Game Talk
——A caprice on "The Great Game - Where Peking Opera Is Good"
—
Liu Shusheng is a senior drama theorist
An academic work, squeezed into the top of the list of new books in the triptych bookstore for several consecutive months, is a phenomenon that cannot be ignored. In an impetuous era, in a star-chasing, fragmented knowledge acquisition, and fast food culture. Readers devote great attention and enthusiasm to a monograph on the art of Peking Opera, which cannot but be said to be an anomaly. It's also really gratifying.
As a decades-old friend of the author of this book. I had the privilege of participating in the idea, discussion, and review of the first draft of each chapter until it was completed. Every time I read the cover, I can't help but think of the hardships encountered by the two authors during this period and the experience of quitting the pen several times and falling into a bottleneck. This also prompted me to say a few words.
The Great Game: Where Peking Opera Is So Good (Life, Reading, And New Knowledge Triptych Bookstore, 2021)
What kind of book to write?
Baochang has been a "drama idiot" since he was a child in Peking Opera, and has played tickets all his life. I have visited the Master and gone to the sea. He has shared the stage with many famous characters (pronounced knighthood here). According to what he said privately, "If you hold back all your life, you can't help but say it!" "What can you say? It's a big problem. He told me many times that he wanted to write a book about Peking Opera. "It should be written!" "You think, the performance of Peking Opera is unique in the world's major performance systems, and there is no similarity!" Think about it, peking opera performing arts, it is neither Stanislav nor Brecht. It is Chinese Peking Opera, Chinese Opera.
Baochang has been engaged in creation all his life, and drama and directing are his strong points. However, when writing theoretical works, he himself said that he was somewhat confused. Once, when I was gathering in Shichahai, he said to me, "This is also difficult!" There are too many things in a stomach, I just don't know how to arrange it. "I once suggested that he could use prose writing and think of where to write. For example, like Baustovsky's "Golden Rose", Qin Mu's "Yihai Shellfish" or Roland. Barthes's The Whisper of Love... He was noncommittal.
Scholar Tao Qingmei (left) in "We Both, There Is "Drama"! ——Guo Baochang dialogue with Zu Feng and Qiu Jirong" activity site
Later Tao Zi (another young author of the book) joined. Of course, it is also a stop-and-write, and it is a bitter ordeal. Like a snake molting, a cicada sheds its shell. Finally, one day, he sent a "say ugly", which lifted my spirit. It's really well written. Among them, "great beauty can be ugly", "ugly aesthetic function on the stage", "beyond sorrow and joy, life and death". Lots of living allusions, experienced firsthand. And naturally integrated his own aesthetic point of view into it. High academic quality. I sent him the feeling of reading the manuscript. He wrote back, "I've been waiting for your opinion, because there is no bottom." It was affirmed and confidence was greatly enhanced. Later I replied, "I doubt that the other chapters of your book can be as ugly as they are." If you can, it's a success! "Later, I received other chapters one after another, all of which have their own characteristics. It's encouraging.
I suddenly felt that thanks to Baochang not listening to my advice, if so, their book would at most be a "Essay on Opera" like Mr. Weng Yihong. Mr. Weng is remarkable, but his theory has not yet been formed.
An argument about the book – "The Game"
After the first draft was completed, it was finally concluded that "play" was the purpose of the book. At that time, the two authors had not yet decided on the title of the book. That's what I'm worried about — can the "game" argument hold?
Regarding Chinese opera, many experts and scholars have carried out unremitting exploration and research over the past hundred years. From the master of traditional Chinese studies a hundred years ago, Wang Guowei, to Mr. Zhang Geng, a giant in the field of opera theory in the Yan'an period and new China. There are also the stars of opera theorists. They have conducted outstanding theoretical research on the definition of opera.
Mr. Wang Guowei said, "Opera singers, it is said that the story is also sung and danced." To this end, he did a lot of research and research. There are at least six books on opera alone. Among them, "Song and Yuan Opera Examination" (changed to "History of Song and Yuan Opera" when published by the Commercial Press) is a representative work. Later, Mr. Zhang Geng came to the conclusion of "drama poetry theory" after decades of research. He and Mr. Guo Hancheng wrote the General History of Chinese Opera and the General Theory of Chinese Opera. And this theory of history has also become the work of the China Academy of Arts!
I remember that Mr. Shi Xusheng, a teacher of the Guangyuan Academy, put forward the view of "music ontology" of opera and Mr. Zhang Geng's "drama poems" to discuss, which immediately caused controversy. It's all old language. Just to say that Baochang's "game theory" is dangerous.
Because of worry, just learn. Thus I thought of hermeneutics. For example, "drama" is both the "drama" of opera and the "drama" of games. Ancient characters pay attention to shape and sound, and a word is often composed of a head and pronunciation and meaning. The traditional "play" is composed of "Ge" on the right side and "" (thin sound) on the left. The word "" in turn consists of the "虍" (pronounced 虍, meaning the fur tattoo of the beast) on the top and the bean below. Therefore, paleographers believe that the word "drama" is a hunting game in which the samurai wrestles with the beast or with the person (actor) wearing the mask of the beast in the sound of drums. So in the sense of exegesis, the roots of opera lie in games.
We can also look at some of the couplets of the ancient opera building, and there are many remnants of "drama" (opera) that is, "drama" (game). There are some of these in the book, and you can add a few more. For example, "singing on stage, watching drama offstage, all are playing every scene" This is both an opera and a game. There is also one: uplink: "deliberately pretending, cool world;" downlink: "appearance, game article." ”
Directly put forward the concept of the game!
In fact, this "game" is a philosophical proposition and a cultural proposition. It is closely related to the development of human civilization. This proposition is hotly discussed in the West. From Aristotle down to Kant, Schiller, Spencer. And, of course, Nietzsche. Finally to the great German philosopher Gadamer. Has become a very important genre. Their main argument is that "human civilization originated in the game". This is different from Plekhanov's statement that "culture and art originate from labor."
A year before the new crown epidemic, the People's Publishing House translated a book by the great German philosopher Gadamer, "The Reality of Beauty - The Art of Play, Symbolism, and Festivals" The author is a philosophical aesthetics master, and his works are equal. This book of aesthetics is important. Unfortunately, because of the epidemic, readers and even scholars on the mainland have not attracted attention. I have asked some of my friends who are engaged in learning, and almost none of them have seen it. This foreigner is interested in oriental aesthetics. Particular emphasis is placed on ancient Chinese philosophy and aesthetics. In the preface to the Chinese translation of the book, he even says that "you and Chinese talk about philosophy and aesthetics, which is tantamount to a banmen axe." "Ha, maybe he's being polite, maybe not. In this book he says that "the first (human) civilization was played out." It is produced in the game and as a game and never leaves the game. I quoted this sentence to show that there is nothing wrong with Baochang's Peking Opera "game theory". And you read this Great Game, and its arguments and a host of examples are self-explanatory and self-contained!
Cover art of "The Great Game: What's So Good about Peking Opera"
About the integration of the performance
This is the most meaningful point in this book, which speaks of Peking Opera, a system in which opera performance is completely different from that of previous Chinese and foreign academics. It breaks through Stanislav's fourth wall, the separation between actors and audiences, stage and theater. The concept of "one performance" is rarely mentioned. Baochang made it a Chinese opera, and the unique performance of Peking Opera was shouted out. And define it as a characteristic of Peking Opera opera performance. There are plenty of examples in the book. Convincing. For example, "applause", and applause is also divided into "seven categories and eight schools", which is probably not well known to most experts in the opera industry in the Peking Opera circle. Even the "hanging" in the performance is also a feature of the "theater aesthetics".
"Watching and performing as one" is well mentioned. And this has a precedent in the origin of opera, which is very common. This reminds me of an anecdote recorded in the Taiping Imperial Records. It is the story of Liu Yan, the smallest poet of the Tang Dynasty. Anyone who has read the Three Character Sutra knows that there are a few sentences. "Tang Liuyan, Fang is seven years old, lifts up a prodigy and does orthography." One of the poems he wrote was passed down to later generations, namely "Wing Wang Da Niang Dai Rod". It happened in the twelfth year of the founding of The Tang Dynasty by Emperor Xuanzong of Tang (that is, Emperor Tang Ming, the grandfather of Pear Garden). You may wish to quote the Taiping Imperial Records.
"Tang Ming Emperor Yuqin Zhenglou, Da Zhang Le, listed hundred skills." When the church had a wang da niang, wearing a hundred foot pole, a pole on Shi Mu Shan, and an abbot of Yingzhou (Penglai, abbot Yingzhou), so that the children held the festival in and out of it, singing and dancing. Shi Yan took the prodigy as the secretary orthography, And Fang was ten years old (the account here is wrong, Liu Yan was born in 716 AD, and the twelfth year of the New Century was 724 AD, which should be eight years old) Emperor Summoned, and the noble concubine put it on her lap, for Shi Fan Dai, and with it, she made the Grand Lady of Yongwang wear a pole. Yan responded to the sound, and the noble concubine Daxi was given it by the wat and the yellow-striped robe. Liu Yan's poem written in obedience to the order is "Yong Wang Da Niang Dai Rod" "The hundred plays in front of the building compete for new, only the long pole is wonderful. Whoever says that The Silk Luo is powerful, especially the self-contempt is more impressive. ”
This passage is very typical of the theater aesthetic of "viewing and acting as one". You think, that time when Tang Xuanzong and Yang Guifei were watching the Hundred Operas Competition in the Qinzheng Building, the performance venue was Qinzheng Lou; the actor, Wang Daniang, an artist in the teaching workshop, was doing a wonderful performance of wearing poles. The audience was Tang Xuanzong, Yang Guifei and a number of officials and ministers. At this time, Yang Guifei on the stage (perhaps just the square under the diligent government building) was drawing eyebrows at the prodigy Liu Yan she was holding. Seeing the wonderful place, the applause was endless, and the noblewoman ordered Liu Yan to improvise a poem with the title of Dai Rod. The poem became "Yong Wang's Great Lady Wears a Pole", and Yang Guifei immediately rewarded it. Isn't this typical "concerted performance"? In the history of Chinese opera, Hundred Operas is also one of the sources of Opera. Therefore, the integration of the performance is also a historical evolution.
Academic works should also be readable and literary
In the years before my retirement, I had the honor of serving as a senior professional title judge of the China Academy of Arts and a reviewer of outstanding doctoral dissertations of the Ministry of Education. During this period, he read and studied a large number of scholarly works. It's a really upturned posture. However, in the process of learning, I also deeply feel a certain regret. That is to say, almost all academic works have tight faces, and it cannot be said that these works have achievements in their respective academic fields. The structure of the work is reasonable, and the exposition is clear and logical. The information used is rich and informative. But there is a common problem, and that is that it is too serious (or too rigid). Looking too tired. The Amazing Game is very different. As a work of academic quality, it is too readable! It can be said that in reading the first draft, deliberating on the revised draft, and even reading after the book is written. There is no hardship in the past when reviewing monographs. A theoretical monograph can make the reader feel happy to read, which is remarkable. The discussion in the book is plain, witty, and interesting. These are all strange and unusual in the academic monographs I have seen and read, and of course I have said this in no way to detract from the seriousness of this book as an academic work.
Of course, this effect can be achieved, which is related to Guo Baochang's own narrative style. I've also read books he wrote, like Say Something You Don't Know, All Big Characters, but those books aren't theoretical. As for the academic characteristics of this book, Baochang's collaborator Tao Ziju has made great contributions. Tao Zi is a young scholar, female doctor, researcher of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. In this collaboration with Baochang, she has practiced her usual proposition of "speaking in Chinese her own language Chinese her own aesthetics. "This cooperation with Baochang, she did it! She did a lot of research labor. I know she's amassed hundreds of discs just by recording. Every time I read the manuscript, I didn't feel any trace of her. In "The Great Game", its style is both interesting and logical. Often marvel at Tao Zi how she did it. It's amazing!
One last word. "The Great Game" is an important work in the academic field of Chinese opera and a contribution to the aesthetics of international drama. He offers the world a path to gain an in-depth understanding of the cultural heritage of Chinese opera. Academically, the peking opera art that shows the world is different from any other school of theatrical performance art system in the world.
Hats off to both authors.
First draft in November 2021
Revised on March 6, 2022
END
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