Judith Zeitlin
Humanities Scholarship
Fall 2022
(Literature-Scholarship) – William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago – United States
Judith Zeitlin plans to complete the introduction for her book on the culture of musical entertainment in early modern China (1560-1700). During this period, musical entertainment depended on two fashions where elite and popular culture met: courtesans and opera. The book is structured around three key thematic components: voice, text, and instrument. Each category offers fruitful ground for thinking through the material and social aspects of music-making in contemporary manuals, plays, songs, and pictures.