| Susan J. Napier | |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Professor, manga critic |
| Nationality | American |
| Subjects | Japanese literature |
| Notable work(s) | Anime from Akira to Princess Mononoke |
Dr. Susan Jolliffe Napier is Professor of the Japanese Program at Tufts University. She was formerly Professor of the Japanese Literature and Culture at the University of Texas at Austin, and a visiting professor at the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University.[1] Napier is also an anime and manga critic. Professor Napier obtained her A.B., A.M., and PhD from Harvard University.[2]
In 1991 Napier published Escape from the Wasteland: Romanticism and Realism in the Fiction of Mishima Yukio and Oe Kenzaburo. Her second book, The Fantastic in Modern Japanese Literature: The Subversion of Modernity, followed in 1996.[2]
Napier first became interested in manga when a student showed her a copy of Akira. Napier then saw the film, which led to the creation of her third book, Anime from Akira to Princess Mononoke: Experiencing Contemporary Japanese Animation,[1][3] which was revised in 2005.[4] Napier's From Impressionism To Anime: Japan As Fantasy And Fan Cult In The Western Imagination was published in 2007, which discusses anime fandom in greater depth.[5][6]