With support from the University of Richmond

History News Network

History News Network puts current events into historical perspective. Subscribe to our newsletter for new perspectives on the ways history continues to resonate in the present. Explore our archive of thousands of original op-eds and curated stories from around the web. Join us to learn more about the past, now.

Obituary: Donald H. Shively, 84, Leader in Japanese Studies in the U.S., Dies

Donald H. Shively, a noted scholar of Japanese literature and culture whose work helped forge the emerging discipline of Japanese studies in the United States in the decades after World War II, died on Aug. 13 in Oakland, Calif. He was 84 and lived in Berkeley.

The cause was complications of Shy-Drager syndrome, a neurodegenerative disease, according to the University of California, Berkeley, where Dr. Shively was emeritus professor of East Asian languages and cultures. Dr. Shively had also taught at Harvard University for many years.

An authority on the popular culture of the Tokugawa period (1603-1868), Dr. Shively was best known for his translation of "The Love Suicide at Amijima," a domestic tragedy by the renowned Japanese dramatist Monzaemon Chikamatsu (1653-1725). Dr. Shively's translation, originally published in 1953, was re-issued by the University of Michigan in 1991.

Read entire article at NYT