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M. Butterfly - David Henry Hwang
M. Butterfly
by: (author)
3.67 45
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 PrizeBased on a true story that stunned the world, M. Butterfly opens in the cramped prison cell where diplomat Rene Gallimard is... show more
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 PrizeBased 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.
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Format: paperback
ISBN: 9780822207122 (0822207125)
ASIN: 822207125
Publisher: Dramatists Play Service, Inc.
Pages no: 72
Edition language: English
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Community Reviews
The Blogging of a Book Addict
The Blogging of a Book Addict rated it
2.0 M. Butterfly
Update: I re-read this because we're discussing it in class and I didn't remember it well enough. I liked it a bit more the second time around, and the themes resonated a bit more. If I'm being honest, I think my original review is a bit harsher than my current feelings, but I'm not rewriting it bec...
The Book Lantern
The Book Lantern rated it
4.0 M. Butterfly
White male privilege will fuck you up!There are a couple awkward lines and sometimes it feels like Hwang is being far too obvious with the themes of the play, not letting the audience work them out for themselves, but overall, M Butterfly is a fascinating study of racial and gender stereotypes in an...
Manny Rayner's book reviews
Manny Rayner's book reviews rated it
4.0
There's this interesting sequence in Stephen Fry's The Liar, when the hero, who I think is about 18, is having a frank discussion about sex with another character. He talks about the stuff he used to do with his girlfriend, and is surprised to discover that the other guy finds it weird. It hadn't oc...
Chels & a Book
Chels & a Book rated it
4.0 M. Butterfly: With an Afterword by the Playwright
Immediately, the storyline caught my attention. I was pulled into the warped mind of Rene Gallimard and could not stop reading. The story, though sounding like a tragic love story from the synopsis, is more about the blurred lines between relationship realities and fantasies. Rene was not a likea...
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