Brief Introduction to the Study of Drama Literature in the 20th Century

Author: Miao Huaiming
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-06-01
Features: It is reasonable to integrate the studies of drama, film, and television into one series. Since the emergence of film and television, there has been a tendency to separate and oppose these new art forms from drama. Film once declared it wanted to "divorce" theater. Those who clung to the theater also harbored hostile views toward these new arts, viewing them as challengers. In reality, despite the son's different personality and appearance from the mother, he still carries her genes. Whether it is film or television, they cannot be separated from the fundamental elements of "performance" and "observation." At its core, they are merely new variations of the ancient art of theater under new technological conditions. They cannot completely discard the bloodline and soul of their ancestors. What is theater? Definitions have varied throughout history, with supporting theories including the "imitation theory," "game theory," and "will expression theory," among others. Ultimately, humans invented theater to create a specific, artistic, audible, visible, and perceivable "scene of performance and observation." This allows for an intuitive and figurative re-embodiment of human life forms and living environments, thereby entertaining, appreciating, understanding, critiquing, and elevating oneself, ultimately optimizing and expanding the space for survival.
In ancient China, although popular literature such as opera and fiction were excluded from the literary hall by orthodox scholars and discriminated against by mainstream society, their survival conditions were still somewhat different. The continuous development, organization, and empirical research of 20th-century opera literature reflect the overall characteristics of a century of opera studies, while also shaping the basic framework and direction of opera research. Therefore, in the nearly century since the establishment and development of opera research, a thorough and comprehensive review and critique of this work have become highly necessary—an inherent requirement for disciplinary growth.
Throughout the process of opera research, the summarization and induction of opera literature studies have also been ongoing. From Zheng Zhenduo's New Losses and Discoveries in the History of Chinese Opera Literature, Notes on Ancient Text Discoveries in 1933, and Thirty Years of New Literary Materials in China, to Zhong Dejun's Ten Years of Discoveries in Chinese Opera and Fiction, from Yu Lin's A Brief Overview of Thirty Years of Opera Literature Research to Wu Shuyin's On the Organization and Research of 20th-Century Opera Literature, these works represent summaries of opera literature studies in different eras and serve as the fundamental prerequisites and important reference materials for the author's book.