Preface (1854)
In graduate school I studied the Buddhist traditions of China and
Japan, classical Japanese literature, literary criticism of the Edo
period, and modern fiction. Research for my doctoral dissertation took
me to Osaka University where I began analyzing Edo period commentary on The Tale of Genji.
I completed my doctorate in East Asian Languages and Literatures at Yale
University in 1998. Since then I have taught Japanese language, literature,
and film at Amherst College, Columbia University, and Princeton
University. My first book, titled
Appraising Genji: Literary Criticism and Cultural Anxiety
in the Age of the Last Samurai, examines the reception
of Genji among scholars, poets, translators, and politicians over
the course of the last thousand years. I incorporate a broad range of works from various periods and genres,
including scholarly commentaries, diaries,
critical treatises, newspaper accounts, cinematic adaptations, and
modern stage productions into my analysis to give readers a sense of how
Genji's place in Japanese culture evolved over time. In writing Appraising Genji I
sought to bridge a significant gap between scholarship on premodern literary criticism and modern theories of fiction in Japan.
Continued research and reading in Japanese literature have led me to
explore a variety of topics, including: intellectual history, nativisim
and nationalism, theories of the novel, poetic criticism, and print
culture and commercial publishing in premodern Japan. Teaching allows me
to explore and discuss literature, drama, and film with my students in
ways that continue to inspire and refine my
academic work.
