Donald Lawrence Keene (June 18, 1922 – February 24, 2019) was an American-born Japanese scholar, historian, teacher, writer and translator of Japanese literature.[1][2] Keene was University Professor emeritus and Shincho Professor Emeritus of Japanese Literature at Columbia University, where he taught for over fifty years. Soon after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, he retired from Columbia, moved to Japan permanently, and acquired citizenship under the name Kīn Donarudo (キーン ドナルド, "Donald Keene" in the Japanese name order).[3] This was also his poetic pen name (雅号, gagō) and occasional nickname, spelled in the ateji form 鬼怒鳴門.[4][a]
While staying at Cambridge, Keene went to meet Arthur Waley who was best known for his translation work in classical Chinese and Japanese literature. For Keene, Waley's translation of Chinese and Japanese literature was inspiring, even arousing in Keene the thought of becoming a second Waley.[11]
Career
Keene was a Japanologist who published about 25 books in English on Japanese topics, including both studies of Japanese literature and culture and translations of Japanese classical and modern literature, including a four-volume history of Japanese literature which has become a standard work.[12] Keene also published about 30 books in Japanese, some of which have been translated from English. He was president of the Donald Keene Foundation for Japanese Culture.
Keene was awarded the Order of Culture by the Japanese government in 2008, one of the highest honors bestowed by the Imperial Family in the country, becoming the first non-Japanese to receive the award.[13] Soon after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, Keene retired from Columbia and moved to Japan with the intention of living out the remainder of his life there. He acquired Japanese citizenship, adopting the legal name Kīn Donarudo (キーン ドナルド). This required him to relinquish his American citizenship, as Japan does not permit dual citizenship.[3]
Keene was well known and respected in Japan[14] and his relocation there following the earthquake was widely lauded.[12]
Personal life
In 2013 Keene adoptedshamisen player Seiki Uehara as a son.[15] Keene was not married.
Keene died of cardiac arrest in Tokyo on February 24, 2019, aged 96.[16]
Selected works
In an overview of writings by and about Keene, OCLC/WorldCat lists roughly 600+ works in 1,400+ publications in 16 languages and 39,000+ library holdings.[17]
These lists are not finished; you can help Wikipedia by adding to them.
Works in English
Original Publication
Translation(s)
The Battles of Coxinga: Chikamatsu's Puppet Play, Its Background and Importance (Taylor's Foreign Pr, 1951)
The Japanese Discovery of Europe: Honda Toshiaki and other discoverers 1720–1952 (Routledge and K. Paul, 1952)
日本人の西洋発見 (錦正社, 1957). Jp trans. 藤田豊 & 大沼雅彦
nihonjin no seiyou hakken
日本人の西洋発見 (中公叢書, 1968). Jp trans. 芳賀徹訳 [?trans of 2nd ed]
Japanese Literature an Introduction for Western Readers (Grove Pr, June 1, 1955)
Modern Japanese Literature: An Anthology (Grove Pr, June 1, 1956)
Living Japan (Doubleday, 1959)
生きている日本 (朝日出版社, 1973). Jp trans. 江藤淳 & 足立康
ikiteiru nihon
Revised edition published as 果てしなく美しい日本 (講談社学術文庫, 2002). Jp trans. 足立康改 [?mistake. ?Separate work]
Major Plays of Chikamatsu (Columbia University Press, January 1, 1961)
Donald Keene, Kaneko Hiroshi (photography) & Jun'ichirō Tanizaki (introduction), Bunraku: The Art of the Japanese Puppet Theatre (kodansha International, 1965)
文楽 (講談社, 1966). Jp trans. 吉田健一
bunraku
Japanese Discovery of Europe, 1720–1830. Revised/2nd ed. (Stanford University Press, June 1, 1969)
The Manyoushu (Columbia University Press, 1969)
Twenty Plays of the Noh Theatre (Columbia University Press, June 1, 1970)
First book in the "A History of Japanese Literature" series
On Familiar Terms: A Journey Across Cultures (Kodansha Amer Inc, January 1, 1994)
Reworking of the 1990–1992 Japanese newspaper column.
このひとすじにつながりて (朝日選書, 1993). Jp trans. 金関 寿夫
kono hitosuji ni tsunagarite
Modern Japanese Diaries: The Japanese at Home and Abroad As Revealed Through Their Diaries (Henry Holt & Co, March 1, 1995)
Later published by Columbia University Press, 1999 [?revised edition]
Japanese edition published first.
The Blue-Eyed Tarokaja: A Donald Keene Anthology (Columbia University Press, June 1, 1996). Editor. J. Thomas Rimer
碧い眼の太郎冠者
aoi me no taroukaja
On Familiar Terms: To Japan and Back, a Lifetime Across Cultures (Kodansha Amer Inc, April 1, 1996)
もう一つの母国、日本へ – Living in Two Countries (Kodansha International, 1999). Jp trans. 塩谷紘
English and Japanese bilingual text
Donald Keene with Anne Nishimura & Frederic A. Sharf, Japan at the Dawn of the Modern Age: Woodblock Prints from the Meija Era, 1868–1912 (Museum of Fine Arts Boston, May 1, 2001)
Sources of Japanese Tradition: From Earliest Times to 1600 compiled by Donalde Keen, Wm. Theodore De Bary, George Tanabe and Paul Varley (Columbia University Press, May 1, 2001)
Emperor of Japan: Meiji and His World, 1852–1912 (Columbia University Press, April 1, 2002)
明治天皇 (新潮社, 2001). Jp trans. 角地 幸男.
meiji tennou
Also published in 4 volumes, 2007.
Donald Keene with Lee Bruschke-Johnson & Ann Yonemura, Masterful Illusions: Japanese Prints from the Anne Van Biema Collection (University of Washington Pr, September 1, 2002)
Five Modern Japanese Novelists (Columbia University Press, December 1, 2002)
omoide no sakkatachi: Tanizaki, Kawabata, Mishima, Abe, Shiba
Yoshimasa and the Silver Pavilion: The Creation of the Soul of Japan (Columbia University Press, November 1, 2003)
足利義政と銀閣寺 (中央公論新社, 2008). Jp trans. 角地 幸男.
Yoshimasa to ginkakuji
Frog in the Well: Portraits of Japan by Watanabe Kazan 1793–1841 (Asia Perspectives),(Columbia Univ. Press, 2006)
渡辺崋山 (新潮社, 2007). Jp trans. 角地 幸男
Watanabe Kazan
Chronicles of My Life: An American in the Heart of Japan. (Columbia University Press, 2008)
私と20世紀のクロニカル』 (中央公論新社, 2007)
watashi to 20 seiki no kuronikaru
Later published as ドナルド・キーン自伝 (中公公論新社, 2011). Jp trans. 角地幸男
Un Occidental En Japon (Nocturna Ediciones, 2011). Es trans. José Pazó Espinosa
So Lovely A Country Will Never Perish: Wartime Diaries of Japanese Writers (Columbia University Press, 2010)
? 日本人の戦争 作家の日記を読む (文藝春秋, 2009). Jp trans. 角地幸男
nihonjin no sensou: sakka no nikki wo yomu
The Winter Sun Shines In: A Life of Masaoka Shiki (Columbia University Press, 2013)
正岡子規 (新潮社, 2012). Jp trans. 角地 幸男
Masaoka Shiki
Works in Japanese
日本の文学 (筑摩書房, 1963). Jp trans. 吉田健一
nihonbungaku
日本の作家 (中央公論社, 1972)
nihon no sakka
Kobo Abe and Donald Keene, 反劇的人間 (中公新書,1973)
hangekiteki ningen. In conversation with Kobo Abe
Ooka Shouhei and Donald Keene, 東と西のはざまで 大岡昇平と対談 (朝日出版社, 1973)
higashi to nishi no haza made. In conversation with Ooka Shouhei
Tokuoka Takao and Donald Keene, 悼友紀行 三島由紀夫の作品風土 (中央公論社, 1973)
ドナルド・キーンの日本文学散歩. Column in Asahi Weekly 週刊朝日, January 8, 1957 – September 26, 1975
Donarudo Kiin no nihonbungaku sanpo
ドナルド・キーンの音盤風刺花伝 (音楽之友社, 1977)
Later published as わたしの好きなレコード
watashi no sukina rekoodo
日本文学を読む (新潮選書, 1977)
nihonbungaku wo yomu
日本の魅力 対談集 (中央公論社, 1979)
nihongo no miryoku. A collection of conversation.
日本を理解するまで (新潮社, 1979) [?trans]
nihon wo rikaisuru made
日本文学のなかへ (文藝春秋, 1979)
nihonbungaku no nakahe
音楽の出会いとよろこび (音楽之友社, 1980). Jp trans. 中矢 一義.
ongaku no deai to yorokobi
Later published by 中央公論社 1992.
ついさきの歌声 (中央公論社, 1981) Jp trans. 中矢一義訳
tsuisaki no utagoe
私の日本文学逍遥 (新潮社, 1981)
watashi no nihonbungaku shouyou
日本人の質問 (朝日選書, 1983)
nihonjin no shitsumon
百代の過客 日記にみる日本人. Column in the Asahi Evening News, July 4, 1983 – April 13, 1984.
hyakudai no kakaku: nikki nimiru nihonjin
Ryotaro Shiba and Donald Keene, 日本人と日本文化 司馬遼太郎との対談 (中公新書, 1972, 1984)
nihonjin to nihonbunka: conversations with Ryotaro Shiba
Later published as 世界のなかの日本 十六世紀まで遡って見る 司馬遼太郎対談 (中央公論社, 1992)
sakai no naka no nihon: juurokuseiki made sakanobattemiru. In conversation with Ryotaro Shiba.
Kawabata Yasunari, The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter (Kodansha Amer Inc, September 1, 1998)
Yamamoto Yuzo, One Hundred Sacks of Rice: A Stage Play (Nagaoka City Kome Hyappyo Foundation, 1998)
Miyata Masayuki (illustrations), Donald Keene (essay), H. Mack Horton [En trans], 源氏物語 – The Tale of Genji (Kodansha International, 2001). Bilingual illustrated text with essay.
Donald Keene & Oda Makoto, The Breaking Jewel, Keene, Donald (trans) (Columbia University Press, March 1, 2003)
Editor
Anthology of Japanese Literature from the Earliest Era to the Mid-Nineteenth Century (Grove Pr, March 1, 1960)
The Old Woman, the Wife, and the Archer: Three Modern Japanese Short Novels (Viking Press, 1961)
Anthology of Chinese Literature: From the 14th Century to the Present Day (co-editor with Cyril Birch) (Grove Pr, June 1, 1987)
Love Songs from the Man'Yoshu (Kodansha Amer Inc, August 1, 2000)
Modern Japanese Literature from 1868 to the Present Day (Grove Pr, January 31, 1994)
Honorary degrees
Keene was awarded various honorary doctorates, from:
Kikuchi Kan Prize (Kikuchi Kan Shō Society for the Advancement of Japanese Culture), 1962.[18]
Van Ameringen Distinguished Book Award, 1967
Kokusai Shuppan Bunka Shō Taishō, 1969
Kokusai Shuppan Bunka Shō, 1971
Yamagata Banto Prize (Yamagata Bantō Shō), 1983
The Japan Foundation Award (Kokusai Kōryū Kikin Shō), 1983
Yomiuri Literary Prize (Yomiuri Bungaku Shō), 1985 (Keene was the first non-Japanese to receive this prize, for a book of literary criticism (Travellers of a Hundred Ages) in Japanese)
Award for Excellence (Graduate Faculties Alumni of Columbia University), 1985
Nihon Bungaku Taishō, 1985
Donald Keene Center of Japanese Culture at Columbia University named in Keene's honour, 1986
Tōkyō-to Bunka Shō, 1987
NBCC (The National Book Critics Circle) Ivan Sandrof Award for Lifetime Achievement in Publishing, 1990
The Distinguished Achievement Award (from The Tokyo American Club) (for the lifetime achievements and unique contribution to international relations), 1995
Award of Honor (from The Japan Society of Northern California), 1996
Person of Cultural Merit (Bunka Kōrōsha) (Japanese Government), 2002 (Keene was the third non-Japanese person to be designated "an individual of distinguished cultural service" by the Japanese government)
^Glossed as 鬼怒（キーン・ド）鳴門（ナルド） or kīn do narudo; 鬼怒 is usually pronounced kinu, as in Kinugawa River, and 鳴門 as naruto, as in the Naruto Strait, which are both well-known place names, yielding the reading kinu naruto. A further twist is that 怒 can also be read as do, corresponding to the Do- in Donald.
^Cary, Otis and Donald Keene. War-wasted Asia: Letters, 1945–46. Kodansha International, 1975. ISBN9780870112577 p13
^Donald Keene, 'Reminiscences of Cambridge', in Richard Bowring (ed.), Fifty years of Japanese at Cambridge, 1948–98: A Chronicle with Reminiscences (Cambridge: Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Cambridge, 1998), pp.16-7.
^"U.S.-born scholar of Japanese literature Donald Keene dies at 96". Reuters. February 24, 2019. Retrieved October 21, 2022. Keene, who befriended giants of Japanese literature such as Yukio Mishima and Yasunari Kawabata, was awarded the Order of Culture in March 2008, the first non-Japanese to receive it, and became a Japanese citizen in 2012.
.jpg)
