Songs of ourselves

Xu Wei (1521-1593) is a late-Ming figure famous for his individuality, prized by later generations for flouting conventions in favor of revealing an inner quality ( bense ). This quality adheres as well to his Four Cries of a Gibbon ( Sisheng yuan ), which dramatize the tensions and overlaps between self-expression and conventional perception. This dissertation accompanies complete translations of "The Madman Officer Thrice Plays the Yuyang Roll on the Drum (Mi Heng)," "The Zen Buddhist Monk Yu Has a Voluptuous Dream (Zen Master Yu)," "The Female Mulan Joins the Army in Place of Her Father (Mulan)," and "The Girl Top Graduate Rejects the Female Phoenix and Gains the Male Phoenix (Girl Graduate)" with a close analysis of each play. The analysis argues that the plays work together as a consistent whole in considering how a "true self" is established. In spite of the machinations of disguise and performance that are also crucial elements in the plot of each play, the audience still receives information about what is acceptable as "true" and what is not. The dissertation argues that what one says and how one appears are navigational clues in projecting one's identity to an audience, a fact that remains in both drama and real life.