From: Bruce Willoughby <[log in to unmask]>
Research Guide to Japanese Film Studies
by Abe Mark Nornes and Aaron Gerow
Michigan Monograph Series in Japanese Studies, No. 65
viii + 197 pp., 2009
ISBN 978-1-929280-53-X, cloth, $60.00
ISBN 978-1-929280-54-4, paper, $25.00
Published by the Center for Japanese Studies, The University of Michigan
"In its field I cannot imagine a research guide more needed. For
whole decades scholars have struggled simply to locate sources, even
to find out what there were. Now, however, the skill and stamina of
Nornes and Gerow have resulted in a reference work which both
illuminates and defines this field, clearing a formerly obscured
terrain for future scholarship." Donald Richie
"Every national cinema should be graced with such a resource as the
one Nornes and Gerow have so generously and painstakingly assembled.
This is a welcome and welcoming gateway through which will pass the
next generation of scholars, able at last to swiftly draw on all that
is available, as they make more become available in turn. Lets hope
that generation will exhibit the drive, clarity, comprehensiveness,
and vision that these authors display. Their 'frequently asked
questions' are ones I have been asked for decades; at last I have the
answers." Dudley Andrew, Yale University
The RESEARCH GUIDE TO JAPANESE FILM STUDIES provides a snapshot of
all the archival and bibliographic resources available to students
and scholars of Japanese cinema. Among the nations of the world,
Japan has enjoyed an impressively lively print culture related to
cinema. The first film books and periodicals appeared shortly after
the birth of cinema, proliferating wildly in the 1910s with only the
slightest pause in the dark days of World War II. The numbers of
publications match the enormous scale of film production, but with
the lack of support for film studies in Japan, much of it remains as
uncharted territory, with few maps to negotiate the maze of material.
This book is the first all-embracing guide ever published for
approaching the complex archive for Japanese cinema. It lists all the
libraries and film archives in the world with significant collections
of film prints, still photographs, archival records, books, and
periodicals. It provides a comprehensive, annotated bibliography of
the core books and magazines for the field. And it supplies hints for
how to find and access materials for any research project. Above and
beyond that, Nornes and Gerows RESEARCH GUIDE TO JAPANESE FILM
STUDIES constitutes a comprehensive overview of the impressive
dimensions and depth of the print culture surrounding Japanese film,
and a guideline for future research in the field. This is an
essential book for anyone seriously thinking about Japan and its cinema.
Abe Mark Nornes is Professor of Asian Cinema at the University of
Michigan, where he specializes in Japanese film and documentary. He
is the author CINEMA BABEL: TRANSLATING GLOBAL CINEMA, a theoretical
and historical look at the role of translation in film history. He
has also written two books on nonfiction film in Japan: FOREST OF
PRESSURE: OGAWA SHINSUKE AND POSTWAR JAPANESE DOCUMENTARY and
JAPANESE DOCUMENTARY FILM: FROM THE MEIJI ERA TO HIROSHIMA (all from
the University of Minnesota Press).
Aaron Gerow is Assistant Professor of Japanese Cinema at Yale
University. He has published widely in a variety of languages on
early, wartime, and recent Japanese film, and is author of KITANO
TAKESHI (BFI) and A PAGE OF MADNESS: CINEMA AND MODERNITY IN 1920s
JAPAN (Center for Japanese Studies, The University of Michigan). He
has a book on Japanese film culture of the 1910s forthcoming from the
University of California Press.
Bruce Willoughby
Executive Editor
Center for Japanese Studies
The University of Michigan
1007 E. Huron St.
Ann Arbor MI 48104-1690
ph 734-647-1199
fax 734-647-8886
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