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ICS lecture: Peng Xu, "The Brothel as a Stage: On Theatrical Space in Late Sixteenth-Century China"

Xu-Peng
April 5, 2019
4:00PM - 5:30PM
Page Hall 60 (1810 College Road)

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Add to Calendar 2019-04-05 16:00:00 2019-04-05 17:30:00 ICS lecture: Peng Xu, "The Brothel as a Stage: On Theatrical Space in Late Sixteenth-Century China" The Institute for Chinese Studies presents "The Centenary of the May Fourth Movement" Lecture Series:Peng XuAssistant Professor, Department of Modern Languages and LiteraturesSwarthmore College"The Brothel as a Stage: On Theatrical Space in Late Sixteenth-Century China"Flyer: Peng Xu FlyerAbstract: Adapted from her book manuscript (The Courtesan's Drama: Women and Chinese Elite Theater, 1570-1600," this lecture discusses the material conditions of staging plays in the topnotch pleasure quarters of late sixteenth-century China. Dr. Xu argues that special conditions were crucial factors that led to the emergence of the courtesan as an important player on the new horizon of the dramatic landscape - namely, that of the brothel as a creative milieu for literatus-playwrights. To zoom in on the historical brothel space, Dr. Xu uses both textual and visual materials from the time, employing a close reading of literary examples to shed light on how theater and life often mingled in the brothels of the day.  Bio: Peng Xu (Ph.D. University of Chicago, 2014) is an assistant professor of premodern Chinese literature and culture at Swarthmore College. She holds a B.A and M.A from Peking University. In addition to her scholarly focus on premodern Chinese drama and theater, Dr. Xu was trained by masters of Peking opera and kunqu opera in Beijing. Her articles on late Ming music and voice have appeared in T’oungpao and Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies. She is completing her first book manuscript on late-sixteenth-century Chinese elite theater. More recent projects include the late Ming music-oriented editorial discourse, Chinese scroll painting as a prop in theater, and a second book on the new spatiality and acoustic experience brought by the gramophone. Since 2010, she has traveled to deliver lecture-demonstrations and interactive workshops at American colleges and universities.Free and Open to the Public This event is supported by a U.S. Department of Education Title VI grant to The Ohio State University East Asian Studies Center.   Page Hall 60 (1810 College Road) Department of East Asian Languages and Literature deall@osu.edu America/New_York public

The Institute for Chinese Studies presents "The Centenary of the May Fourth Movement" Lecture Series:

Peng Xu
Assistant Professor, Department of Modern Languages and Literatures
Swarthmore College

"The Brothel as a Stage: On Theatrical Space in Late Sixteenth-Century China"

Flyer: Peng Xu Flyer

Abstract: Adapted from her book manuscript (The Courtesan's Drama: Women and Chinese Elite Theater, 1570-1600," this lecture discusses the material conditions of staging plays in the topnotch pleasure quarters of late sixteenth-century China. Dr. Xu argues that special conditions were crucial factors that led to the emergence of the courtesan as an important player on the new horizon of the dramatic landscape - namely, that of the brothel as a creative milieu for literatus-playwrights. To zoom in on the historical brothel space, Dr. Xu uses both textual and visual materials from the time, employing a close reading of literary examples to shed light on how theater and life often mingled in the brothels of the day.  

Bio: Peng Xu (Ph.D. University of Chicago, 2014) is an assistant professor of premodern Chinese literature and culture at Swarthmore College. She holds a B.A and M.A from Peking University. In addition to her scholarly focus on premodern Chinese drama and theater, Dr. Xu was trained by masters of Peking opera and kunqu opera in Beijing. Her articles on late Ming music and voice have appeared in T’oungpao and Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies. She is completing her first book manuscript on late-sixteenth-century Chinese elite theater. More recent projects include the late Ming music-oriented editorial discourse, Chinese scroll painting as a prop in theater, and a second book on the new spatiality and acoustic experience brought by the gramophone. Since 2010, she has traveled to deliver lecture-demonstrations and interactive workshops at American colleges and universities.

Free and Open to the Public

 

This event is supported by a U.S. Department of Education Title VI grant to The Ohio State University East Asian Studies Center.