Expression and the mask: The dissolution of personality in Noh
01 Mar 1989-The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism (Oxford University Press (OUP))-Vol. 47, Iss: 2, pp 157-168
About: This article is published in The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism.The article was published on 1989-03-01. It has received 10 citations till now.
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09 Jul 2009
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24 Apr 2013
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01 Jan 2015
TL;DR: In this paper, an analysis of some works of fiction by Enchi Fumiko (1905-1986) set in the world of kabuki and noh is presented.
Abstract: This is an analysis of some works of fiction by Enchi Fumiko (1905-1986) set in the world of kabuki and noh, of which Enchi was a great expert. By using contemporary theories of gender, queer and ageing and their connections, it is an attempt to throw a new light on Enchi’s literature, especially on the works of the last period, which are almost unknown and not translated. The analysis of these works gives a necessary contribution to the research on Enchi because they differ substantially from the better known earlier works of the 1950s such as Onnazaka and Onnamen. The works analyzed pre-empt some concepts of contemporary theory from the point of view of gender and ageing aspects. Although those aspects have already been partially considered by the critics, their analysis was mainly restricted to the most popular works of the writer. In particular, the fact that these works describe the life of actors, with a continuous and fluid exchange between stage and everyday life acts, represents an opportunity for a further consideration of aspects of contemporary theory such as the concept of performativity. The postmodern idea that identity is constructed and that there is no fixed and abiding self, presupposes a difference between performance, where a supposed reality is imitated on the stage, and performativity a la Butler, where the reality is created everyday by assuming a certain set of repeated acts. In the case of an actor, the acts onstage and the acts offstage influence each other, blurring the concept of performance and performativity and embodying a concrete example of the construction of identity. In particular, the works selected have a specific focus on the concept of identity. Onnagata ichidai regards the impossibility of fixing identity, Komachi hensō is about the human need to create a stable identity, and Kikujidō describes the overcoming of the need of identity itself. At the same time two of the works above mentioned represent an intertextual dialogue with Yukio Mishima’s literature. Enchi and Mishima through their works shared many interests in Japanese tradition, and also in aspects of human identity like gender and age, even if their visions were quite different. Therefore, Enchi often referred to her colleague’s writings while he was alive, but especially after his sudden and violent death. The works analyzed are precious for their intertextual and critical value together with the possibility of a close reading which both pre-empts and furthers contemporary theories and allows a re-evaluation of Enchi’s literature in general.
4 citations
01 Jan 2015
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyze how Komachi's image is interpreted in the modern Noh play by Mishima Yukio, and the novel by Enchi Fumiko, while keeping the original Noh Sotoba KomachI (Komachi on the stupa) as reference.
Abstract: The figure of medieval Japanese poet Ono no Komachi has been one of the most controversial and inspiring of Japanese literary tradition and it is at the centre of a number of works and Noh plays. This essay analyzes how her image is interpreted in the modern Noh play by Mishima Yukio, and the novel Komachi henso� (transformations of Komachi) by Enchi Fumiko, while keeping the original Noh Sotoba Komachi (Komachi on the stupa) as reference. The two protagonists in Mishima’s play – old Komachi and the poet – are generally interpreted and explained by Mishima himself as allegories of dry and cynical realism versus dreamlike romanticism and self-deception. Nevertheless, making reference to the theory of lieux de mmoire by Pierre Nora, it is showed that the tendency to self-deception occurs in both protagonists. The visions that emerge in the two modern works are similar: indeed, the figure of Komachi becomes a metaphor for the idea of the impossibility of fixing an identity in regard to the passage of time, and shows the deception at the base of the idea of an abiding self, which is in line with many contemporary theories of the construction of identity. Summary 1. «Sotoba Komachi». – 2. Mishima’s Modern Noh. – 3. Komachi Legend in Enchi’s Work. – 4. Dangerous Alliances and Komachi shiken. – 5. Reiko as a Transformed Komachi. – 6. Reiko and Shigaraki’s Gendered Perception of Age. – 7. Conclusions.
2 citations
01 Jan 2016
TL;DR: The authors explored the relationship between subject and object as the most important dimension in this complex, and concluded that it is this relationship that could possibly lead us toward integration of the two poles.
Abstract: tinctions between the subject and object, emphasizing the values of one to the rejection of values for the other. The purpose of this study is to explore a new pathway that examines the relationship between subject and object as the most important dimension in this complex. It is this relationship that could possibly lead us toward integration of the two poles. To this end, the aesthetics of ZeamiMotokiyo Saburo (1363-1443) that he developed for No1 theater will be explored for what those ideas may lend to the investigation. While Kiyotsugu Yuzaki (known professionally as Kannami) elevated a peasant entertainment to the level of a court fine art, it was Zeami, his son, who brought the aesthetics to a new high which guided the practice of No for these last several hundred years. To clarify the discussion between two principal views of philosophy-East and Westupon which this study is based, three major thrusts in Western aesthetic ideation will be outlined. Thus, the ground is established upon which certain postulations about subject and object can be advanced. To conclude the study, findings will be evaluated for the implications that they hold for music education.
2 citations