Book description
Japanese nõ theatre or the drama of ?perfected art? flourished in the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries largely through the genius of the
dramatist Zeami. An intricate fusion of music, dance, mask, costume and
language, the dramas address many subjects, but the idea of ?form? is
more central than ?meaning? and their structure is always ritualized.
Selected for their literary merit, the twenty-four plays in this volume
dramatize such ideas as the relationship between men and the gods,
brother and sister, parent and child, lover and beloved, and the power
of greed and desire. Revered in Japan as a cultural treasure, the
spiritual and sensuous beauty of these works has been a profound
influence for English-speaking artists including W. B. Yeats, Ezra Pound
and Benjamin Britten.
