Writing Against Erasure: Courtesans, Performance, and the Making of Late Ming Drama
Monday, October 12 | 2:00PM-3:20PM | DML 240 | RSVP

EASC Guest Speaker Series: Talk by Prof. Peng Xu (Associate Professor, ShanghaiTech University) with Faculty Moderator Prof. Mengxiao Wang (EALC 145: Introduction to Chinese Culture Art and Literature)

Peng Xu’s The Courtesan’s Memory, Voice, and Late Ming Drama (University of Michigan Press, 2025) reinterprets late Ming drama by foregrounding courtesan performance culture as a generative force in theatrical production. Drawing on a wide range of sources—including scripts, city guides, biographies, diaries, letters, and visual materials—the book argues that courtesans were not merely subjects of representation but active agents who reshaped theatrical form, performance conditions, and literary style. In doing so, it challenges male-centered historiography and offers a new framework for understanding gender, media, and creativity in early modern Chinese theater.

This event is co-sponsored by the USC East Asian Library.