Kissing the Mask: Beauty, Understatement, and Femininity in Japanese Noh Theater April 13, 2010

Co-sponsored by Asia Society & Japan Society

Sweeping his readers from the subdued reverence of the dressing room of Japan’s most famous Noh actor, directly into a transvestite bar in the red-light district of Kabukicho, William T. Vollmann explores the enigma surrounding Noh theatre and the traditions that have made it such an important part of Japanese culture for centuries. Interviewing mask makers, players, geishas, and others involved in this extraordinary tradition, Vollmann extracts from Noh’s intricate layers the secrets of femininity and the mystery of perceived, and expressed beauty—on stage and off.

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