E-mail:
tasasaki@mail.doshisha.ac.jp
Education
M.A., 1977, University of Minnesota
M.A., 1973, English, Doshisha University
B.A., 1970, English, Doshisha University
B.A., 1967, Political Science, Doshisha University
Selected Publications
Recent Contributions to Edited Volumes
Predecessors: Intellectual Lineages in American Studies
(Amsterdam: VA Univesity Press, 1999)
Culture and Society at the Turn of the Twentieth Century
(Shyugakusha, 1995)
Recent Articles
"American Studies in Japan: Problems and Prospects,"
Doshisha American Studies 38 (2002)
"John Singleton Copley: An Exile of the Revolutionary Period,"
Doshisha American Studies 33 (1977)
"Knight Wielding a Pen: Jacob A. Riis and the Making of
an American," Doshisha American Studies 22 (1992)
"Modernization and the Archetype: A Study of Winslow Homer,"
Doshisha American Studies 26 (1990)
"Owen Winster: An Antimodernist at the Turn of the Century,"
Doshisha American Studies 22 (1986)
Research Interests
As we begin the twenty-first century, we are facing a new confrontation
of modernism (modernization) and anti-modernism (anti-modernization).
A hundred years ago, when a full-scale modern society was emerging
in the United States, Americans experienced a similar confrontation.
My current research theme is to investigate in the works of thought,
literature, and art, as well as in popular culture, how the American
imagination responded to the rapid industrialization and urbanization
at the turn of the twentieth century.
Some time ago, I developed the impression that American culture
consists of two different discourses: a discourse which promotes
modernization, prizing rationality and efficiency, and a counter-discourse
which criticizes the modernization discourse, appreciating biological
rhythm and human nature. These two discourses seem to be dialectically
working on each other and thus formulate American society and
culture.
I believe it is correct to say that in the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries many literary and artistic works have been on the side
of the counter-discourse. Our problem, therefore, is to distinguish
the characteristics of the idea and the uniqueness of the representation
among the works of the different periods.
A hundred years ago, facing the rapid modernization of the world,
American intellectuals tried to measure the distance between their
ideals and reality by imagining an alternative world to the actual.
My present purpose is to find the characteristics of anti-modernism
at the previous turn of the century. Henry Adams, Mark Twain,
Winslow Homer, Owen Wister, and others will be studied.
Courses
Literature and Culture in America
Studies on Mark Twain
Anti-Modernism at the Turn of the Twentieth Century
Introduction to American Studies
