review ´ PDF, eBook or Kindle ePUB Ô Carol Fisher Sorgenfrei
solid intro to terayama shuuji & tenjou sajiki, though i wish she had expanded more on the cultural / literary / political climate of the times. a more involved discussion on terayama's collaboration with other avant-garde artists would also have been useful and certainly relevant.
the 3 complete play translations and 1 partial essay translation she includes are very welcome. Unspeakable Acts: The Avant-Garde Theatre of Terayama Shuji and Postwar Japan Very much an in-depth book on Shuji Terayama's theater work. For those who don't know, Terayama is a major figure in contemporary or post-war Japanese theater. On top of that he was also a filmmaker, essayist, poet, visual artist, and songwriter. Imagine a man who is a combination of Jean Genet, Artaud, a touch of Mishima, a side of Osamu Dazai, with Fellini overtures, and in that nutshell you have Terayama. A fascinating figure. Carol Sorgenfrei pretty much captures his greatness as well as the whole Shinjuku art culture in the 1960s and 1970s. Obviously one needs a full biography of the man, as well as his complete works translated into English - and we don't have that yet ...., but this book is a good taster to his work.
What we basically have in this book is a brief (but totally fascinating) biography, critique of his theater work, including detailed descriptions of his staging, etc - and then some of his plays translated into English. My only complaint, and it's a minor one, is that I think it should start off with the bio (and it does) and then to his translated works/essays - and the critique afterwards. What I did was read the bio first, and then his works. After that, the critiques. Nevertheless there are only two books out on Terayama in English, and there need to be more. And sadly this book is now out-of-print, and quite expensive to find.
The beauty of Terayama and his work, is that it is an entrance way to avant-garde Tokyo. Which includes the visual arts, the graphic arts (in a big way) and even Japanese rock music, with of course classic Enka. A must for anyone who has an interest in Japanese post-war Showa aesthetics. Unspeakable Acts: The Avant-Garde Theatre of Terayama Shuji and Postwar Japan An invaluable resource for anyone interested in the delirious world of Shuji Terayama - the taboo-smashing poet, playwright, director, designer, photographer, filmmaker, and all-around cultural provocateur. Unspeakable Acts focuses on his theater activities with translations of several key plays and his writings on stagecraft. His most radical works included street theater that strategically rampaged across an entire city, one production that ended with actors setting fire to the sets, and another that sparked fistfights between the cast, audience, and even critics. Other celebrated productions such as Mink Marie and The Hunchback of Aomori traveled to the U.S. and Europe.
I'm most familiar with Terayama's films - including Pastoral: To Die in Country and Throw Away Your Books, Rally in the Streets - which are the wildest films in the entire Japanese New Wave. Their visuals still retain the ability to stop you in your tracks. Sadly, the films are mostly beyond the purview of this book, but then you would need several tomes to do justice to Terayama's sprawling output. It's not surprising a virtual Terayama industry thrives in Japan - including a museum dedicated to his work.
My only reservation is this is primarily an academic text, mostly concerned with examining only a few plays and constructing an analysis of his aesthetic, including interpretations involving his troubled relationship with his mother. Rather than providing a comprehensive biography or describing many of his unorthodox productions, the author is speaking to her colleagues in Japanese theater studies and trying to situate Terayama's true achievements in that sphere. Large chunks of this won't interest the Terayama novice, but it's still a serious boon this book even exists. Unspeakable Acts: The Avant-Garde Theatre of Terayama Shuji and Postwar Japan
Terayama Shūji (1935-1983) was one of postwar Japan's most gifted and controversial playwrights/directors. Since his death more than twenty years ago, he has been transformed into a cult hero in Japan Despite this notoriety, Unspeakable Acts is the first book in any language to analyze the theater of Terayama in depth. It interrogates postwar Japanese culture and theater through the creative work of this unique yet emblematic artist. By situating Terayama in his historical milieu and by using tools derived from Japanese and Western theories of psychoanalysis, anthropology, sociology, gender, studies, and aesthetics, Carol Fisher Sorgenfrei has woven a sophisticated and provocative study. Unspeakable Acts: The Avant-Garde Theatre of Terayama Shuji and Postwar Japan