Japanese Drama and Culture in the 1960s: The Return of the Gods

by D.G. Goodman

Overview

This title was first published in 1988: In this book the author has translated five postwar experimental Japanese plays and recreated the artistic, social and spiritual milieu in which they were created. He describes the turning point in Japanese thinking about the nature and limitations of a Western-oriented modern culture, and the creation of "underground" theatres which in which evolved a new mythology of history. Professor Goodman sees these developments as an interplay between personal and political (ie revolutionary) salvation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781138895386
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	07/26/2017
Series:	Routledge Revivals
Pages:	350
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

David G. Goodman has been involved in modern Japanese theatre since 1968. From 1969 to 1973 he edited Concerned Theatre Japan, an English-language theatre journal. He is the editor-translator of After Apocalypse: Four Japanese Plays of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (Columbia University Press, 1986); Land of Volcanic Ash (Cornell East Asia Papers, 1986); and, with J. Thomas Rimer and Richard McKinnon, Five Plays by Kishida Kunio (forthcoming). In addition, he has written three books in Japanese. Goodman teaches Japanese and comparative literature at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Table of Contents

Introduction The Plays FIND HAKAMADARE! Commentary The Play KAISON THE PRIEST OF HITACHI Commentary The Play MY BEATLES Commentary The Play JOHN SILVER: THE BEGGAR OF LOVE Commentary, The Play THE DANCE OF ANGELS WHO BURN THEIR OWN WINGS Commentary The Play Criticism: Tsuno Kairato and the Post-Shingeki Movement; Postscript: The Legacy of the 1960s

Editorial Reviews

Translation of five plays representative of the period with commentary by a leading Japanese critic. The central thesis is that the 1960s was characterized by disillusionment with the pre-war old left and a quest for alternatives. No index. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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