Japan on the Jesuit Stage: Two 17th-Century Latin Plays with Translation and Commentary (Bloomsbury Neo-Latin Series: Early Modern Texts and Anthologies) - Softcover

Watanabe, Akihiko

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1350217190 ISBN 13: 9781350217195

Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic, 2022

Synopsis

The Jesuits were a major source of European information on Japan from the late 16th to early 17th century. Not only were they active missionaries but they also produced linguistic, religious and cultural tracts, regional chronicles, as well as hundreds of Latin plays written in imitation of classical Greco-Roman theatre but set in Japan. An intriguing yet underexplored segment of Jesuit school theatre is that which stages non-classical, non-Western subjects such as Japan, and this volume is the first to present Latin texts of two of these plays alongside full English translations, commentaries and an extensive introduction. The plays in question - Martyrs of Japan and Victor the Japanese - were performed in Koblenz and Munich, in 1625 and 1665 respectively, and are collated from original 17th-century manuscripts for this edition. They were based on specific events which took place in Japan in 1597 and 1613, and their main characters are historically attested Japanese Catholic converts and their pagan peers. The juxtaposition of the Latin texts and original English translations makes the plays newly accessible to a wide readership, shedding light on the ways in which Western classical humanism rooted in ancient Mediterranean theatre became intertwined with momentous historical developments across the globe to produce these unique spectacles. The introduction and commentary examine the historical, cultural and literary contexts and provide guidance on interpretative and stylistic issues, allowing for a full appreciation of the plays in which pagan classical, Christian, early modern European and Japanese elements come together.

About this title

About the Authors

Akihiko Watanabe is Professor in the Faculty of Comparative Culture at Otsuma Women's University, Japan.

Gesine Manuwald is Professor of Latin at University College London, UK, and President of the Society for Neo-Latin Studies (SNLS). She has published a number of articles on early modern Latin literature and edited the collected volume Neo-Latin Poetry in the British Isles (2012) with Luke Houghton.

Stephen Harrison is Professor of Latin Literature, Corpus Christi College, University of Oxford, UK. His research interests are in Augustan Poetry, the Ancient Novel, esp. Apuleius, Classical Reception (especially 19th and 20th century UK). Among many books and articles he is author of: Vergil: Aeneid 10 (1991), Homage to Horace (ed., 1995), Apuleius: A Latin Sophist (2000) Generic Enrichment in Vergil and Horace (2007).

William Barton is Assistant Professor at the Institute of Classical Philology and Neo-Latin Studies, University of Innsbruck, Austria. He is a co-editor of the Bloomsbury Neo-Latin Series.

Bobby Xinyue is Lecturer in Roman Culture at King's College London, UK, and a co-editor of the Bloomsbury Neo-Latin Series.

Edition details

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Publication date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1350217190
• ISBN 13: 9781350217195
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 268