The Fragrant Companions : : A Play About Love Between Women / / Li Yu.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Columbia University Press Complete eBook-Package 2022
• VerfasserIn: Yu, Li,
• MitwirkendeR: Roddy, Stephen,; Wang, Ying,
• Place / Publishing House: New York, NY : : Columbia University Press, , [2022]; ©2022
• Year of Publication: 2022
• Language: English
• Series: Translations from the Asian Classics
• Physical Description: 1 online resource
• Other title: Frontmatter --; CONTENTS --; INTRODUCTION: WOMEN IN LOVE AND THE BUSINESS OF MEN IN LI YU’S CHUANQI DRAMA --; DRAMATIS PERSONAE --; THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ROLE TYPES AND CHARACTERS --; NOTE ON EDITIONS OF LIANXIANGBAN --; LIST OF SCENES --; The Fragrant Companions --; SCENE 1 OPENING --; SCENE 2 THE WEDDING --; SCENE 3 RENTING A HOUSE --; SCENE 4 A VISIT TO A STUDY --; SCENE 5 GUIDANCE FROM THE GODS --; SCENE 6 PRAISING THE SCENT IN VERSE --; SCENE 7 CONJUGAL HARMONY --; SCENE 8 BRIBING FOR A RECOMMENDATION --; SCENE 9 FELT GATHERING --; SCENE 10 A JOKING, BANTERING ALLIANCE --; SCENE 11 ASKING FOR ENFEOFFMENT --; SCENE 12 ECSTASY --; SCENE 13 FAWNING SMILES --; SCENE 14 A REQUEST FOR MATCHMAKING --; SCENE 15 A BRUSH WITH INDIGNATION --; SCENE 16 DOLEFUL EXPECTATIONS --; SCENE 17 LEAVING IN A HURRY --; SCENE 18 STARTLED BY A TYPHOON --; SCENE 19 WRONGFULLY DISMISSED --; SCENE 20 DEBATING A MOVE --; SCENE 21 SEALING A SORROWFUL LETTER --; SCENE 22 A LETTER NOT DELIVERED --; SCENE 23 ACCOMPANYING A HUSBAND TO THE CAPITAL --; SCENE 24 INTERROGATING THE MAID --; SCENE 25 THE EXAMINATION --; SCENE 26 A GIFTED POETESS --; SCENE 27 SURPRISE MEETING --; SCENE 28 CURTAIN BLOCKADE --; SCENE 29 SEARCHING THE CRACK --; SCENE 30 IMPORTUNING A MATCHMAKER --; SCENE 31 GRANTING THE MARRIAGE --; SCENE 32 COVETING BEAUTY --; SCENE 33 SERVING AS THE IMPERIAL ENVOY --; SCENE 34 CHASTITY PLEDGE --; SCENE 35 CO-CONFERRAL --; SCENE 36 HAPPY REUNION --; APPENDIX: MODES AND TUNES --; NOTES --; SELECTED WORKS ON LI YU AND SAME-SEX LOVE IN CLASSICAL CHINESE FICTION AND DRAMA --; INDEX
• Format: Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
• ISBN: 9780231556408; 9783110749663; 9783110993899; 9783110994810; 9783110993752; 9783110993738
• DOI: 10.7312/li--20628
• Access: restricted access
• Hierarchical level: Monograph
• Statement of Responsibility: Li Yu.

Two young gentry women meet by chance at a nunnery in Yangzhou, where they fall in love at first sight. After they exchange poetry and recognize each other’s literary talents, their emotional bond deepens. They conduct a mock wedding ceremony at the nunnery and hatch a plan to spend the rest of their lives together. Their schemes are stymied by a series of obstacles, but in the end the two women find an unlikely resolution—a ménage-à-trois marriage.The Fragrant Companions is the most significant work of literature that portrays female same-sex love in the entire premodern Chinese tradition. Written in 1651 by Li Yu, one of the most inventive and irreverent literary figures of seventeenth-century China, this play is at once an unconventional romantic comedy, a barbed satire, and a sympathetic portrayal of love between women. It offers a sensitive portrait of the two women’s passion for each other, depicts their intellectual pursuits and resourcefulness, and celebrates their partial triumph over social convention. At the same time, Li caustically mocks the imperial examination system and deflates the idealized image of the male scholar.The Fragrant Companions is both an indispensable source for students and scholars of gender and sexuality in premodern China and a compelling work of literature for all readers interested in China’s rich theatrical traditions.