{"product_id":"a-topsy-turvy-world-short-plays-and-farces-from-the-ming-and-qing-dynasties-9780231208970","title":"A Topsy-Turvy World: Short Plays and Farces from the Ming and Qing Dynasties","description":"\u003cp\u003ePlaywriting in many forms flourished during the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. Shorter theatrical genres in particular offered playwrights opportunities for experimentation with both dramatic form and social critique. Despite their originality and wit, these short plays have been overshadowed by the lengthy masterpieces of the southern drama tradition. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eA Topsy-Turvy World\u003c\/i\u003e presents English translations of shorter sixteenth-to-eighteenth-century plays, spotlighting a lesser-known side of Chinese drama. Satirical and often earthy, these mostly one-act plays depict deceit, dissembling, reversed gender roles, and sudden upending of fortunes. With zest and humor, they portray henpecked husbands, supercilious and lustful monks, all-too-human sage kings, disgruntled officials, and overreaching young scholars. These plays provide a glimpse of Chinese daily life and mores even as they question or subvert the boundaries of social, moral, and political order. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eEach translation is preceded by a short introduction that describes the play's author, context, formal qualities, and textual history. \u003ci\u003eA Topsy-Turvy World\u003c\/i\u003e offers a new view of a significant period in the development of the Chinese theatrical tradition and provides insight into the role of drama as cultural critique.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eWilt L. Idema is professor emeritus of Chinese literature at Harvard University. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWai-yee Li is the 1879 Professor of Chinese Literature at Harvard University. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eStephen H. West is Louis Agassiz Emeritus Professor of Chinese, University of California, Berkeley, and Emeritus Foundation Professor of Chinese at Arizona State University.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Columbia University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50522717487378,"sku":"9780231208970","price":49.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_e70c315d-008a-476a-8e52-5341cb5bf5af.jpg?v=1731120372","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/a-topsy-turvy-world-short-plays-and-farces-from-the-ming-and-qing-dynasties-9780231208970","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}