Additional information
by Chifumi Shimazaki (Translator)
The "fourth-group Noh," so designated because they are performed fourth in a formal five-Noh program, includes almost one hundred plays, and is a group of great variety: some plays are supernatural or visional, others realistic; their leading characters include deities, demons, ghosts, mad people, samurai, and street artists. Dividing them into nine sub-groups, the author fully analyses their dramatic characteristics. Includes translations of four Noh chosen from the first four subgroups. Format is line-by-line translation next to the Romanized Japanese text, with introduction and running commentary.
Author Biography
Mae Smethurst is Professor of Classics and East Asian Languages and Literatures at the University of Pittsburgh. Her other publications include The Artistry of Aeschylus and Zeami: A Comparative Study of Greek Tragedy and Noh (Princeton 1989), and The Noh Ominameshi: A Flower Viewed from Many Directions.
