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4 DECEMBER 12, 2005 4 TheGlobalRecord FEBRUARY 27, 2006 Living Treasure Donald Keene Chalks Up Two More Milestones 50 years since his Japanese literature anthology; 20 years since the opening of the Donald Keene Center By Richard Faulk “There is no one like this man,”Gluck said.“He is a liv- Kent Hall and the Starr Library—not coincidentally, the ing national treasure, as people say in Japan.” very path Keene takes on his way to classes. hen Donald Keene’s anthology of Delivering a short address at the start of the recep- For more tributes to Donald Keene and the Donald Japanese literature was completed in tion, UC Berkeley professor of East Asian languages and Keene Center, go to: www.donaldkeenecenter.org 1956, there were, as poet and essayist cultures Susan Matisoff told of coming across a second- W Kenneth Rexroth observed at the time, hand copy of Keene’s anthology when she was a high only two similar collections available—one published in school student and aspiring chemistry major. Drawn 1899, the other in French—both of which were no more to its red-and-black cover than its contents, she Donald Keene’s Masterwork longer considered to be reliable translations. nevertheless discovered in its pages her true calling.As Fifty years and an estimated 500,000 copies later, witness to that conversion, she brandished her original Originally published in 1955 and now with Keene’s collection remains a classic in its field, the sin- copy of the anthology, duct-taped and dog-eared—evi- more than half a million copies in print, Donald gle-most important work in introducing Japanese litera- dence of a book well loved. Keene’s Anthology of Japanese Literature ture to the English-speaking world. Keene’s long association with Japan began during offers a comprehensive overview of the history World War II, when he studied Japanese language at the of Japanese literature from the earliest times to U.S. Navy Japanese Language School in California and the mid-19th century. then served as an intelligence officer in the Pacific region. Included in Keene’s judicious selection of Among the accolades showered upon him by the excerpts are sizable chunks of novels and Japanese government are the nation’s second-highest “notebooks”—a favorite genre in Japan—as honor,the Order of the Rising Sun,and the title of Bunka well as whole plays and many pages of poetry. Koro-sha, or Person of Merit—awarded annually to indi- Many of the translations are Keene’s own. viduals who have made outstanding contributions to the A testament to the worthiness of Keene’s work advancement and development of Japanese culture. is that it has Keene, who received a B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. from remained in print Columbia, has been teaching at the University for more continuously since than 50 years.Currently,he is University Professor Emeritus its publication 50 and Shincho Professor Emeritus of Japanese Literature. years ago by Grove Additionally, he serves as president of the center that Press, and contin- bears his name. Founded in 1986, the DKC aims to Michael Dames ues to be taught in advance the understanding of Japan and its culture in college classrooms On Thursday, Feb. 16, around 100 of Keene’s col- the United States through university instruction, worldwide. leagues and former students, Japanese diplomats and research and public education. Another, equally impor- The book’s re- representatives of commerce gathered at the C.V. Starr tant aim is to encourage study of the interrelationships cord is the more East Asian Library to pay homage to Keene on the occa- among the cultures of Japan, other Asian countries, remarkable consid- sion of the 50th anniversary of his groundbreaking Europe and the United States. ering that it almost anthology and of the 20th anniversary of the center cre- “We celebrate the Donald Keene Center on its 20th didn’t get pub- ated and named in Keene’s honor at Columbia, the anniversary for its contributions and for its continued lished. According Donald Keene Center of Japanese Culture (DKC). commitment to excellence in the study of cultural diver- to a story Keene At 83, with some 25 books in English on Japanese sity and in fostering the exchange of global perspec- told at the Feb. 16 topics and some 30 books in Japanese (some transla- tives,” wrote University president Lee C. Bollinger in a gathering to com- tions from English),Keene is considered a living treasure letter of tribute, adding that the center has been an memorate the book’s golden anniversary, when on both sides of the Pacific. important asset to both Columbia and New York City.“It he first pitched the idea of an anthology cover- In written comments provided at the reception, enlivens the study of Japanese arts and culture by bring- ing 1,000 years of Japanese literature, the pub- Kenzo Oshima, Japan’s permanent representative to the ing renowned artists, experts, and scholars to our cam- lisher agreed—as long as he could limit it to UN, called Keene’s scholarship “legendary”: “Donald pus and hosting many artistic and cultural events that 250 pages. Keene is recognized as one of the greatest living inter- are free and open to the public.” Fortunately for the history of Asian studies, a preters of Japanese culture.” In recent years, the center has hosted such diverse friend from Keene’s Navy days was working at Keene’s colleague and former student, Carol Gluck, speakers as poet and literary critic Ooka Makoto, writer Grove Press, a publishing house known for its George Sansom Professor of History and a professor of and photographer Fosco Maraini, Nobel prize-winning willingness to take chances. Grove agreed to East Asian languages and cultures, seconded the ambas- author Oe Kenzaburo, distinguished architect Taniguchi double the length and then offered a second sador’s words, enthusiastically declaring,“Everybody in Yoshio, noted film historian Donald Richie, composer volume for modern Japanese literature, begin- Japan knows Donald Keene.”By way of illustration, she Takemitsu Toru, Noh actors Kanze Hideo and Umewaka ning with the years immediately following the reminisced about the time when she was scaling a Rokuro, and the late novelist Shiba Ryotaro. Meiji Restoration of 1868. remote mountaintop in northern Japan and her fellow At the close of the Feb. 16 celebration, a representa- Keene completed the second volume, also hikers asked what she did for a living. She told them she tive of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and still in print and considered a classic, a year later. worked at Columbia, to which they responded in an Industry presented the DKC with a permanent display excited chorus:“Oh, Donald Keene!” case to be installed on Campus Walk, within sight of Sciences Po Embraces Multiculturalism Director Richard Descoings says France’s elite schools must diversify By Ernest Beck equality and republicanism are meaningless as they feel began accepting small numbers of students from eco- disenfranchised, he said. nomically depressed suburbs of Paris on the basis of their n the view of Richard Descoings, director of For Descoings, the turning point came in 1973, when school record and a 45-minute interview testing their France’s Institute for Political Studies (known as immigration laws were changed to allow immigrant intellectual curiosity and critical thinking, rather than the “Sciences Po”), the rioting and violence that flared workers to settle in France. Before then, most immi- usual written examination.The goal, Descoings said, was I last year in France’s immigrant communities finds grants to France were single male workers who sent to find students who “show they have real ambition and its roots in the country’s outdated educational system. their earnings home. But from 1973 onwards, France can say why they should be chosen.” France has tremendous wealth and is an advanced saw rapid growth in numbers of immigrant families, the In 2005, 50 students entered through the program, national welfare state, but “we have totally failed most majority of them Muslim. while 200 entered through the normal competitive kids,”he declared. examination process. Descoings made these remarks at a benefit dinner “If affirmative action means giving more to Answering an audience question about whether one honoring the Alliance Program, a cooperative educa- those who have less, then I’m totally in favor.” could characterize such reforms as “affirmative action,” tional venture among Sciences Po, the École — Richard Descoings, Director of Sciences Po Descoings said that the French tend to shy away from Polytechnique, and the Université Paris 1 Panthéon such labels as they are assumed to be contrary to the Sorbonne.The School for International and Public Affairs Yet the educational system—geared towards the ideals of the French Republic. However, “if affirmative (SIPA) is also closely connected to Sciences Po through white elite—was wholly unprepared to deal with these action means giving more to those who have less, then faculty collaboration, dual degree programs, student shifting demographics, Descoings said. “Teachers were I’m totally in favor,”he said. exchanges and, most recently, an innovative Global not prepared to teach classes with 35 pupils of different Descoings’initiatives remain highly controversial,par- Public Policy Network. nationalities,”many of whom did not speak French per- ticularly in France, where many see no reason to change Descoings said that racism and isolation had con- fectly and did not come from educated families. As a an educational system that in their view, has served the tributed to the feeling within France’s North African and result,Descoings said,those from deprived backgrounds nation well for nearly two centuries.

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