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Dionysus on the Other Shore
Gao Xingjian's Theatre of the Tragic
Series: - Sinica Leidensia, Volume: 147
Author:
In Dionysus on the Other Shore, Letizia Fusini argues that throughout his early exile years (late 1980s-1990s), Gao Xingjian gradually moved away from Absurdist Drama to develop a dramaturgical system with tragic characteristics. Drawing on a range of contemporary theories of tragedy, this book reconfigures some of the key tropes of Gaos post-1987 theater as varied articulations of the Dionysian sparagmos mechanism. They are the dismemberment of the dramatic self, the usage of constricted spaces, the divisive nature of gender relations, and the agony of verbal language. Through a text-based analysis of seven plays, the author ultimately aims to show that in Gaos theater, tragedy is an ongoing and mostly subtextual dynamism generated by an interplay of psychic forces concurrently cohesive and divisive.
Letizia Fusini, Ph.D. (2016), SOAS, University of London, is Postdoctoral Research Associate at SOAS and has taught at Goldsmiths and University of Essex. She has published essays on Chinese theatre and Comparative Literature in CLCWeb, Neohelicon, Modern Drama, Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism, Asian Theatre Journal and edited collections including the Routledge Handbook of Modern Chinese Literature (2018).
Acknowledgements
Introduction: A Dramaturgical System with Tragic Characteristics: Rethinking Gao Xingjians Post-Exile Plays
â1âGao Xingjian and the Question of Culture
â2âA New Form of the Tragic Must and Will Be Born: Gao Xingjians Tragic Plays of Self
â3âA Theatre of the Tragic: Methodological Considerations
â4âDionysus on the Other Shore
1 From Oedipus to Dionysus: the Gaoian Tragic Self from Philosophy to Dramaturgy
â1âIntroduction: Tragedy and the Tragican Inextricable Dyad
â2âGao Xingjian, Tragedy, and the Tragic Condition
â3âModern Mans Predicament: Subjectivity as Un-safe Haven
â4âThe Daimon Within: When Oedipus Is Not Enough
â5âFrom Philosophy to Dramaturgy: the Tragic Mode
â6âBonds and Boundaries: the Gaoian Self as a Tragic Field
2 Toward a Theatre of the Tragic: The Bus Stop, The Other Shore, and the Transition from Absurdity to Tragedy
â1âIntroduction: Gao Xingjians (Tragic) Modernism: From the Homeland to Existence
â2âThe Bus Stop: Absurd or Pre-tragic?
â3âBeyond Absurdist Drama: The Tragic Field as a Performative Device
â4âPerforming the Tragic Field: The Other Shore
â5âFrom a Theatre of the Absurd to a Theatre of the Tragic
3 Between Cohesion and Division: the Tragic Field and Mode in Gao Xingjians Post-1990 Plays of Self
â1âIntroduction: Like a Rip in the Paper Sky, a Universe on the Edge of Chaos
â2âBetween Life and Death: the Spatialization of the Tragic Field and Sparagmos of the Feminine Self
â3âThe Sleepwalker: the Psychologization of the Tragic Field and the Sparagmos of the Masculine Self
â4âDialogue and Rebuttal: the Gendering of the Tragic Field and the Sparagmos of Language
â5âThe Death Collector: Dionysian Frenzy and the Apotheosis of the Tragic Potential
â6âMysterium Tremendum: Tragic Acting, Katabasis and the Religion of the Self
4 Escape and Modern Tragedy
â1âIntroduction: Gao Xingjian, Escape, and Cross-cultural Tragic Modernities
â2âEscape: a Modern Tragedy?
â3âTragedy and Its Double(s): Reassembling the Fragments of Dionysus
Conclusion: Gao Xingjians Theatre of the Tragic as Thirdspace: towards a Transcultural Model?
Bibliography
Index
Introduction: A Dramaturgical System with Tragic Characteristics: Rethinking Gao Xingjians Post-Exile Plays
â1âGao Xingjian and the Question of Culture
â2âA New Form of the Tragic Must and Will Be Born: Gao Xingjians Tragic Plays of Self
â3âA Theatre of the Tragic: Methodological Considerations
â4âDionysus on the Other Shore
1 From Oedipus to Dionysus: the Gaoian Tragic Self from Philosophy to Dramaturgy
â1âIntroduction: Tragedy and the Tragican Inextricable Dyad
â2âGao Xingjian, Tragedy, and the Tragic Condition
â3âModern Mans Predicament: Subjectivity as Un-safe Haven
â4âThe Daimon Within: When Oedipus Is Not Enough
â5âFrom Philosophy to Dramaturgy: the Tragic Mode
â6âBonds and Boundaries: the Gaoian Self as a Tragic Field
2 Toward a Theatre of the Tragic: The Bus Stop, The Other Shore, and the Transition from Absurdity to Tragedy
â1âIntroduction: Gao Xingjians (Tragic) Modernism: From the Homeland to Existence
â2âThe Bus Stop: Absurd or Pre-tragic?
â3âBeyond Absurdist Drama: The Tragic Field as a Performative Device
â4âPerforming the Tragic Field: The Other Shore
â5âFrom a Theatre of the Absurd to a Theatre of the Tragic
3 Between Cohesion and Division: the Tragic Field and Mode in Gao Xingjians Post-1990 Plays of Self
â1âIntroduction: Like a Rip in the Paper Sky, a Universe on the Edge of Chaos
â2âBetween Life and Death: the Spatialization of the Tragic Field and Sparagmos of the Feminine Self
â3âThe Sleepwalker: the Psychologization of the Tragic Field and the Sparagmos of the Masculine Self
â4âDialogue and Rebuttal: the Gendering of the Tragic Field and the Sparagmos of Language
â5âThe Death Collector: Dionysian Frenzy and the Apotheosis of the Tragic Potential
â6âMysterium Tremendum: Tragic Acting, Katabasis and the Religion of the Self
4 Escape and Modern Tragedy
â1âIntroduction: Gao Xingjian, Escape, and Cross-cultural Tragic Modernities
â2âEscape: a Modern Tragedy?
â3âTragedy and Its Double(s): Reassembling the Fragments of Dionysus
Conclusion: Gao Xingjians Theatre of the Tragic as Thirdspace: towards a Transcultural Model?
Bibliography
Index
All those interested in contemporary Chinese and diasporic theatre, comparative literature and drama, transcultural studies, aesthetics of modern tragedy, as well as sinologists and theatre specialists.