Brief CV
Education
Stanford University. Ph.D. in Japanese. 1998.
Harvard University. A.B. in Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering. 1989.
Teaching
Williams College
Chair and Edward Dorr Griffin Professor of Comparative Literature. Program in Comparative Literature. 2003 – present.
University of California, Riverside
Assistant Professor of Japanese. Department of Comparative Literature and Foreign Languages. 1998 – 2003.
Curatorial & Multimedia Work
- Visual Criticism. This is the title of my current project, developing original comics and animation to explain and interrogate some key ideas in critical theory.
- Curator of Repro Japan: Technologies of Popular Visual Culture. Williams College Museum of Art, Oct. 1 2021–March 20, 2022.
▷ Please see my Multimedia Page for more information about these projects.
Books
- Editor. Repro Japan Gallery Guide. Williams College Museum of Art, 2021.
- Interpreting Anime (University of Minnesota Press, 2018).
- Sublime Voices: The Fictional Science and Scientific Fiction of Abe Kōbō (Harvard Asia Center, 2009).
- Co-Editor, with Istvan Csicsery-Ronay, Jr.and Tatsumi Takayuki, of Robot Ghosts and Wired Dreams: Japanese Science Fiction from Origins to Anime (University of Minnesota Press, 2007). Expanded version of "Japanese Science Fiction," a special issue of Science Fiction Studies 29.3 (November 2002).
- Associate Editor. Mechademia, an annual forum for academic criticism of anime, manga, and fan arts, vols. 1-10 (University of Minnesota Press, 2006–2015).
▷ Please see my Book Projects Page for a more detailed description of these volumes.
Articles and Book Chapters
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"From Ground Zero to Degree Zero: Akira as Origin and Oblivion." Mechademia 9 (2014): 295-315.
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"A Cosplay Photography Sampler." Coauthored with Eron Rauch. Mechademia 5 (2010): 176-90.
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"Virtual Creation, Simulated Destruction, and Manufactured Memory at the Art Mecho Museum in Second Life." Mechademia 4 (2009): 198-210.
- "The Quick and the Undead: Visual and Political Dynamics in Blood: The Last Vampire." Mechademia 2 (2007): 125-42.
- "Anime Horror and its Audience: 3x3 Eyes and Vampire Princess Miyu." In Japanese Horror Cinema. Ed. Jay McRoy. Edinburgh University Press, 2005. 66-76.
- "Abe Kōbō." The Columbia Companion to Modern East Asian Literature. Ed. Joshua Mostow et. al. Columbia University Press, 2003. 193-97. Revised and reprinted in The Columbia Companion to Modern Japanese Literature. Ed. Sharalyn Orbaugh. Columbia University Press, forthcoming.
- "The Mecha's Blind Spot: Patlabor 2 and the Phenomenology of Anime." Science Fiction Studies 29.3 (November 2002): 453-74. Reprinted in Bolton, Csicsery-Ronay, and Tatsumi, Robot Ghosts and Wired Dreams, 123-47. Abstract available on the SFS web site.
- "From Wooden Cyborgs to Celluloid Souls: Mechanical Bodies in Anime and Japanese Puppet Theater." positions: east asia cultures critique 10.3 (Winter 2002): 729-71.
- "The Dialog of Styles and the Dance of Fiction in Abe Kōbō's The Face of Another." In Bakhtinian Theory in Japanese Studies. Ed. Jeffrey Johnson. Edwin Mellen Press, 2001. 153-85.
- "Abe Kōbō." In Modern Japanese Writers. Ed. Jay Rubin. Charles Scribner's Sons, 2001. 1-18.
Articles in Japanese
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「舞台裏の終末──安部公房『方舟さくら丸』論」内藤由直・友田義行訳『中川成美教授退職記念論集』『立命館文学』第652号 ["Offstage Apocalypse: Abe Kōbō and The Ark Sakura." Translated into Japanese by Naitō Yoshitada and Tomoda Yoshiyuki. Festschrift for Nakagawa Shigemi. Ritsumeikan Bungaku 652] (Aug. 2107): 184-95.
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「分裂あるいは流入としての言語――3.11後の安部公房論」増田まもる訳『3・11の未来――日本・SF・創造力』笠井潔・巽孝之監修 作品社 ["Language as Fission or Flow: Reading Abe Kōbō after the Earthquake. Translated into Japanese by Masuda Mamoru. In The Future After 3/11: Japan, Science Fiction, Creativity. Supervising eds. Kasai Kiyoshi and Tatsumi Takayuki. Ed. Ebihara Yutaka and Fujita Naoya. Sakuhinsha] 2011.
- 「コンテキストが完全に変わっても、それどころか変わったときに新し意味が次々と出てくるものは？アメリカで読む笙野頼子」『論座』[New meanings keep unfolding, even in new contexts, especially in new contexts: Reading Shōno Yoriko in America," Ronza] 157 (June 2008): 212-213.
- 「歌い合う機械たちーー安部公房とサイエンス・フィクション」内藤由直・友田義行共訳 岩波「文学」["Machinic chorus: Abe Kōbō and science fiction." Translated into Japanese by Naitō Yoshitada and Tomoda Yoshiyuki. Iwanami Bungaku] 8.4 (July-August 2007): 33-49.
- 「科学とフィクション、そしてポストモダン—安部公房『第四間氷期』論」『昭和文学研究』 [Fiction, Science, and the Postmodern: Abe Kōbō's Inter Ice Age 4]." In Shōwa Literary Studies: 34 (February 1997): 91-102.
Selected Translations
- "Tezuka's Buddha at the Tokyo National Museum: An Interview with Matsumoto Nobuyuki." Mechademia 9 (2014).
- "Gundam and the Future of Japanoid Art," by Takayuki Tatsumi. Translation with response. Mechademia 3 (2008): 191-98.
- Saitō Tamaki. "Otaku Sexuality," from 「博士の奇妙な思春期」[The Doctor's Strange Adolescence]. Introduced by Kotani Mari. In Bolton, Csicsery-Ronay, and Tatsumi, Robot Ghosts and Wired Dreams, 222-49.
- "Mori Minoru's Day of Resurrection." Early manga art of Komatsu Sakyō with an introduction by Tatsumi Takayuki. Mechademia 1 (2006): 87-89.
- "The Boom in Science Fiction" by Abe Kōbō." Translation with introduction. Science Fiction Studies 29.3 (November 2002): 340-49. Full text on SFS web site.
- Susan Napier, Tatsumi Takayuki, et. al. "An Interview with Komatsu Sakyō." Science Fiction Studies 29:3 (November 2002): 323-39. Full text on SFS web site.
Recent & Upcoming Presentations
- "Fashion, Subculture, and Cosplay: A Conversation with Frenchy Lunning and Christopher Bolton." 10 Feb. 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QuCSFlQZ3I
- "Curatorial Close Look at Repro Japan." Online roundtable sponsored by the Williams College Museum of Art. With Eron Rauch and Wei (Maggie) Wu. 15 Nov. 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3udFNgYgvvg
- "Why do We Study Anime and Manga?" Online roundtable sponsored by Japan Foundation of New York. With Chris Couch, Wendy Goldberg, and Frenchy Lunning. 30 Sept. 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBO1BHyjyQ0
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"The History of Japanese Visual Pop Culture: Exclusive Preview of Repro Japan." Anime Expo Lite. Online. 3 July 2020.
Time in Japan
I first went to Japan in 1984, when I spent a summer in Kyūshu as a YFU exchange student. After that I worked as a software developer in Osaka (1991), and studied language at International Christian University in Tokyo (1987) and the Inter-University Center in Yokohama (1993-94). In 1996, I conducted dissertation research as a Japan Foundation Fellow at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto. In 2011 I taught at the Associated Kyoto Program. These days I go back regularly for research.
