Robert H. Brower (March 23, 1923 – February 29, 1988) was a professor of Far East Language and Literature, Japanese Language and Literature, chair of Far East Language and Literature at the University of Michigan from 1966 to 1988.

Life as a student

Professor Brower was born on March 23, 1923, in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...

. He received his

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

from

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 ...

in 1944. He learned

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

while serving with the armed forces in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, and received his

master's A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

and

doctoral degrees A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...

from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

in 1947 and 1952, respectively.

Teaching

He returned to

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

in 1966 after teaching at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

and

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

. As the chairman of the Department of Far Eastern Languages and Literatures from 1971 to 1981, he was instrumental in expanding Michigan's reputation as a major center for Japanese studies. Brower joined the Department of Far Eastern Languages and Literatures at the University of Michigan in 1966, and served as chairman of the department from 1971 through 1981. He served in the professorial ranks at Stanford University from 1954 through 1966, and in 1963–64 he served as director of the Inter-University Center for Japanese Language Studies in Tokyo. He taught at the University of Minnesota from 1951 through 1954. Brower was an internationally recognized authority on traditional Japanese literature, especially poetry. His book ''Japanese Court Poetry'', written in collaboration with Earl Miner, was one of the first critical examinations in English of the poetry of the Japanese imperial court from the sixth through the 14th centuries, and was the seminal work in his specialty, classical poetry and poetics. First published in 1976, it remains a standard text for students of Japanese literature. Brower was a Fulbright Senior Research Fellow in Japan in 1962–63. He also received research grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Japan Foundation. He was president of the Association of Teachers of Japanese, 1971–74, and a member of the Association of Asian Studies and the American Oriental Society. In 1987, Brower's former students established a small endowment, on the occasion of his retirement, to honor and memorialize his many contributions to the field of Japanese literature. The fund is designated to support the purchase of select volumes on classical Japanese literature. The fund is managed by the Center for Japanese Studies. Upon his death, it was his widow Sally Brower's wish that friends and family members give donations to the Robert H. Brower Library Fund, in lieu of flowers or gifts.

Death

At the time of his death, Brower was at work on a series of translations of poetic treatises, which promised to reveal how Japanese poets regarded their own art. Robert H. Brower died on Monday, February 29, 1988.

Bibliography

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brower, Robert H. Linguists from the United States University of Michigan faculty Japanese literature academics University of Michigan alumni Harvard University alumni 20th-century linguists 1923 births 1988 deaths American military personnel of World War II