breadth and depth that is available for the study of Japanese literature and drama both in Japan and abroad. Japanese scholars Amano Fumio, Nishino Haruo, Takemoto Mikio, and Wakita Haruko join with actor Uzawa Hisa and American scholars Monica Bethe, Steven Brown, Susan Klein, William LaFleur, Susan Matisoff, Carolyn Morley, Mae Smethurst, and Arthur Thornhill, to interpret the noh Ominameshi, all from the vantage point of their own analytical approaches. The intent is to provide the reader with more than just an introduction to the variety of ways of studying noh in general by focusing on one particular play and analyzing it closely and from many directions.The volume includes a preface and introduction plus 19 color and 4 black-and-white illustrations; one less literal and one more literal translation of the noh accompanied by the Japanese texts; and contributions interpreting Ominameshi in the light of medieval commentaries, the ai-kyōgen, new historicism, gender studies, legends surrounding the history of the play's setting, the etiology of the graves of the two principal characters, poetic usage, other plays on the subject of ominameshi, the religious background and meaning, authorship, structure, performance, costumes and masks. The volume concludes with reflections on the performance of the play by Uzawa Hisa in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, during the conference out of which the book developed.

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