Keene, Donald

(1922- ). US scholar and translator of Japanese literature. Born in New York City, Keene graduated from Columbia University, where he received a Ph.D. in 1949. He studied Japanese literature at Cambridge University in England and at Kyoto University. Keene was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun in 1974. In 1986 he became a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. That same year, The Donald Keene Center for Japanese Culture was established at Columbia University. His scholarly studies include The Japanese Discovery of Europe (1952; revised edition, 1969), World Within Walls (1976), and Dawn to the West, (2 vols, 1984). Translations include The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter (Taketori Monogatari; tr 1956), Essays in Idleness (Tsurezuregusa; tr 1967), and The Treasury of Loyal Retainers (Kanadehon Chūshingura; tr 1971). (adapted from Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Tokyo: Kodansha, 1993)