Katsuya Izumi started his graduate study in Tokyo University of Foreign Studies as an avid reader of Herman Melville. He has written articles and delivered conference papers and lectures on nineteenth-century American literature, Asian American literature, Japanese literature, and Japanese animation films. He wrote his Ph.D. dissertation by studying the affinity of self-effacement between early-American Protestant sermons and nineteenth-century American authors such as Melville, Dickinson, and Thoreau at the University at Albany. Before cultivating his current interests in Japanese literature, Izumi had taught American literature and English writing at various institutions. When he teaches literature, whether it is American or Japanese, Izumi focuses the importance of close-reading by inviting his students to various “subtleties” of language. When he teaches the Japanese language, he introduces “peculiarities” of Japanese while explaining reflections of Japanese culture in the language. He is currently working on his monographs about Japanese American internment camp newspapers and on reflections of Japanese colonial endeavors in modern Japanese literary works. He is also editing a volume about links between Japanese popular culture and Japanese language courses.

Publications:

• “Multilayered Narrative of Patriarchy: The Recurring ‘Scent or Suspicion of Burning Incense’ in Hisaye Yamamoto’s ‘The Legend of Miss Sasagawara.’” Asian American Literature Association Journal 22 (2016): 56-70.
  
• “Temporality Unbound and the Vanishing Subject in Emily Dickinson’s Poetry.” America Bungaku [American Literature] 71 (2010): 1-9.

Presentations:

• “Creative Power of Cannibalism in Isayama Hajime’s Attack on Titan.” NeMLA Conference, Washington, DC, March 23, 2019.
• “Eating Flowers as a Literary Statement: Enchi Fumiko’s ‘The Flower-Eating Crone.’” Annual Conference of the Association for Asian Studies, Toronto, Canada, March 19, 2017.
• “Cooking and Eating Karma in Lan Cao’s Monkey Bridge.” SSAWW Conference, Philadelphia, PA, November 7, 2015.