Research Catalog
A couple of soles : a comic play from seventeenth-century China
- Title
- A couple of soles : a comic play from seventeenth-century China / Li Yu ; translated by Jing Shen & Robert E. Hegel.
- Author
- Publication
- New York : Columbia University Press, [2020]
- ©2020
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| Status | Format | Access | Call Number | Item Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schwarzman Building to submit a request in person. | Text | Use in library | JFD 20-3856 | Schwarzman Building - Main Reading Room 315 |
Details
- Additional Authors
- Description
- xxv, 330 pages : illustations; 23 cm.
- Summary
- "A Couple of Soles is a classic comedic romance by the seventeenth-century playwright Li Yu. Tan Chuyu, a poor young scholar, falls in love with the beautiful actress Liu Miaogu. He joins her family's acting troupe, and, in plays within the play, romance ensues. After Liu's family attempts to marry her off to a local country squire, she performs a famous scene in which a heroine drowns herself--and then jumps off the stage into a river, followed by Tan. The local river deity rescues the lovers from death by transforming them into a pair of soles. Li balances their romance with the adventures of a retired upright official involving banditry, bribery, and mistaken identity--and who nets and shelters the two fish when they regain human form. Written at a time when China was beginning to recover from the cataclysmic Ming-Qing dynastic transition, A Couple of Soles displays Li's biting wit as well as his reflections on the concerns of his age, including the dangers of administrative service and the role of theater in society. The play combines witty wordplay and caustic satire with a strong emphasis on traditional moral values. The first major comedy from late imperial China to appear in English translation, A Couple of Soles provides an unparalleled view of the theater in seventeenth-century China."--
- Series Statement
- Translations from the Asian classics
- Uniform Title
- 比目魚. English
- Bi mu yu. English
- Translations from the Asian classics.
- Alternative Title
- 比目魚.
- Bi mu yu.
- Subjects
- Genre/Form
- Criticism, interpretation, etc.
- Drama.
- Bibliography (note)
- Includes bibliographical references (pages [323]-330).
- Language (note)
- In English with some Chinese.
- Call Number
- JFD 20-3856
- ISBN
- 9780231193542
- 0231193548
- 9780231193559
- 0231193556
- LCCN
- 2019025146
- OCLC
- 1090171334
- Author
- Li, Yu, 1611-1680?, author.
- Alternate Script for Author
- 李漁, 1611-1680?,
- Alternate Script for Uniform Title
- 比目魚. English
- Title
- A couple of soles : a comic play from seventeenth-century China / Li Yu ; translated by Jing Shen & Robert E. Hegel.
- Publisher
- New York : Columbia University Press, [2020]
- Copyright Date
- ©2020
- Type of Content
- textstill image
- Type of Medium
- unmediated
- Type of Carrier
- volume
- Series
- Translations from the Asian classicsTranslations from the Asian classics.
- Bibliography
- Includes bibliographical references (pages [323]-330).
- Language
- In English with some Chinese.
- Chronological Term
- 1600-1699
- Added Author
- Shen, Jing (Professor), translator.Hegel, Robert E., 1943- translator.
- Other Form:
- Online version: Yu, Li, A couple of soles New York : Columbia University Press, 2019. 9780231550369 (DLC) 2019025147
- Research Call Number
- JFD 20-3856