Drawing and Performance

Author: Victor Mair
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2000-06-01
Features: At least since the Dunhuang period in the 8th century, the picture recitation of "Bianwen" has been fundamentally a folk tradition in China. However, Chinese historical records offer only some disappointing and vague accounts of the performances of "Bianwen." Painting and Performance faces a multitude of questions related to the scrolls of "Bianwen" and their accompanying performances: Was the text of "Bianwen" used as a prompt during the picture recitation? Why does the scroll painting contain only the rhyming text? Who were the performers who recited these "Bianwen"? What was their social status? This book thus adopts a bold research strategy to break through this impasse. To fill the significant gap in knowledge about picture recitation in China, Dr. Mair seeks information from similar literary forms in India, Indonesia, Japan, Iran, Turkey, Italy, Germany, and many other countries. The results are unexpectedly satisfying.