Bai, Rongning (1996) Brecht and China : a mutual response. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

This thesis deals with the cross-cultural relations between Brecht and China
through an analysis of how Brecht responded to the traditional Chinese theatre and
how his drama was received in turn by modern Chinese theatre. It attempts to
examine the respective socio-cultural or political contexts wherein such kind of crosscultural
contacts were needed, and the consequent aesthetic-theatrical as well as
socio-cultural or political changes brought about by these contacts that have produced
two distinctively independent yet related forms of theatre.
It is argued that Brecht's search for a theatre style of his own amidst the sociocultural
as well as political crises between the two world wars made him look to the
East for inspirations, and his direct encounter with Mei Lanfang enabled him to
interpret the latter's acting in such a way that he responded to it with his postulation of
the alienation effect and modification of a gestic performance style. His repudiation
of the well-made dramatic theatre brought his epic theatre closer to the traditional
Chinese theatre whose aesthetic principles he shared in constructing a non-
Aristotelian episodic form of drama. In his experimentations with new modes of
theatrical expressions, he did not simply borrow or copy the forms and content of
classical Chinese drama; he appropriated, transformed and renewed them, for
example, in The Caucasian Chalk Circle, for the particular purpose of instructing
audiences in a scientific age.
China! s reception of Brecht has had much to do with the country's changing
socio-cultural as well as political situations. Chinese theatre practitioners responded
to him because he was a politically, culturally and aesthetically suitable figure. His
epic drama provided an alternative style for the Chinese in their attempt to innovate
their realist spoken drama imported from the West, and was also introduced into local
forms of performing arts in hope that the traditional Chinese theatre could be
resurrected. Furthermore, he prompted Huang Zuolin to theoretically re-examine
Chinese operas, which the latter integrated with techniques of Brecht and
Stanislavsky into spoken drama to establish a new theatre style called Xieyi drama.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN2000 Dramatic representation. The Theater P Language and Literature > PT Germanic literature
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Brecht, Bertolt, 1898-1956 -- Criticism and interpretation, Brecht, Bertolt, 1898-1956 -- Influence, Chinese drama -- Influence, Theater -- China, Drama -- Cross-cultural studies
Official Date:	October 1996
Dates:	Date Event October 1996 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Centre for Translation and Comparative Cultural Studies
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Bassnett, Susan
Extent:	iii, 287 leaves
Language:	eng

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