'The Unmaking of an American': One thread in a lifetime of cultural exploration
Roger Pulvers' latest memoir, "The Unmaking of an American," takes readers on an engaging and occasionally revelatory tour of Japan and Pulvers' own family history.
'Liv': The truth of war in a pair of cornflower-blue eyes
In the landmark Western "The Searchers" (1956) directed by John Ford, John Wayne plays embittered Civil War veteran Ethan Edwards, in obsessive pursuit of Comanche Indians who have kidnapped his niece. Such is Edward's hatred for Native Americans we spend the movie convinced he ...
'Strong in the Rain': Poetry from the heart and mind by Kenji Miyazawa
'Strong in the Rain," a classic Japanese poetry collection from Kenji Miyazawa (1896-1921), beautifully reveals much about both nature and humanity. Strong in the Rain: Selected Poems, by Kenji Miyazawa, Translated by Roger Pulvers. 128 pages BLOODAXE BOOKS, Poetry. Miyazawa, raised in rural Iwate Prefecture, was an agricultural ...
Roger Pulvers challenges the idea of a hero in directorial debut, 'Star Sand'
Roger Pulvers has had the sort of free-ranging, multifaceted career that seems like a dream in this specialized age, when academics labor in their narrow professional silos. Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1944 to Jewish-American parents, he came to Japan in 1967, began teaching ...
The wanderer, writer and suspected spy who embraced Japan
T.S. Eliot may have written that "April is the cruellest month," but for Roger Pulvers, this spring is an extraordinarily felicitous one. In March, an English translation of his novel "Starsand" was published and in April, translations will be released of both an anthology ...
Translator channels poet Miyazawa
When author and translator Roger Pulvers first arrived in Japan in 1967, he could not read or write the language and asked a friend to recommend "the most beautiful Japanese" literature. "(The friend) said, well, that's Miyazawa Kenji," Pulvers explained, recalling his struggles as he ...
