Masks, Transformation, and Paradox

Download or read book Masks, Transformation, and Paradox written by A. David Napier and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 1986 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Masks are found world-wide in connection with seasonal festivals, rites of passage, and curative ceremonies. They provide a means of investigating the paradoxical problems that appearances pose in the experience of transitional states. In this far-reaching work, A. David Napier studies mask iconography and the role played by masks in the realization of change. The masks of preclassical Greece¯in particular those of the Satyr and the Gorgon¯provide his starting point. A comparison of Greek to Eastern and especially Indian models follows, and the book concludes with an examination of the interpretation of Hindu ideas in Bali that demonstrates the importance of ambivalence in mask iconography.