Washington University in St. Louis Washington University Open Scholarship All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) January 2011 Dramaturgical Crossroads and Aesthetic Transformations: Modern and Contemporary Adaptations of Classical Japanese Nō Drama Robert Neblett Washington University in St. Louis Follow this and additional works at: https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/etd Recommended Citation Neblett, Robert, "Dramaturgical Crossroads and Aesthetic Transformations: Modern and Contemporary Adaptations of Classical Japanese Nō Drama" (2011). All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs). 258. https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/etd/258 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by Washington University Open Scholarship. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) by an authorized administrator of Washington University Open Scholarship. For more information, please contact [email protected]. WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS Committee on Comparative Literature Dissertation Examination Committee: Robert E. Hegel, Chair Rebecca L. Copeland Robert Henke Marvin H. Marcus Lynne Tatlock Julie A. Walker DRAMATURGICAL CROSSROADS AND AESTHETIC TRANSFORMATIONS: MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY ADAPTATIONS OF CLASSICAL JAPANESE NŌ DRAMA by Robert Lloyd Neblett A dissertation presented to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Washington University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy August 2011 Saint Louis, Missouri copyright by Robert Lloyd Neblett 2011 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Dramaturgical Crossroads and Aesthetic Transformations: Modern and Contemporary Adaptations of Classical Japanese Nō Drama by Robert Lloyd Neblett Doctor of Philosophy in Comparative Literature with an Emphasis in Drama Washington University in St. Louis, August 2011 Professor Robert E. Hegel, Chair This study explores the various dramaturgical strategies at work within the twentieth and twenty-first-century theatrical adaptation of the Japanese Nō drama. At its core are questions regarding the methodology utilized in the updating of an innately supernatural and spiritual aesthetic into the increasingly secularized world of the present, and how those supernatural elements are often transformed into metaphorical constructs. Ultimately, I examine how the transformative aesthetic that has given the Nō its literary power over the past 700 years is the very aspect that permits it to facilitate, resist, and assimilate the strategies of dramatic adaptation. My primary categories for adaptation include the direct and indirect, which refer to the existence (or not) of a direct textual analogue within a specific style of classical literature. I break this down further into the sub-categories of correlative, extrapolative, interpolative, and stylistic adaptation, each dependent upon the degree to which the modern author adheres to the variants and invariants of an extant text or literary tradition. Throughout the study, I return periodically to the work of Gérard Genette and Linda ii Hutcheon, basing my primary criteria for successful dramaturgical adaptation on their theories of metatextuality, palimpsests, and textual oscillation. Additionally, because of the specific supernatural context of the Nō, I refer substantively to Victor Turner’s anthropological theories of liminality to explore the transformative agenda of the Nō, both classical and modern/contemporary. In order to contextualize my specific criteria and methodology for the study of textual transformation and oscillation between classical Nō and its modern analogues during the past century, I first explore the particular strategies of adaptation as they apply to twentieth- and twenty-first-century theatrical versions of classical Greek myth. Perhaps the greatest innovator of the Nō form in the twentieth century, and the individual who may be credited with popularizing its awareness on an international level, is Yukio Mishima, whose publication of nine “modern Nō plays” in the 1950s and 1960s revolutionized the way the world looked at the classical genre. His adaptations, both extrapolative and interpolative in nature, transform textual antecedents from the popular Nō canon into statements of the increasing tension between an idealized ancient Japanese past and the Westernized world of the post-war present. He transforms the Nō into political metaphors written in a Western style, their supernatural elements altered to represent the ghosts of a disappearing culture, thrusting themselves into an alien, amnesiac world of neon and concrete to warn of impending spiritual death. My primary text for the exploration of Mishima’s tactics and agenda in the creation of the “modern Nō” is his 1956 adaptation of Aoi no ue, in which the iconic character of Prince Genji is converted into a Westernized businessman. This example clearly depicts how Mishima engages in strategies of inversion and subversion to achieve his aesthetic and political iii goals, yet retains recognizable conventions of the Nō’s classical framework. I also examine Mishima’s theatrical legacy within the context of contemporary Japanese playwrights like Takeshi Kawamura, who have continued the trajectory of Mishima’s adaptations of Nō into the present. My examination of contemporary American Nō plays contextualizes the strategy of indirect dramatic adaptation within the framework of stylistic homage, rather than any other forms that utilize the Nō structure and conventions for parodic or satirical purposes. My primary examples, Kenneth Yasuda’s Martin Luther King, Jr.: A Nō Play and Deborah Brevoort’s Blue Moon Over Memphis, not only imitate the style and literary architecture of the classical Nō (while updating these conventions for contemporary audiences), but they honor the religio-aesthetic tone of the traditional Nō canon as well. This is accomplished by re-imagining their pop culture shite figures as modern-day bodhisattvas, spiritually transcendent beings who remain in the physical world in order to pass on their enlightenment to others, in these examples represented by the waki roles. In conclusion, I propose the continued evolution of the Nō into the twenty-first century and beyond by considering the various means by which the form both resists and encourages transformation of content and context, as well as the assertion that, as a culture progresses forward in time, so do its ghosts adapt with the march of time. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation, and my concomitant doctoral degree, has been far too many years in the making, and I could not have accomplished this goal without the support and assistance of a veritable army of mentors and friends. First and foremost, my graduate education would not have been possible without the financial and academic support of the faculty, staff, and administration of the Washington University Performing Arts Department, Committee on Comparative Literature, and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. I am eternally grateful to the never-ending support and faith of my dissertation advisor, Dr. Robert Hegel, without whose saintly patience and (for lack of a better word) mendacity I could not have succeeded. You are the world’s best cheerleader. Special thanks go to Rebecca Copeland, who introduced me to the world of Japanese theatre and literature, as well as the other members of my dissertation committee: Marvin Marcus, Robert Henke, Lynne Tatlock, and Julie A. Walker. To Deans Robert Thach and Richard J. Smith, as well as Elaine Berland, Sheri Notaro, Ann Cooper, Amy Gassel, and Nancy Pope. For their academic and professional guidance and enthusiasm: Deborah Brevoort, Laurence Kominz, Richard Emmert, Carol Fisher Sorgenfrei, Donald Keene (whose personal email correspondence was both unexpected and invaluable), Samuel L. Leiter, Jonah Salz, Linda Hutcheon, Cody Poulton, Aya Ogawa, Peter Eckersall, Erik Ehn, Karl Topp (whose assistance with Interlibrary Loan searches and document acquisition while I was a non-resident student went above and beyond the call of duty), and Midori Okuyama (General Producer, Setagaya Public Theatre). And to Joan Bolker, whose book v Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day saved me from many a panic attack or complete abandonment of this project. For their unrelenting moral support: David Grapes, Hal Moncrief, Trevor Biship, Kimberly Moon, Ben Badgett, Jennifer Worth (my partner-in-crime and one-woman dissertation support group), David Langkamp, Shanna Smith, Damon Brown, Les Haygood, Matt Burleson, Wendy Bagger, Diane Peterson, Dan File, Sherry Ward, Abby Burke, Bryan Glasspatrick, Stephanie Contreras, Tameca Millner, Julie Newberry, David Kilpatrick, Amy Ruprecht-Belt, Fred Theobald, Robert Patrick, Zachary Doss, Christopher Parks, Michael Gillespie, Adam Arnold, Paul McKenzie, Cynthia Richards, Mark Rollins, Ann Fox, Tarra Riley, Toni Wilson, Nichole Gantshar, LaRonika Thomas, Alexandra Bonifield, Shawni Burris, and Bruce Bergner. To the cast, crew, and artistic administrative staff of (Mostly) Harmless Theatre’s 2003 production of Four Modern Noh Plays, as well as Monsanto Fund, the Japan Foundation, and the St. Louis Botanical Garden’s Japanese Festival, for allowing me to put many of these theories into practice onstage and experience the magic of Mishima’s modern Nō firsthand. To the cast and crew of the Washington University Performing Arts Department’s 1999 production of Ellen McLaughlin’s Iphigenia and Other Daughters. As well as Ellen McLaughlin, Anne Bogart, Lola Pashalinski,