Masahiko Abe, Ph.D. University of Tokyo Professor of English

Dr. Masahiko Abe is a professor in English at the University of Tokyo. He obtained his B.A. and M.A. at the University of Tokyo and Ph.D. at Cambridge University. His primary research area is modern poetry, both British and American, but his criticism covers many other genres, particularly fiction. His publications include Modernity and the Strategy of Boredom―Oe, Stevens and Avant-garde (2001), Improvisation and Literature(2004), An Introduction to Poetry in English(2007), On Slow Motion(2009), How English Works(2010), Understanding Japanese Fiction: Some Notes and Insights(2012), Staring and Literature(2012), Discovering Poetry(2014), Politeness and English Literature: Examing the Kindness of the Narrator (2015), Talking Like Children Helps: Strategy of Infantilism in Japanese Literature (2015), Playing with the Canon: Introduction to the “Scribbling Method” (2017), and English Education in Chaos: Confusion and Dishonesty in Japanese Government Policy (2017). While contributing reviews and essays to newspapers and literary magazines, he also works on topics such as “politeness,” “ethics of stomach problems,” “the idea of preparation”…etc. He is also a translator of Frank O’Connor’s short stories and Bernard Malamud’s The Magic Barrel. He won Waseda Literary Award for “Going to the Wilderness” in 1998 and Suntory Prize for Social Siences and Humanities for Staring and Literature in 2013.