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Death of a Salesman (Paperback)
Arthur Miller; Volume editing by Claire Conceison; Series edited by Susan Abbotson
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R268
Discovery Miles 2 680
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Ships in 9 - 15 working days
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Why am I trying to become what I don't want to be ... when all I
want is out there, waiting for me the minute I say I know who I am.
Willy Loman is an ageing travelling salesman haunted, driven and
yet held back by empty dreams of prosperity and success. Justly
celebrated as one of the most famous dramatisations of the failure
of the American Dream, the play's moral and political purpose is
perfectly counterbalanced by a powerful and moving human drama of a
man trying to make his way in the world and of the human flaws that
lead to the shattering of his family and of their figurehead. Death
of a Salesman is Miller's tragic masterpiece and considered one of
the greatest plays of the twentieth century. Awarded the Pulitzer
Prize in 1949, the play remains a classic work of literature and
drama that is studied and performed around the world. This new
edition includes an introduction by Claire Conceison that explores
the play's production history as well as the dramatic, thematic,
and academic debates that surround it; a must-have resource for any
student exploring Death of a Salesman.
Voices Carry is the moving autobiography of the late Ying Ruocheng,
beloved Chinese stage and screen actor, theatre director,
translator, and high-ranking politician as vice minister of culture
from 1986-1990. One of twentieth-century China's most prominent
citizens, Ying was imprisoned during the Cultural Revolution and
devised unique strategies for survival, including playing pranks on
guards and keeping a clandestine notebook. Ying's memoir opens with
his prison years, and then flashes back to his boyhood growing up
in a prince's palace as a member of a progressive Manchu Catholic
intellectual family. He also details his experiences as a
university student during the heady days when the People's Republic
was being founded, followed by his subsequent experiences on stage,
in film, and in politics. A founding member of the Beijing People's
Art Theatre, Ying Ruocheng helped open its doors to Sino-American
exchange when he brought Arthur Miller to China to stage Death of a
Salesman in 1983, playing the role of Willy Loman in his own
translation of the play. Simultaneously a "spy" for his own
government and a cultural ambassador for countless foreigners and
fellow countrymen, Ying lived out his life as a bridge between
China and the West, gaining a singular perspective on matters
related to culture and politics. While suffering from cirrhosis of
the liver during the final decade of his life, Ying Ruocheng
reflected on his experiences, collaborating with coauthor Claire
Conceison to tell his story. Together, they take the reader on an
exhilarating journey from Manchu wrestling matches to missionary
schools, from behind prison bars to behind the scenes at
ground-breaking stage performances, and from public moments of
international recognition to private moments of intimacy and
despair.
Since premiering his pioneering linguistic experiment I Love XXX in
Beijing nearly twenty-five years ago, Meng Jinghui has been
credited with revitalizing Chinese theater by popularizing the
avant-garde. Mixing high culture with mass culture, his plays
address China's enduring revolutionary nostalgia and current social
problems, challenging the artistic status quo from the mainstream
rather than the margins. His creations range from new
interpretations of canonical Western masters like Shakespeare and
Genet to improvisational collaborations with actors on original
works. This anthology from China's most influential playwright
makes his plays available to an international readership in English
for the first time. The collection, chosen by Meng and renowned
Chinese theater scholar and translator Claire Conceison, represents
the breadth of Meng's work illuminates late twentieth- and
twenty-first-century creative practices that transcend the
conventional category of playwright. I Love XXX includes the title
piece, Longing for Worldly Pleasures, The Bedbug, Head Without
Tail, and Two Dogs' Opinions on Life, as well as a DVD featuring
selected scenes from each of the plays.
A companion volume to "Modern Asian Theatre and Performance
1900-2000," this anthology contains nine emblematic scripts from
twentieth and twenty-first century Asian theatre. Opening with a
history of modern Asian drama and a summary of the plays and their
contexts, it features nine works written between 1912 and 2009 in
Japan, China, Korea, India, Indonesia and Vietnam. Showcasing fresh
contemporary writing alongside plays central to the established
canon, the collection surveys each playwright's work, and includes:
"Father Returns" by Kikuchi Kan "Hot Pepper, Air Conditioner and
the Farewell Speech" by Okada Toshiki "Sunrise" by Cao Yu "I Love
XXX" by Meng Jinghui, Huang Jingang, Wang Xiaoli, Shi Hang "Bicycle
"by O Tae-sok"The Post Office "by Rabindranath Tagore"Hayavadana"
by Girish Karnad "The Struggle of the Naga Tribe" by W. S. Rendra
"Truong Ba's Soul in the Butcher's Skin "by Luu Quang Vu The
chronological and geographical breadth of the anthology provides a
unique insight into modern Asian theatre and is essential to any
understanding of its relation to Western drama and indigenous
performance.
A companion volume to "Modern Asian Theatre and Performance
1900-2000," this anthology contains nine emblematic scripts from
twentieth and twenty-first century Asian theatre. Opening with a
history of modern Asian drama and a summary of the plays and their
contexts, it features nine works written between 1912 and 2009 in
Japan, China, Korea, India, Indonesia and Vietnam. Showcasing fresh
contemporary writing alongside plays central to the established
canon, the collection surveys each playwright's work, and includes:
"Father Returns" by Kikuchi Kan "Hot Pepper, Air Conditioner and
the Farewell Speech" by Okada Toshiki "Sunrise" by Cao Yu "I Love
XXX" by Meng Jinghui, Huang Jingang, Wang Xiaoli, Shi Hang "Bicycle
"by O Tae-sok"The Post Office "by Rabindranath Tagore"Hayavadana"
by Girish Karnad "The Struggle of the Naga Tribe" by W. S. Rendra
"Truong Ba's Soul in the Butcher's Skin "by Luu Quang Vu The
chronological and geographical breadth of the anthology provides a
unique insight into modern Asian theatre and is essential to any
understanding of its relation to Western drama and indigenous
performance.
Chinese views of the United States have shifted dramatically since
the 1980s, with changes in foreign relations, increased travel of
Chinese citizens to the U.S., and wide circulation of American
popular culture in China. Significant Other explores
representations of Americans that emerged onstage in China between
1987 and 2002 and considers how they function as racial and
cultural stereotypes, political strategy, and artistic innovation.
Based on fieldwork in Beijing and Shanghai, it offers a unique view
of contemporary Mainland Chinese spoken drama from the perspective
of a Western academic who is both a Chinese studies scholar and a
theatre practitioner. Claire Conceison's close readings of recent
plays take into account not only the texts of the plays themselves
and other primary sources, but also production contexts, creative
origins, artistic collaboration, and audience reception.
Identifying the American as China's ""significant Other,""
Conceison introduces the complex cultural relationship between
China and the United States, situating it in both the long history
of Sino-Western relations and the present dynamics of
post-colonialism. She then examines the emergent discourse of
Occidentalism, tracing its origins and recent circulation and
repositioning it as a discursive strategy to analyze appearances of
Americans on the Chinese stage. Conceison maintains that Chinese
staging of American characters - often played by local actors made
up and costumed as Americans, and more recently played by
foreigners themselves - reveals cultural norms and attitudes
regarding the United States, reflects Sino-American political
relations, articulates Chinese national and cultural identity, and
signifies innovation in spoken drama as an art form.
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