Chronicles of My Life: An American in the Heart of Japan

Amazon.com Price: $26.95 (as of 10/11/2019 16:48 PST- Details)

Description

“I on occasion think that if, as the results of an coincidence, I were to lose my knowledge of Japanese, there would not be much left for me. Japanese, which in the beginning had no connection with my ancestors, my literary tastes, or my awareness of myself as a person, has grow to be the central element of my life.”

In this eloquent and wholly absorbing memoir, the renowned scholar Donald Keene shares more than half a century of his unusual adventures as a student of Japan. Keene begins with an account of his bittersweet childhood in New York; then he describes his initial encounters with Asia and Europe and the way in which World War II complicated that experience. He captures the sights, scents, and sounds of Japan as they first enveloped him, and talks of the unique travels and well-known intellectuals who later shaped the contours of his academic career.

Keene traces the movement of his passions with delicacy and subtlety, deftly weaving his love for Japan into a larger narrative about identity and home and the circumstances that led a Westerner to find solace in a country at the opposite side of the world. Chronicles of My Life is not just an enchanting tale of two cultures colliding, but also a thrilling account of the emotions and experiences that connect us all, without reference to our individual origins.

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