Javanese Shadow Plays, Javanese Selves

As with many performing arts in Asia, neither the highly stylized images of the Javanese shadow play nor its musical complexity detracts from its wide popularity. By a context-sensitive analysis of shadow-play performances, Ward Keeler shows that they fascinate so many people in Java because they dramatize consistent Javanese concerns about potency, status, and speech.

Originally published in 1987.

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