October - Pedro Bassoe
Please join me in congratulating Pedro Bassoe, assistant professor of languages and cultures, on receiving the 2022 Kenneth B. Pyle Prize for Best Article for his essay “Life Through the Lens: Ozaki Kōyō and the Birth of the Photographic Imagination in Japanese Literature,” published in the Journal of Japanese Studies in summer 2022. Published by University of Washington, with an acceptance rate of generally under 20%, the journal is supported by the Japan Foundation, NEH, and an endowment from the Kyocera Corporation.
The committee commended Bassoe’s article for its “ground-breaking work that overturns received ideas about Kōyō. Bassoe’s close attention to how literary devices shaped Ozaki’s narrative-making with the camera, and conversely, how the camera attuned him to the value of describing nature in his novels, was illuminating.”
Congratulations, Professor Bassoe!
David A. Reingold
Senior Vice President for Policy Planning
Justin S. Morrill Dean of Liberal Arts
Professor of Sociology
Purdue University