Western myths and construction of Cao Yu's two tragedies

Liang L Miller, Purdue University

Abstract

The dissertation is a case study of the intertexutality between Western classics and modern Chinese drama. Modern Chinese literary discourse, as well as modern Chinese drama, can be read in two traditions: the political and the aesthetical. Many modern Chinese writers choose to follow the political tradition in their works. Cao Yu, the greatest playwright in modern China, at first alienates himself from the political tradition and finds a proper aesthetical form for modern Chinese drama and tragedy in his exploration of Western classics in his two early plays, The Thunderstorm and The Wilderness. Building his plays on the basis of Western myths, Cao Yu's early plays challenge the political form imposed onto modern Chinese drama. Western myths are the clues for the Chinese playwright in his search of the proper form for Chinese drama and tragedy. In The Thunderstorm and The Wilderness, Cao Yu explores the dramatic device of classical tragedy from the Greek and Romans to examine modern life in a country that was struggling to be modern. By revisiting the Western classics, Cao Yu created the two Chinese classics. Both plays return to the Greek myth and respond to it. The Thunderstorm stages the myth of Phaedra and labyrinth, whereas The Wilderness restages the myth of Orestes. By staging the myth of labyrinth in The Thunderstorm and the myth of sacrificial crisis in The Wilderness, Cao Yu constructs two tragedies that would later be termed as Chinese classics. Western myths to a certain extent give shape to two of Cao Yu's best tragedies.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Goodhart, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Comparative literature|Asian literature|Theater History

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