Susan J. Napier
Susan Jolliffe Napier (born October 11, 1955) is a Professor of the Japanese Program at Tufts University. She was formerly the Mitsubishi Professor of Japanese Literature and Culture at the University of Texas at Austin. She also worked as a visiting professor in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University,[1] and in cinema and media studies at University of Pennsylvania. Napier is an anime and manga critic.
Susan J. Napier | |
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Napier in 2008 | |
Occupation | Professor, anime critic |
Nationality | American |
Subject | Japanese literature |
Notable works | Anime from Akira to Princess Mononoke |
Biography
Napier is the daughter of historian Reginald Phelps, a historian and educational administrator, and Julia Sears Phelps, both Harvard academics. She was raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts.[2] Her neighbors included John Kenneth Galbraith, Julia Child, and Arthur Schlesinger Jr.. She obtained her A.B., A.M., and PhD degrees from Harvard University.[3]
In 1991 Napier published Escape from the Wasteland: Romanticism and Realism in the Fiction of Mishima Yukio and Oe Kenzaburo. Her second book, The Fantastic in Modern Japanese Literature: The Subversion of Modernity, followed in 1996.[3]
Napier first became interested in anime and manga when a student showed her a copy of Akira. Napier then saw the film, which led to the creation of her third book, Anime from Akira to Princess Mononoke: Experiencing Contemporary Japanese Animation,[1][4] which was revised in 2005.[5] Napier's From Impressionism To Anime: Japan As Fantasy And Fan Cult In The Western Imagination was published in 2007, which discusses anime fandom in greater depth.[6][7]
Works
- Napier, Susan J. (1996). The Fantastic in Modern Japanese Literature: The Subversion of Modernity. London: Routledge. p. 272. ISBN 978-0-415-12458-4.
- Napier, Susan J (1998). "Vampires, Psychic Girls, Flying Women and Sailor Scouts". In Martinez, Dolores P (ed.). The Worlds of Japanese Popular Culture: Gender, Shifting Boundaries and Global Culture. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-63128-9.
- Napier, Susan J. (2001). "Confronting Master Narratives: History As Vision in Miyazaki Hayao's Cinema of De-assurance". Positions East Asia Cultures Critique. 9 (2): 467–493. doi:10.1215/10679847-9-2-467.
- Napier, Susan J. From Impressionism to Anime: Japan as Fantasy and Fan Cult in the Mind of the West. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 272. ISBN 1-4039-6214-6.
- Napier, Susan J (2006). Meet Me on the Other Side:Strategies of Otherness in Modern Japanese literature. London: Routledge. pp. 38–55. ISBN 978-0-415-36185-9.
- Napier, Susan J. (2006). "'Excuse Me, Who Are You?': Performance, the Gaze, and the Female in the Works of Kon Satoshi". In Brown, Steven T (ed.). Cinema Anime: Critical Engagements with Japanese Animation. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-1-4039-8308-4.
- Napier, Susan J. (2005). Anime from Akira to Howl's Moving Castle: Experiencing Japanese Animation. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 384. ISBN 978-1-4039-7052-7.
- Napier, Susan J. (2007). "When the Machine Stops: Fantasy, Reality, and Terminal Identity in Neon Genesis Evangelion and Serial Experiments: Lain". Robot Ghosts and Wired Dreams: Japanese Science Fiction from Origins to Anime. University of Minnesota Press. p. 269. ISBN 978-0-8166-4973-0.
- Napier, Susan J. (2018). Miyazakiworld: A Life in Art. Yale University Press. p. 344. ISBN 978-0-300-22685-0.
References
- "Anime Lecture at MIT". Anime News Network. 2001-05-01. Retrieved 27 November 2009.
- Tufts University profile, "Don't Call Them Cartoons" Archived 2013-04-02 at the Wayback Machine
- Tufts
- Gerrow, Robin (2004). "An Anime Explosion". University of Texas at Austin. Archived from the original on 13 October 2009. Retrieved 28 November 2009.
- Anime From Akira To Howl's Moving Castle, Updated Edition
- "Susan Napier presents new book on American anime fans". Anime News Network. 2007-03-30. Retrieved 27 November 2009.
- Participations
External links
- Tufts Faculty guide
- Susan J. Napier at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
- Napier's review of Princess Mononoke at Nausicaa.net
- Palgrave Macmillan author profile