audiobook Stanford White: Decorator in Opulence and Dealer in Antiquities by Wayne Craven in Arts-Photography

Description

Wondrous Brutal Fictions presents eight seminal works from the seventeenth-century Japanese sekkyo and ko-joruri puppet theaters; many translated into English for the first time. Both poignant and disturbing; they range from stories of cruelty and brutality to tales of love; charity; and outstanding filial devotion; representing the best of early Edo-period literary and performance traditions and acting as important precursors to the Bunraku and Kabuki styles of theater. As works of Buddhist fiction; these texts relate the histories and miracles of particular buddhas; bodhisattvas; and local deities. Many of their protagonists are cultural icons; recognizable through their representation in later works of Japanese drama; fiction; and film. The collection includes such sekkyo “sermon-balladrdquo; classics as Sansho Dayu; Karukaya; and Oguri; as well as the “old jorurirdquo; plays Goo-no-hime and Amidarsquo;s Riven Breast. R. Keller Kimbrough provides a critical introduction to these vibrant performance genres; emphasizing the role of seventeenth-century publishing in their spread. He also details six major sekkyo chanters and their playbooks; filling a crucial scholarly gap in early Edo-period theater. More than fifty reproductions of mostly seventeenth-century woodblock illustrations offer rich; visual foundations for the critical introduction and translated tales. Ideal for students and scholars of medieval and early modern Japanese literature; theater; and Buddhism; this collection provides an unprecedented encounter with popular Buddhist drama and its far-reaching impact on literature and culture.