Chikamatsu: Five Late Plays; Author: Gerstle, C. Andrew; Author: Chikamatsu, Monzaemon; Hardback; Book

Author: Gerstle, C. Andrew; Author: Chikamatsu, Monzaemon
Translations from the Asian Classics (Hardcover); Hardback; Book
552 pages
Published: June 2001
University Presses of California, Columbia and Princeton
ISBN: 0231121660

Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653-1725), often referred to as Japans Shakespeare and a god of writers, was arguably the most famous playwright in Japanese history and wrote more than 100 plays for the kabuki and bunraku theaters. Today, the plays of this major literary figure are performed on kabuki and bunraku stages and in the modern theater, and forty-nine films of his plays have been made, thirty-one of them from the silent era. In this volume, Gerstle translates five plays never before available in English that complement other collections of Chikamatsus work.Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653-1725), was arguably the most famous Japanese playwright, and wrote over 100 plays for the Bunraku and Kabuki theatres. This translation of five of his later plays, the translator argues, shows how Chikamatsu achieved a balance between private and public society.