| NOTA |
(★)(Chushingura[The Treasury of Loyal Retainers], also known as the story of the Forty-Six [or Forty-Seven] Roonin, is the most famous and perennially popular of all Japanese dramas. Written around 1748 as a puppet play, it is now better known in Kabuki performances. In the twentieth century, cinema and television versions have been equally successful. Donald Keene here presents a complete translation of the original text, with notes and an introduction that increase the reader´s comprehension and enjoyment of the play. The introduction also elucidates the ideal of loyalty. This traditional virtue, as exemplified in Chushingura, has never completely lost its hold on audiences, in spite of twentieth-century changes in Japanese society and moral ideals. Moreover, as Professor Keene points out, the excitement, color, and violence expressed in the play may be considered the counterpoint to the austere restrain and understatement which are more commonly thought to be ´traditionally´Japanese. One of the Translations from the Oriental Classics. Donald Keene, Professor of Japanese at Columbia University, is the translator of Major Plays of Chikamatsu and Essays in Idleness [The Tsurezuregusa of Kenko], and the editor of Twenty Plays of the No Theatre.) |
BASE de DATOS, Biblioteca del Centro Cultural de la Embajada de Japon
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