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M. Butterfly: With an Afterword by the Playwright
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M. Butterfly: With an Afterword by the Playwright Paperback - 1993

by David Henry Hwang


Summary

David Henry Hwang’s beautiful, heartrending play featuring an afterword by the author – winner of a 1988 Tony Award for Best Play and nominated for the 1989 Pulitzer Prize

Based on a true story that stunned the world, M. Butterfly opens in the cramped prison cell where diplomat Rene Gallimard is being held captive by the French government—and by his own illusions. In the darkness of his cell he recalls a time when desire seemed to give him wings. A time when Song Liling, the beautiful Chinese diva, touched him with a love as vivid, as seductive—and as elusive—as a butterfly.

How could he have known, then, that his ideal woman was, in fact, a spy for the Chinese government—and a man disguised as a woman? In a series of flashbacks, the diplomat relives the twenty-year affair from the temptation to the seduction, from its consummation to the scandal that ultimately consumed them both. But in the end, there remains only one truth: Whether or not Gallimard's passion was a flight of fancy, it sparked the most vigorous emotions of his life.

Only in real life could love become so unreal. And only in such a dramatic tour de force do we learn how a fantasy can become a man's mistress—as well as his jailer. M. Butterfly is one of the most compelling, explosive, and slyly humorous dramas ever to light the Broadway stage, a work of unrivaled brilliance, illuminating the conflict between men and women, the differences between East and West, racial stereotypes—and the shadows we cast around our most cherished illusions.

M. Butterfly remains one of the most influential romantic plays of contemporary literature, and in 1993 was made into a film by David Cronenberg starring Jeremy Irons and John Lone.

From the publisher

Winner of the Tony Award for Best Play, nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and soon to be back on Broadway in a revival directed by the Lion King's Julie Taymor, starring Clive Owen "A brilliant play of ideas... a visionary work that bridges the history and culture of two worlds."--Frank Rich, New York Times

Based on a true story that stunned the world, and inspired by Giacomo Puccini's opera Madama Butterfly, M. Butterfly was an immediate sensation when it premiered in 1988. It opens in the cramped prison cell where diplomat Rene Gallimard is being held captive by the French government--and by his own illusions. He recalls a time when Song Liling, the beautiful Chinese diva, touched him with a love as vivid, as seductive--and as elusive--as a butterfly.

How could he have known that his true love was, in fact, a spy for the Chinese government--and a man disguised as a woman? The diplomat relives the twenty-year affair from the temptation to the seduction, from its consummation to the scandal that ultimately consumed them both.

M. Butterfly is one of the most compelling, explosive, and slyly humorous dramas ever to light the Broadway stage, a work of unrivaled brilliance, illuminating the conflict between men and women, the differences between East and West, racial stereotypes--and the shadows we cast around our most cherished illusions. The original cast included John Lithgow as Gallimard and BD Wong as Song Liling. During the show's 777-performance run, David Dukes, Anthony Hopkins, Tony Randall, and John Rubinstein were also cast as Gallimard. Hwang adapted the play for a 1993 film directed by David Cronenberg, starring Jeremy Irons and John Lone. TEXT OF THE ORIGINAL BROADWAY PRODUCTION

First line

M. Gallimard's prison cell.

Details

  • Title M. Butterfly: With an Afterword by the Playwright
  • Author David Henry Hwang
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition [ Edition: Repri
  • Pages 112
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Plume Books, E Rutherford, New Jersey, U.S.A.
  • Date 1993-10-01
  • ISBN 9780452272590 / 0452272599
  • Weight 0.2 lbs (0.09 kg)
  • Dimensions 8.01 x 5.38 x 0.28 in (20.35 x 13.67 x 0.71 cm)
  • Ages 18 to UP years
  • Grade levels 13 - UP
  • Themes
    • Cultural Region: Asian - General
    • Sex & Gender: Gay
    • Topical: Lgbt
  • Library of Congress subjects Sex in espionage, Diplomats - France
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 88029040
  • Dewey Decimal Code 812.54

Media reviews

"A brilliant play of ideas … a visionary work that bridges the history and culture of two worlds."
—Frank Rich, New York Times

"Audaciously imaginative … big in conception and theme, David Henry Hwang joins the first string of American playwrights."
Variety

"Just when you've seen every possible coupling, M. Butterfly presents one of the most provocative and touching of all."
USA Today

"Playwright David Henry Hwang has something to say and an original, audacious way of saying it. A rarity on Broadway."
—Edwin Wilson, Wall Street Journal

About the author

David Henry Hwang is an acclaimed playwright, screenwriter, and librettist. He won the 1988 Tony Award for M. Butterfly. He sits on the boards of the Dramatists Guild, Young Playwrights Inc., and the Museum Of Chinese in the Americas (MOCA). He has been named a Fellow of United States Artists and a Ford Foundation Art of Change Fellow. He currently writes for and produces Showtime's The Affair, and is on the Playwriting Faculty of the Columbia University School of the Arts Theatre Program.
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M. Butterfly : With an Afterword by the Playwright

by Hwang, David Henry

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ISBN 10
0452272599
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£5.35
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