Howard Hibbett (July 27, 1920 – March 13, 2019) was a translator and professor of Japanese literature at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. He held the Victor S. Thomas Professorship in Japanese Literature.

Early life

Hibbett was born in

Akron, Ohio Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County, Ohio, Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 C ...

, on July 27, 1920. He began his studies of Japanese language and literature as a sophomore at

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

in 1942 before working as a language specialist for the U.S. Army in 1942-46. After graduating from Harvard College in 1947, he went on to receive his Ph.D., also from Harvard, in 1950. He taught at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

before returning to Harvard as a professor in 1958. He was Director of the

Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies The Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies (RIJS) at Harvard University is a research center focusing on Japan. It provides a forum for stimulating scholarly and public interest.Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies overview ...

from 1985 through 1988. ''Seven Japanese Tales'', published in 1963, helped introduce the English-speaking world to

Jun'ichirō Tanizaki was a Japanese author who is considered to be one of the most prominent figures in modern Japanese literature. The tone and subject matter of his work ranges from shocking depictions of sexuality and destructive erotic obsessions to subtle por ...

and

Japanese literature Japanese literature throughout most of its history has been influenced by cultural contact with neighboring Asian literatures, most notably China and its literature. Early texts were often written in pure Classical Chinese or , a Chinese-Japanes ...

. His publications include studies and translations of Edo literature and modern Japanese literature. He is particularly known for his translations of Tanizaki and works on Japanese language teaching. On March 16, 2018, he was awarded the Lindsley and Masao Miyoshi Translation Prize "for lifetime achievement as a translator of Edo period and modern Japanese literature" by the Donald Keene Center of Japanese Culture at Columbia University, New York. He died in March 2019 at the age of 98.

Selected works

In a statistical overview derived from writings by and about Howard Hibbett,

OCLC OCLC, Inc., doing business as OCLC, See also: is an American nonprofit cooperative organization "that provides shared technology services, original research, and community programs for its membership and the library community at large". It was ...

WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the OCL ...

encompasses roughly 90+ works in 200+ publications in 5 languages and 4,000+ library holdings. WorldCat Identities

Hibbett, Howard
/ref> * ''The Floating World in Japanese Fiction'', Oxford University Press, New York 1959 * ''Modern Japanese; a Basic Reader'', Harvard University Press, Cambridge (Mass.) 1965 * ''Contemporary Japanese Literature: an Anthology of Fiction, Film, and Other Writing since 1945'', Alfred A. Knopf, New York 1977 * ''The Chrysanthemum and the Fish: Japanese Humor Since the Age of the Shoguns'', Kodansha International, Tōkyō New York 2002
''Episodic Festschrift for Howard Hibbett (Episodes 1-26)''
highmoonoon, Los Angeles 2000-2010.

Translations

* '' The Key'' by

, Alfred A. Knopf, New York 1961 * ''Seven Japanese Tales'' by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki, Alfred A. Knopf, New York 1963 * '' Diary of a Mad Old Man'' by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki, Alfred A. Knopf, New York 196
Review
* ''

Harp of Burma The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orche ...

'' by

Michio Takeyama was a Japanese writer, literary critic and scholar of German literature, active in Shōwa period Japan. Early life Takeyama was born in Osaka, but moved frequently as his father, a bank employee, was often transferred. From 1907-1913, he lived ...

, Charles E. Tuttle Co., Rutland (Vt.) 1966 * '' Beauty and sadness'' by

Yasunari Kawabata was a Japanese novelist and short story writer whose spare, lyrical, subtly shaded prose works won him the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1968, the first Japanese author to receive the award. His works have enjoyed broad international appeal an ...

, Alfred A. Knopf, New York 1975 * ''

Quicksand Quicksand is a colloid A colloid is a mixture in which one substance consisting of microscopically dispersed insoluble particles is suspended throughout another substance. Some definitions specify that the particles must be dispersed in a ...

'' by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki, Alfred A. Knopf, New York 199
Review
* ''A portrait of Shunkin'' by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki, Limited Editions Club, New York 2000

Notes

References

*http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~rijs/people/faculty/h_hibbett.html *http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=271454 *http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=476034 *http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=156189 {{DEFAULTSORT:Hibbett, Howard 1920 births 2019 deaths Harvard University alumni Japanese literature academics Japanese–English translators 20th-century American translators United States Army personnel of World War II