Zeami : Performance Notes

Motoyiko Zeami

ISBN 10: 0231139594 / ISBN 13: 9780231139595

Published by Columbia University Press Jul 2011, 2011

About this Item

Neuware - Zeami (1363-1443), Japan's most celebrated actor and playwright, composed more than thirty of no drama's finest plays. He also wrote a variety of texts on theater and performance that have, until now, been largely unavailable in English. Zeami: Performance Notes presents the full range of the artist's critical thought on the subject, focusing on the aesthetic values of no and its antecedents, as well as the techniques of playwriting, the place of allusion, the training of actors, the importance of patronage, and the relationship between performance and broader intellectual and critical concerns. Spanning more than four decades, these texts reflect the essence of Zeami's instruction under his famous father, the actor Kannami, and the value of his long and challenging career in medieval Japanese theater. Tom Hare begins with a comprehensive introduction discussing Zeami's critical importance in Japanese culture. He then incorporates essays on the performance of no in medieval Japan and the remarkable story of the transmission and reproduction of Zeami's manuscripts over the past six centuries. His eloquent translation is fully annotated and includes Zeami's diverse and exquisite anthology of dramatic songs, Five Sorts of Singing, presented both in English and the original Japanese.

Seller Inventory # 9780231139595

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Zeami : Performance Notes
• Publisher: Columbia University Press Jul 2011
• Publication Date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0231139594
• ISBN 13: 9780231139595
• Binding: Taschenbuch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 235W x 157H x 28D millimeters 235 millimeters width by 157 millimeters height by 28 millimeters depth
• Weight: 822 grams

About this title

Synopsis

Zeami (1363-1443), Japan's most celebrated actor and playwright, composed more than thirty of the finest plays of no drama. He also wrote a variety of texts on theater and performance that have, until now, been only partially available in English.

Zeami: Performance Notes presents the full range of Zeami's critical thought on this subject, which focused on the aesthetic values of no and its antecedents, the techniques of playwriting, the place of allusion, the training of actors, the importance of patronage, and the relationship between performance and broader intellectual and critical concerns. Spanning over four decades, the texts reflect the essence of Zeami's instruction under his famous father, the actor Kannami, and the value of his long and challenging career in medieval Japanese theater.

Tom Hare, who has conducted extensive studies of no academically and on stage, begins with a comprehensive introduction that discusses Zeami's critical importance in Japanese culture. He then incorporates essays on the performance of no in medieval Japan and the remarkable story of the transmission and reproduction of Zeami's manuscripts over the past six centuries. His eloquent translation is fully annotated and includes Zeami's diverse and exquisite anthology of dramatic songs, Five Sorts of Singing, presented both in English and in the original Japanese.

About the Author

Tom Hare is William Sauter LaPorte '28 Professor of Regional Studies in the Department of Comparative Literature at Princeton University. His most recent books are Zeami's Style: The Noh Plays of Zeami Motokiyo and ReMembering Osiris: Number, Gender, and the Word in Ancient Egyptian Representational Systems.