David G. Goodman, our good friend and colleague and a leader in the field of Japanese theatre and cultural criticism, died on Monday, July 25, 2011, in Urbana, Illinois.
Professor Goodman was born and raised in Racine, Wisconsin, going on to receive a B.A. from Yale University (cum laude, 1969) and an M.A. and Ph.D. (1982) from Cornell University. He leaves behind his wife Kazuko, his daughter Yael, and his son Kai. He was 65 years of age. The funeral will be held Wednesday, July 27, 2011, at 2PM at Sinai Temple, Champaign, Illinois, to be followed by a meal of condolence at the family home, 1809 Moraine Drive, Champaign. Those who have interest in making food for the meal of condolence should contact Natalie, nataliefr@comcast.net, regarding appropriate foods and needs for the occasion.
David Goodman was a pioneering scholar in the study of modern Japanese theatre, especially of avant-garde theater in post-war Japan, and lived in Japan for more than ten years (1960s-70s). David was a towering figure in his field, not only translating major works of modern Japanese literature, drama, and poetry and authoring several scholarly monographs in English, but also writing multiple original works in Japanese. His first book was a translation of plays about experiences of the atomic bombs in Japan, After Apocalypse: Four Japanese Plays of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (1986), which was followed soon after by Japanese Drama and Culture in the 1960s: The Return of the Gods (1988), in which he explored a series of avant-garde plays to outline the re-appropriation of traditional cultural symbols in Japanese theatre. The latter work has had a lasting contribution on our understanding of the recovery of tradition and ongoing explorations of possibilities for renewal in performance modes and other dynamic aspects of Japanese culture today. In all, David Goodman published seven books in English.
Anyone who knew Professor Goodman understood that he had an extremely vibrant mind and attempted, in both his research and the classroom, to bridge between the theatre, audience, and the larger population, on the one hand, and to bring multiple cultures into mutual conversation on the other. Thus he not only wrote seminal cultural critiques such as Jews in the Japanese Mind: The History and Uses of a Cultural Stereotype (1995, 2000), but also taught courses in which he and his students examined the inter-cultural relationship between Japanese, Jewish, and American culture. Indeed, his colleagues recognized that David Goodman was a master pedagogue, and graduate students and undergraduates regularly spoke of their remarkable impressions of his courses. David also established, together with his brother, the Rita & Arnold Goodman Fellowship for Improvement of Women's Lives & Gender Equality in the Developing World, which has annually helped graduate students at the University of Illinois studying issues related to women, gender, and development.
His four major books written in Japanese flowed out of his great fascination with theses developing cultures. These included works such as including Israel: Voices and Faces (1979) and Hashiru (Running, 1989. Among many honors, he received the Translation Center Award (from Columbia University), for his Long, Long Autumn Nights: Selected Poems of Oguma Hideo, 1901-1940. He has also received NEH and Fulbright research grants. He is known to the Japanese public, being listed in the two major Japanese dictionaries of prominent public figures (Asahi jinbutsu jiten, Gendai jinbutsu jiten). At the time of his death, David was also working on a book entitled Death-Defying Acts: Essays Toward a History of Modern Japanese Drama.
David's broad vision led him recently to establish IJPAN (the Illinois Japan Performing Arts Network), which brings together leading technologies and the Japanese arts to provide for live-streaming performances. He received a major grant from the Japan Foundation's Center for Global Partnership for this project, which has just completed its first year. David had great success bringing together audiences in Japan, NY (Japan Society), and the University of Illinois (in both classrooms and the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts), to watch and interact with actors and playwrights in genres ranging from the noh theatre to contemporary Japanese drama. His energy and creativity will be sorely missed by all of us in his Department (EALC) and in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois, as well as all of those blessed by his knowledge, friendship and scholarly collaboration.
David's legacy in his field and at the University of Illinois will live on, and those who knew him personally will always feel the impact of his friendship and intellect. David Goodman was a gentleman. All of us who knew him will recall his warmth, sense of humor, breadth of knowledge, intensity when he felt strongly about something, and his wise counsel. A memorial event commemorating David's life and work will be organized in the coming Fall.
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