Wendy Jones Nakanishi : an American resident in Japan, her life and work through the English language and literary creativity

Abstract

Wendy Jones Nakanishi is a professor of English Language and Comparative Cultures at a small private college located in the south of Japan: Shikoku Gakuin University in Kagawa prefecture. It is a life far removed from her roots. She grew up in a tiny town in the northwestern corner of Indiana and spent her childhood holidays at her grandparentsʼ farm in the central part of the state. She received graduate degrees in Indiana, in England and in Scotland and she also spent a year in France and half a year in Holland. Nakanishi has published widely in America, Japan and Europe. Her academic research ranges from eighteenth-century English literature to the analysis of contemporary Japanese and British authors to sociological topics related to Japan. She was an Associate Member of the Ruskin Programme, based at LancasterUniversity in England, and currently belongs to the Iris Murdoch Society of Japan. She has published a considerable body of academic work - critical monographs, articles and book reviews - and, in recent years, has embarked on writing short stories and Žcreative non-fictionʼ pieces based on her experience of living in Japan for the past twenty-seven years as an American 'ex-patʼ, as a university professor, and as the wife of a Japanese farmer and the mother of three sons. Her stories have been published in various literary magazines in Japan and abroad and reflect her Žlife storyʼ asa foreigner residing in that country. In this article, I will focus on her 'creative non-fictionʼ stories.