Description

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The "fourth-group Noh," so designated because they are performed fourth in a formal five-Noh program, includes almost one hundred plays, and is a group of great variety: some plays are supernatural or visional, others realistic; their leading characters include deities, demons, ghosts, mad people, samurai, and street artists. Dividing them into nine sub-groups, the author fully analyses their dramatic characteristics. Includes translations of four Noh chosen from the first four subgroups. Format is line-by-line translation next to the Romanized Japanese text, with introduction and running commentary.

About the Author

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Mae Smethurst is Professor of Classics and East Asian Languages and Literatures at the University of Pittsburgh. Her other publications include The Artistry of Aeschylus and Zeami: A Comparative Study of Greek Tragedy and Noh (Princeton 1989), and The Noh Ominameshi: A Flower Viewed from Many Directions.