The celebrated English translation of this classic work of Chinese literature is now available in an updated paperback edition. Written in 1598 by Tang Xianzu, The Peony Pavilion is one of literature's most memorable love stories and a masterpiece of Ming drama. Cyril Birch has captured all the elegance, lyricism, and subtle, earthy humor of this panoramic tale of romance and Chinese society. When Indiana University Press first published the text in 1981, it seemed doubtful that the work would ever be performed in its entirety again, but several spectacular and controversial productions have toured the world in recent years. For this second edition, which contains a fully revised text of the translation, Cyril Birch and Catherine Swatek reflect on contemporary performances of the play in light of its history.

汤显祖（1550—1616）,江西临川人。十四岁进学,二十一岁中举。少年时受学于泰州学派创立者王艮的三传弟子罗汝芳。泰州学派和当时占统治地位的程朱理学异趣。万历三年

（1575）,汤显祖刊印了第一部诗集《红泉逸草》。次年,他在南京国子监游学,刊印了第二部诗集《雍藻》（佚）。作于万历五年至八年（1577—1580）的诗一百四十三首（题）和赋三篇、赞若干首编为（问棘邮草）,曾受到诗人、曲家徐渭的热情称赞。从隆庆五年（1571）起,汤显祖接连四次往北京参加三年一度的进士试。后两次考试时,他已经颇有文名,受人瞩目,却因谢绝首相张居正的延揽而落选。万历五年（1577）考试失利,他试作传奇《紫箫记》三十四出,全剧未完。

万历十一年,张居正逝世的次年,汤显祖才考中进士。次年秋,任南京太常寺博士。两年后改任詹事府主簿。后升南京礼部祠祭司主事。汤显祖一到南京,就卷入新旧两派朝臣的斗争,

以致他的未完成旧作《紫箫记》也被怀疑为讥刺朝政,遭到查禁。万历十五年,他把未完成的《紫箫记》改写成《紫钗记》。

万历十九年（1591）,他上了一道《论辅臣科臣疏》,对朝政作了猛烈的抨击,被贬为广东徐闻县典史。万历二十一年（1593）,汤显祖被任命为浙江遂昌知县。万历二十六年弃官回到临川。传奇《牡丹亭还魂记》在此时完成。万历二十八年完成《南柯记》,次年创作《邯郸记》。这时出世思想对他影响日深。《邯郸记》反映了封建大官僚从起家发迹直到死亡的历史,作者所否定的并不是人生一般。

万历三十四年,当汤显祖五十七岁时,他的《玉茗堂文集》在南京刊行。他在万历四十四年（1616）逝世。五年后,《玉茗堂集》问世,编刻草率,缺点不少。