Noma Literary Newcomer Award
1 appearances
-
Edition 14 (1992) award
Ian Hideo Levy
りーび ひでお
Riibi Hideo
Profile
- Gender
- Male
- Born
- 1950-11-29 （Berkeley, California, United States）
- Nationality
- United States
- Languages
- Japanese, English
- Residence History
- Berkeley, California, United States → Taiwan → Hong Kong → Japan
Career
- Occupations
- Novelist, Scholar of Japanese literature, Translator, University professor
- Active Years
- 1992-
- Affiliations
- Princeton University — Assistant Professor (former), Stanford University — Associate Professor (tenured track, former), Hosei University, Faculty of International and Cultural Studies — Professor (later Emeritus)
- Influenced By
- Kenji Nakagami, Ryōtarō Shiba, Paul Andler
Education
| Institution | Faculty | Department | Degree | Period | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Princeton University | Graduate School (East Asian Studies) | East Asian Studies | 博士（文学） | 1970s - 1978 | United States |
Princeton University
Graduate School (East Asian Studies)
/ East Asian Studies
Degree:
博士（文学）
Period:
1970s - 1978
Year of Graduation:
1978
Country:
United States
Ph.D. with a dissertation on Kakinomoto no Hitomaro.
Awards
| Year | Award | Work | Category | Organization | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | National Book Award | The Ten Thousand Leaves (translation of the Man'yoshu) | — | National Book Foundation | 受賞 |
| 1992 | Noma Literary New Face Prize | A Room Where the Star-Spangled Banner Cannot Be Heard | — | Noma Literary Prize Committee | 受賞 |
| 2005 | Osaragi Jirō Prize | Shattered into Pieces | — | Osaragi Jirō Prize Committee | 受賞 |
| 2007 | International Cultural Encouragement Award | — | — | Japan Foundation | 受賞 |
| 2009 | Ito Sei Literary Award | Kari no Mizu (Temporary Water) | — | Ito Sei Literary Award Committee | 受賞 |
| 2017 | Yomiuri Literary Prize | Model Village | — | Yomiuri Shimbun | 受賞 |
| 2021 | Noma Literary Prize | The Sky Road | — | Noma Cultural Foundation | 受賞 |
National Book Award
1982
Work:
The Ten Thousand Leaves (translation of the Man'yoshu)
Organization:
National Book Foundation
Result:
受賞
Noma Literary New Face Prize
1992
Work:
A Room Where the Star-Spangled Banner Cannot Be Heard
Organization:
Noma Literary Prize Committee
Result:
受賞
Osaragi Jirō Prize
2005
Work:
Shattered into Pieces
Organization:
Osaragi Jirō Prize Committee
Result:
受賞
International Cultural Encouragement Award
2007
Organization:
Japan Foundation
Result:
受賞
Ito Sei Literary Award
2009
Work:
Kari no Mizu (Temporary Water)
Organization:
Ito Sei Literary Award Committee
Result:
受賞
Yomiuri Literary Prize
2017
Work:
Model Village
Organization:
Yomiuri Shimbun
Result:
受賞
Noma Literary Prize
2021
Work:
The Sky Road
Organization:
Noma Cultural Foundation
Result:
受賞
Awards & Nominations
Mishima Yukio Award
1 appearances
-
Edition 11 (1998) nominee
Osaragi Jiro Award
1 appearances
-
Edition 32 (2005) award
Ito Sei Literary Award
1 appearances
-
Edition 20 (2009) award
Yomiuri Literary Award
1 appearances
-
Edition 68 (2016) award
Noma Literary Award
1 appearances
-
Edition 74 (2021) award
Works
Major Works
A Room Where the Star-Spangled Banner Cannot Be Heard
1992 NovelDebut novel by Levy, written in Japanese; a multi-part narrative exploring cultural friction between Japan and the United States, identity, and family history.
transnationalismidentityfamily history
Translations
- English translation: A Room Where the Star-Spangled Banner Cannot Be Heard (translator: Christopher D. Scott; Columbia University Press, 2011)
Tiananmen
1996 NovelA novel engaging with contemporary Chinese history and the memory and political aftermath surrounding Tiananmen.
Chinahistorypolitics
The Song of the Nation
1998 NovelA novel that questions nationalism and the relationship between communal identity and the individual.
nationalismcommunityindividual
Henry Takeshi Lewitsky's Summer Journey
2002 Novel / TravelogueA narrative following characters on a summer journey, exploring memory and cultural intersections.
travelmemorycultural intersection
Shattered into Pieces
2005 NovelA novel that uses fragmented perspectives and layers of memory to portray family and history.
memoryfamilyhistory
Kari no Mizu (Temporary Water)
2008 NovelA work about loss, corporeality, and the instability of being. Winner of the Ito Sei Literary Award.
lossembodimentexistence
Model Village
2016 NovelA long novel on society and the individual, models and deviations. Winner of the Yomiuri Literary Prize.
societynormsindividual
The Sky Road
2021 NovelA story about aging, history, and journey. Winner of the Noma Literary Prize.
aginghistoryjourney
The Ten Thousand Leaves: A Translation of the Man'yoshu
1981 Translation (Classical poetry)An English translation of the Man'yoshu. One of Levy's major scholarly translations, which received wide recognition including a National Book Award.
classical translationwaka poetrypoetics
Translations
- Princeton University Press (first published 1981; reprint 1987)
Hitomaro and the Birth of Japanese Lyricism
1984 Scholarly monographA scholarly study discussing Kakinomoto no Hitomaro and the origins of Japanese lyricism.
classicspoeticsKakinomoto no Hitomaro
Bibliography
- A Room Where the Star-Spangled Banner Cannot Be Heard (1992)
- The Victory of Japanese (essays, 1992)
- Tiananmen (1996)
- Man'yoshu of Shinjuku (essays, 1996)
- The Song of the Nation (1998)
- Identities (essays, 1997)
- Henry Takeshi Lewitsky's Summer Journey (2002)
- Shattered into Pieces (2005)
- Kari no Mizu (Temporary Water) (2008)
- The Room for Writing Japanese (essays, 2001)
- My China (essays, 2004)
- Reading the Man'yoshu in English (Iwanami Shinsho, 2004)
- Voices Across Borders (essays, 2007)
- Yan'an: A Journey to the Revolutionary Holy Land (essays, 2008)
- My Japanese (Chikuma Sensho, 2010)
- To the Continent: Writing about America and China in Japanese (2012)
- Model Village (2016)
- The Sky Road (2021)
- Love Songs from the Man'yoshu (English translation, 2000)
- Man'yo Luster: Man'yoshu (English translation, 2002)
Translations by Author
- The Ten Thousand Leaves (translation of the Man'yoshu; Princeton University Press, 1981)
- Hitomaro and the Birth of Japanese Lyricism (author, English, 1984)
- Kaga Otohiko: Riding the East Wind (English translation, Kodansha International, 2002)
- Keiko Yanagisawa: Wisdom for Living and Dying (English translation, 2004)
- The Heart Sutra (English translation)
Translations of Works
- A Room Where the Star-Spangled Banner Cannot Be Heard (English translation by Christopher D. Scott, 2011)
- The Ten Thousand Leaves (English translation; Princeton University Press, 1981; reprint 1987)
Style & Themes
- Literary Style
- transnational narrativelyrical, economy-of-language prosemultilingual perspective
- Recurring Motifs
- language and identitystate versus individualmovement and journeymemory and loss
Legacy
Ian Hideo Levy is an American-born, Jewish-descended writer and translator known both for his original works written in Japanese and his scholarly translations of Japanese classics. His English translation of the Man'yoshu and his Japanese-language novels exemplify transnational literature bridging Japan and the U.S. He has also had a long academic career at Hosei University and has left influence in both scholarly and literary communities in Japan and abroad.
Archives
- Princeton University Library (related holdings)
- Library of Congress (United States)
- National Diet Library (Japan)
Trivia
- Although not a native speaker of Japanese, he is a representative writer who composes fiction in Japanese.
- His father was a diplomat; he lived in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan and the United States during his childhood.
- He won a National Book Award for his English translation of the Man'yoshu (1982).
- He served for many years as a professor (later Emeritus) at Hosei University in Japan.