The Orphan of Zhao and other Yuan plays : the earliest known versions /

Idema (Harvard Univ.) and West (Arizona State Univ.), both established scholars of traditional Chinese drama, have collaborated on several occasions to produce notable studies and translations of plays dating from the Yuan (1260-1368) and Ming (1368-1644) dynasties. Perhaps most notable are their Chinese Theater, 1100-1450 (1982) and their translation of Wang Shifu's The Story of the Western Wing (rev. ed., 1995). The present effort is a translation of seven plays dating from the period 1250 to 1400. What makes this collection unique is that the printed texts on which the translations are based figure among the earliest known versions of the plays. This immediately distinguishes the Idema-West renditions from all previous English translations of Yuan drama, which are based on heavily edited versions dating from the late Ming. Here one finds not only arias and prose dialogue but also actors' cues. Thus, this collection provides modern readers with both a means to better appreciate the formative period of Chinese theater and an opportunity to imagine how the plays were actually performed in Yuan dynasty China. The 40-page introduction offers a storehouse of valuable background and historical information about the plays. The English translations are faithful to the original Chinese texts and, at the same time, read extremely well in English. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers. --James M. Hargett, SUNY at Albany