Chinese Drama: An Annotated Bibliography of Commentary, Criticism, and Plays in English Translation (review)

22 China Review International: Vol. 3, No. 1, Spring 1996 Manuel D. Lopez. Chinese Drama: An Annotated Bibliography of Commentary, Criticism, and Plays in English Translation. Metuchen and London: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1991. ix, 525 pp. Hardcover $57.50, ISBN 8-8108-2347-0. This is the most ambitious and comprehensive bibliography of Chinese drama and theater compiled to date. As such, it is an extremely important work. Yet even a cursory examination ofit reveals that it is seriously flawed. In consulting with Dr. Constantine Tung, who is specifically thanked for his support and encouragement in the "Acknowledgments" (p. ix), I learned that the author was not a scholar of Chinese theater but rather a professional librarian. He studied Chinese language with Dr. Tung for several years, and was inspired to compile this bibliography after attending a conference on Chinese theater held by Dr. Tung at the State University of Buffalo in 1984. Very sadly, he passed away quite shortly after submitting the manuscript for the bibliography to the publishers. He therefore had no opportunity to proofread the text ofthe actual book. On the basis of the book itselfas it now stands, I can only conclude that the publishers did not receive substantive advice from scholars in the field, nor provide for adequate proofreading ofthe final text. Because of the importance ofthis work, I believe that it is deserving ofclose and serious attention. Additionally, in the course of working on this review, I have come to believe that, for the sake of the author and future users ofthe book, the publisher should actually take it out ofprint, locate a scholar or team of scholars in the field to correct at least the most critical flaws, and then reissue the work in a second edition. For these reasons I will give a perhaps excessive though certainly not exhaustive number ofexamples for most of the problems that I discuss, and hope that readers of this journal will bear with me in what I believe is a serious and valuable cause. Description The book includes well over three thousand individual item entries; the exact number is difficult to ascertain, for reasons that will be discussed below. These items are organized in two parts according to a fairly elaborate taxonomic system. Part 1 (pp. 3-168), is without a general title. In the words of the "Preface," "Part I is a comprehensive, classified, annotated, interdisciplinary bibliography of articles, books, parts ofbooks, dissertations, [and] theses, in English, concerning 1996 by University all aspects QfChinese drama from its shamanistic origins to 1985" (p. vii). Itis divided into four major sections, "Background and Development," "Components of Chinese Theatre," "Comparisons with other National Theatres," and "Overseas Chinese Theatre." Each major section is then further subdivided into topic areas. ofHawai'i Press Features 23 The twenty-eight subdivisions of"Background and Development" include such topics as "General Works and Reference Sources," "Origins ofChinese Drama," "Acrobats," "Puppets," "Classical Theatre," "Amateur Theatre," "Western-Style Drama," "Dramatists," "State and Theatre," and individual subdivisions for certain specific theater forms and periods ofhistory. The ten subdivisions of "Components of Chinese Theatre" include topics such as "History," "Theatre Buildings," "Actors, Actresses, Directors, and Critics," "Costumes," "Music," and "Dance." The latter two sections include twenty-two and eight subdivisions, respectively; these are arranged primarily according to specific geographical areas, such as "Austria," "Canada," "Boston," and "Toronto." Throughout part i, items in each subdivision are further categorized as "Articles," "Books," or "Dissertations and Parts ofBooks." Items in each category are then listed alphabetically by author, editor, translator, or title. Part 2 (pp. 169-525), "Plays in Translation," consists oftwo major subdivisions , "Anthologies and Collections" and "Individual Plays." The former is not further categorized, with items simply listed alphabetically by playwright, editor, or volume title. In the latter, plays are listed alphabetically by their translated titles; under each title entry, individual item entries are categorized as "Script, Selection , or Excerpt," "Summaries," or "Commentary and Criticism." Each part is followed by an index. Both indexes list "names ofindividuals and corporate bodies" (p. 157 and p. 515); specifically, these include authors, editors , translators, playwrights, and, in some cases in part 1, individuals who are the subject ofwritings by others...