Comedy/ – Paperback

Description

Author(s):
Publisher: China National Publications Import & Export C
Publisher Imprint: China National Publications Import & Export C
BISAC: World Literature – China – General

Comedy is the concluding work of Chen Yan’s “Stage Trilogy.” Like The Stage Setup and The Leading Role, it remains a gripping life story centered on the key figures both on and off the theatrical stage. “” Comedy is a gripping, tumultuous, and deeply moving life story of a comedic actor (a clown role), written in a comedic style. Centered on the lives and fates of the father and his two sons from the He family across two generations, the novel interweaves theatrical performance with the journey of life, extending into a broad panorama of human existence across all walks of life. It captures the rises and falls, successes and failures, gains and losses, honors and disgraces brought about by such universal human encounters as “resentment at meeting the undesired, sorrow at parting with the beloved, and frustration in seeking the unattainable.” Through this, the novel expresses a penetrating understanding of the relationships between traditional opera and history, between the era and contemporary reality. He Jiabei strays once from the values upheld by his father, Huoshaotian, venturing further down a “crooked” path of comedy until his comedic life ultimately ends in tragedy. He Huoju, however, awakens through a chance turning point. Amidst the constants and changes of human nature and social customs, he suddenly grasps the profound importance of adhering to the “right path” in comedic art, thereby opening up new possibilities-a rebirth and a hopeful turn-for a comedic life. Within these pages, the transformation of social circumstances and the intricate interplay with individual destinies, as well as the intrinsic connection between artistic creation, life, and the people, are all given unique artistic treatment. Throughout, human relationships change and shift across past and present; sorrow contains joy, and joy contains sorrow. Behind the playful and ironic brushstrokes lies a great, compassionate empathy for all sentient beings caught in the long cycle of suffering. Beneath the dazzling spectacle, the boiling oil and blazing fire of worldly success, there hides vast loneliness and desolation. –“”””