MARVIN MARCUS is Professor of Japanese Language and Literature at Washington University in St. Louis, where he has taught since 1985. He did his graduate work in Japanese literature at the University of Michigan, where he earned an MA and PhD. Marcus's area of specialization is modern Japanese literature of the prewar (kindai) period, and his research has focused on personal narratives and 'life writing': memoir, reminiscence, essay, diary, and autobiography. He has extensively researched and written on authors such as Mori Ogai, Natsume Soseki, Shimazaki Toson, Futabatei Shimei, and Uchida Roan.