The Classic Noh Theatre of Japan Author:Ezra Pound, Ernest Fenollosa The Noh plays of Japan have been compared to the greatest of Greek tragedies for their evocative, powerful poetry and splendor of emotional intensity. The influence of the Noh in the West dates from the first publication in 1916 of this book under the title Noh, or Accomplishment. It was the fortunate collaboration of the authority on Far... more » Eastern civilization, Ernest Fenollosa, who made a study of the Noh at a time when it was scarcely honored in Japan, and the young Ezra Pound, who organized Fenollosa's prose notes, giving his translations of the dramas a new vitality and beauty.
This edition also includes an essay on the Noh by William Butler Yeats who wrote that one discovers in these translations "the most subtle discrimination of sense and the invention of images more subtle than sense."
Fifteen of the most celebrated plays of the Noh theatre repertory are given here in entirety and five more are presented in synopsis. The translations are grounded in a critical discussion of the Noh theatre, its history and place in the court life of Japan, a description of the stage on which it is performed, its music, costumes and masks, and the dance which is usually the high point of the performance.« less