Donald Keene

1922 - 2019

photo credits: Wikimedia Commons

country of citizenship: United States of America, Japan

native language: English

languages spoken, written or signed: Japanese, English

educated at: Harvard University, Columbia University

occupation: linguist, translator, writer, university teacher, historian, japanologist

award received: Order of the Rising Sun, 2nd class, Order of Culture, Kikuchi Kan Prize, Japanese Literature Grand Prix, Person of Cultural Merit, Asahi Prize, Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize, Guggenheim Fellowship, Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award

Donald Lawrence Keene (June 18, 1922 – February 24, 2019) was an American-born Japanese scholar, historian, teacher, writer and translator of Japanese literature. 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). This was also his poetic pen name (雅号, gagō) and occasional nickname, spelled in the ateji form 鬼怒鳴門. Source: Wikipedia (en)