Unit 4 Exploring literature 背景导入 汤显祖是明代成就最高、影响最大的剧作家，其“临川四梦”达到了同时代戏剧创作的高峰。一些中外学者曾将汤显祖与莎士比亚进行平行研究，认为这两位戏剧大师在16世纪与17世纪之交的东西方剧坛上为人类作出了卓越的贡献。文章主要介绍了“中国的莎士比亚”———汤显祖的文学成就及其作品风格。 In his 402nd anniversary year, Shakespeare is still rightly celebrated as a great wordsmith and playwright. But he was not the only great master of dramatic writing to die in 1616, and he is certainly not the only writer to have left a lasting influence on theatre. While less known worldwide, Tang Xianzu is considered China's greatest playwright and is highly spoken of in that country of ancient literary and dramatic traditions. Tang was born in 1550 in Linchuan, Jiangxi Province, and pursued a low?key career as an official until, in 1598, he retired to focus on writing. Unlike Shakespeare's large body of plays, poems and sonnets (十四行诗), Tang wrote only four major plays: The Purple Hairpin (《紫钗记》), The Peony Pavilion (《牡丹亭》), A Dream Under the Southern Bough (《南柯记》), and The Handan Dream (《邯郸记》). The Peony Pavilion is considered as Tang's masterpiece. The rest three are constructed around a dream narrative, a device through which Tang unlocked the emotional dimension of human desires and ambitions and explored human nature beyond the social and political restrictions of that time. Tang lived in the end of the Ming Dynasty and the popularity of his works had a good reason. Similar to Shakespeare, his success rode the wave of a renaissance in theatre as an artistic practice. As in Shakespeare's England, Tang's works became hugely popular in China too. During Tang's China, the way, in which playlets were enjoyed and performed, changed. Kunqu Opera, a form of musical drama, spread from southern China to the whole nation and became a symbol of Chinese culture. Combining northern tune and southern music, Kunqu Opera was known for its poetic language, music, dance movements and gestures. Tang's works benefited greatly from the popularity of Kunqu Opera, and his playlets are considered as classics of Kunqu Opera. While Tang and Shakespeare lived in a world away from each other, there are many things they share in common, such as the humanity of their drama, their iconic and heroic figures, their love for poetic language, a lasting popularity and the anniversary during which we still celebrate them. 【译文】 在莎士比亚逝世402周年时，他仍当之无愧地被称颂为伟大的语言大师和剧作家。但他并不是唯一一位在1616年逝世的戏剧大师，毫无疑问，他也不是唯一一位对戏剧产生深远影响的作家。 汤显祖虽然在世界范围内知名度不高，但却被认为是中国最伟大的剧作家，并且在中国古代文学和戏剧传统中备受尊崇。 汤显祖于1550年出生在江西省临川，他(前半生)低调从政，直到1598年，他退出官场，潜心写作。与创作了大量戏剧、诗歌和十四行诗的莎士比亚不同，汤显祖主要写了四部戏剧：《紫钗记》《牡丹亭》《南柯记》和《邯郸记》。(其中)《牡丹亭》被认为是汤显祖的代表作。其余三部作品 ... ...
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