Transcultural Aesthetics in the Plays of Gao Xingjian DOI: 10.1057/9781137440747.0001 Other Palgrave Pivot titles Joanne Garde-Hansen and Hannah Grist: Remembering Dennis Potter Through Fans, Extras and Archives Ellis Cashmore and Jamie Cleland: Football’s Dark Side: Corruption, Homophobia, Violence and Racism in the Beautiful Game Ornette D. Clennon: Alternative Education and Community Engagement: Making Education a Priority Scott L. Crabill and Dan W. Butin: Community Engagement 2.0? Dialogues on the Future of the Civic in the Disrupted University Martin Tunley: Mandating the Measurement of Fraud: Legislating against Loss Colin McInnes, Adam Kamradt-Scott, Kelley Lee, Anne Roemer-Mahler, Owain David Williams and Simon Rushton: The Transformation of Global Health Governance Tom Watson: Asian Perspectives on the Development of Public Relations: Other Voices Geir Hønneland: Arctic Politics, the Law of the Sea and Russian Identity: The Barents Sea Delimitation Agreement in Russian Public Debate Andrew Novak: The Death Penalty in Africa: Foundations and Future Prospects John Potts: The Future of Writing Eric Madfis: The Risk of School Rampage: Assessing and Preventing Threats of School Violence Kevin Jefferys: The British Olympic Association: A History James E. Will: A Contemporary Theology for Ecumenical Peace Carrie Dunn: Female Football Fans: Community, Identity and Sexism G. Douglas Atkins: T.S. Eliot: The Poet as Christian Raphael Sassower: The Price of Public Intellectuals Joanne Westwood, Cath Larkins, Dan Moxon, Yasmin Perry and Nigel Thomas: Participa- tion, Citizenship and Intergenerational Relations in Children and Young People’s Lives: Children and Adults in Conversation Jonathan Grix: Leveraging Legacies from Sports Mega-Events: Concepts and Cases Edward Webb: Media in Egypt and Tunisia: From Control to Transition? Dayan Jayatilleka: The Fall of Global Socialism: A Counter-Narrative from the South Linda Lawrence-Wilkes and Lyn Ashmore: The Reflective Practitioner in Professional Education Anna-Brita Stenström: Teenage Talk: From General Characteristics to the Use of Pragmatic Markers in a Contrastive Perspective Divya Wodon, Naina Wodon, and Quentin Wodon: Membership in Service Clubs: Rotary’s Experience Robert C. Robinson: Justice and Responsibility—Sensitive Egalitarianism Alison Heron-Hruby and Melanie Landon-Hays (editors): Digital Networking for School Reform: The Online Grassroots Efforts of Parent and Teacher Activists DOI: 10.1057/9781137440747.0001 Transcultural Aesthetics in the Plays of Gao Xingjian Todd J. Coulter Colby College, USA DOI: 10.1057/9781137440747.0001 transcultural aesthetics in the plays of gao xingjian Copyright © Todd J. Coulter, 2014. Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2014 978-1-137-44252-9 All rights reserved. First published in 2014 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN® in the United States—a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN: 978–1–137–44074–7 PDF ISBN: 978-1-349-49510-8 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available from the Library of Congress. A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. First edition: 2014 www.palgrave.com/pivot doi: 10.1057/9781137440747 To NBH DOI: 10.1057/9781137440747.0001 Contents Acknowledgments vii Introduction: International Recognition and National Confusion 1 1 Reactive Theater: State Theater and New Voices in China and France 18 2 Physical Division: Jingju in Performance and Theory 30 3 The Actor in Thirds: Gao’s Theory of Performance 47 4 An Individual in the Void: Au bord de la vie 73 5 An Individual in Company: Quatre quatuors pour un week-end 90 6 An Individual in Night: Ballade Nocturne and Gao’s Philosophical Woman 104 Conclusion: The Obligation of Creation 114 Bibliography 127 Index 131 vi DOI: 10.1057/9781137440747.0001 Acknowledgments There are many people who have helped along the way, either reading drafts and offering suggestions, or champi- oning my work and helping me along the way. I need to thank Haiping Yan for introducing me to the work of Gao Xingjian and for challenging me to create work beyond the page. There is no way that this book would have been completed if not for the constant support and encourage- ment of Claire Conceison. She is a gracious scholar who shares resources and ideas. She also introduced me to Gao himself and for that I am forever grateful. Sy Ren Quah’s work on Gao has bolstered my own and for his quiet support, I thank him. I also would like to acknowledge two undergraduate research assistants: Ali Reader and Jack Gobillot. Ali was helpful in collecting reviews and information and Jack has proven himself to be an incred- ible help in the final stages of preparing the manuscript. DOI: 10.1057/9781137440747.0002 vii Introduction: International Recognition and National Confusion Abstract: The introduction tackles the term transcultural and discusses how it is employed in the book. Because the term comes from Sy Ren Quah’s book, I take time to discuss Quah’s argument and how my work relates to his. Specifically, my work looks at his French-language plays and not his Chinese language work. The introduction goes on to show how Gao uses language to shift subjectivity and hence identity in his plays and concludes with a succinct biographical sketch of Gao and his career as a playwright and artist. Coulter, Todd J. Transcultural Aesthetics in the Plays of Gao Xingjian. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. doi: 10.1057/9781137440747.0003. DOI: 10.1057/9781137440747.0003 