Cao Xueqin’s Novel Dream of the Red Chamber and the Opera of the Same Name by Bright Sheng and David Henry Hwang in the Space of Art Historical Discourse
Abstract
Cao Xueqin’s classic novel Dream of the Red Chamber was vividly reimagined in the eponymous academic opera by Bright Sheng and David Henry Hwang in a production that seamlessly integrates Eastern and Western cultural traditions. Due to its intriguing manifestation of aesthetic dialogue between East and West, the work has become a significant subject of contemporary art history research. In order to understand the problems of transforming literary sources into academic opera and specific mechanisms of interspecific artistic transformation, along with the particular aspects of cultural dialogue between East and West in the context of a globalised space, a wide range of scholarly literature should be considered. In the article, the work is considered according to the following aspects: general works on the writer Cao Xueqin, those specifically dedicated to the history of the composition, the ideological circle and philosophy of the novel Dream of the Red Chamber, works that discuss the characters and the specifics of their interaction, modern works that consider the creation and dramaturgy of Sheng and Hwang’s opera, as well as research on traditional Eastern aesthetics and artistic production of modern opera.
Keywords: Cao Xueqin, “Dream of the Red Chamber” (novel), “Dream of the Red Chamber” (opera), Bright Sheng, David Henry Hwang, redology, art history
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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.56620/RM.2026.2.117-132
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