Escape & the man who questions death / Gao Xingjian ; translated by Gilbert C.F. Fong ; [with an introduction by Mabel Lee].

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gao, Xingjian.

Contributor:

Fang, Zixun.

Gao, Xingjian.

Standardized Title:

Tao wang. English

Language:

Chinese

English

Subjects (All):

Gao, Xingjian--Translations into English.

Gao, Xingjian.

Physical Description:

xviii, 114 pages, 10 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 24 cm

Other Title:

Man who questions death

Escape and the man who questions death

Place of Publication:

Hong Kong : The Chinese University Press, [2007]

Language Note:

Text translated into English.

Summary:

This collection contains two plays by Gao Xingjian, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature 2000. Escape was written in 1989 in the wake of the June 4 Student Movement in Tiananmen Square in Beijing. With the publication of the play, Gao was expelled from the Chinese Communist Party, dismissed from his state appointment and had his house in Beijing confiscated. Perhaps because of this controversy, Escape has become the most performed of all of Gao's plays: it has been staged in Sweden, Germany, Belgium, France, Poland, Japan, Ivory Coast, Tunisia, and Canada. Wherever it was staged, it was given a locally relevant interpretation and was well received, which lends credence to Gao's claim of the universality of the play he describes as the tragedy of modern man.

The Man Who Questions Death is the latest of Gao's plays. It is also one of the most exciting and powerful. Here Gao condemns the commercialization of modern art and ponders on life and the inevitability of death. At once sad and comical, the play traverses anger, cynicism, resignation, release, and total freedom, culminating in what he terms "black absurdity."

No other two plays illustrate more of Gao Xingjian's ideas on life and art. In Escape and The Man Who Questions Death, he describes the encroachment of politics and commercialism on the individual and the arts, and uses this as the basis to comment on the existential challenges facing mankind. The plays are also perfect examples of Gao Xingjian's accomplishment as a dramatist and his idea of the theater. In them we can experience for ourselves the now familiar Gaoian monologue and get to understand his concept of the neutral actor. This collection is a must read for anyone who wants to appreciate Gao Xingjian as dramatist and thinker. Book jacket.

Contents:

Introduction: Two Autobiographical Plays by Gao Xingjian / Mabel Lee vii

Escape

Escape 3

Notes and Suggestions for Performing Escape 67

About Escape 69

Performance History of Escape 73

The Man Who Questions Death

The Man Who Questions Death 75

A Word from the Translator 109

List of Permissions 113.

Related Work:

Gao, Xingjian. Man who questions death. English.

ISBN:

9629963086

9789629963088

OCLC:

83913936