| The intention of the following paper is to investigate Chinese dramatic art as it flourished during the time of the Yuan dynasty, through the close study of a single play: Wang Shifu's Xixiang ji "Romance of the Western Chamber". The approach is both historical and topical. The origin of traditional components, and the social context in which drama developed are presented in conjunction with analyses of the ways these forms and influences appear in Xixiang ji. Performance, narrative, and poetry and music are used as the main divisions by which the drama is examined, so that Chapters I and II, respectively, deal with the historical background of these elements as they combined in the stages toward the dramatic art of the Yuan; and the successive forms taken by the story that eventually grew to become Wang's masterwork. Chapters III through VII concern the play itself in a section by section textural analysis, incorporating related topics as they become pertainent to the understanding of the play; and the final two Chapters are a detailed consideration of the formal structures of the drama, in language, music, and performing, using Xixiang ji for exemplification.;Throughout the paper, an attempt has been made to keep as close as possible to the original Chinese text and its most exact English translation, using secondary sources mainly for background information or for methods of analysis that can be applied to specific questions concerning the play. I have tried to see the play as both the result of a Chinese consciousness and a work of art which on its own terms addresses situations common to all cultures. The result is directed primarily, and by necessity, to Western readers, though it is hoped there may be some Chinese speakers who will find such an approach of interest. |
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