| Abstract |
This paper aims to discuss a newly found actor’s manuscript in Mid-Qing, a sequel of white snake drama; we can view it as a radical footprint, a lost link within the development of adaptation and transmission of white snake drama. It is also a “hidden version” in the transition of plots and characters among various Thunder Peak Pagoda versions, which affected and inspired not on its generation but on far more later adaptations in the Republican Era. This paper will examine this actor’s manuscript collected in Tenri Library of Japan, The Story of Post-Thunder Peak Pagoda, along with two versions of The Satisfactory Wish collected respectively in The National Library of Beijing and The Library of Congress in the U.S. It will discuss the possible writing period, its performative occasion, and the textual characteristics of the play. The purpose is to dig out the subversion context from its text and thoughts, which might lead to a specific narrative meaning on the various adaptations of White Snake story.
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