USC.edu

David Bialock

Associate Professor of East Asian Languages and Cultures and Comparative Literature
Email bialock@usc.edu Office THH 356K Office Phone (213) 740-3716

Research & Practice Areas

Premodern Japanese literature, classical Japanese poetry, literature and the environment, ecocriticism.

Education

  • B.A. Classical Greek and French, University of Michigan
  • M.A. East Asian Languages and Cultures, Columbia University
  • Ph.D. East Asian Languages and Cultures, Columbia University
    • Andrew Mellon Post-doctoral Fellowship in the Humanities, Stanford University, 1996-1997

  • Other Employment

    • Chair, East Asian Languages and Cultures, University of Southern California, 08/16/2011 – 08/15/2014

  • Summary Statement of Research Interests

    Current research interests include medieval Japanese literature; music in literature and ritual; ecocriticism and environmental humanities; translation.

    Research Specialties

    Premodern Japanese literature, classical Japanese poetry, literature and the environment, ecocriticism.

    Detailed Statement of Research Interests

    The early focus of my research was classical Japanese literature, especially waka poetics and medieval literature related to The Tale of the Heike and its variants. More recent research has focused on music in medieval Japanese literature, mythology, and literature and the environment. In my research and teaching, I try to bring Japanese literature into dialogue with other literatures and disciplinary perspectives. 

  • Book

    • Bialock, D. T. Eccentric Spaces, Hidden Histories: Narrative, Ritual, and Royal Authority from The Chronicles of Japan to The Tale of the Heike (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2007). 2007. Stanford

    Book Chapters

    • Bialock, D. T. (2016). “The Tales of Heike and Its Reception,” in The Cambridge History of Japanese Literature, ed. Haruo Shirane (March 2016), pp. 430-444.
    • Bialock, D. T. “Nation and Epic: The Tale of the Heike as Modern Classic,” in Inventing the Classics: Canon Formation, National Identity, and Japanese Literature, ed. Haruo Shirane and Tomi Suzuki (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2000), pp. 151-178. 2000.

    Journal Article

    • Bialock, D. T. (2013). “Biwa Masters and Musical Hierophanies in the Heike monogatari and Other Medieval Texts,” Journal of Religion in Japan 2 (2013): 119-151.
    • Bialock, D. T. (2013). “Japan and Ecocriticism: An Introduction.” With Ursula Heise. Poetica, no. 80 (2013), i-xi.
    • Bialock, D. T. (2012). “From Heike to Nomori no kagami : Onmyodo and the Soundscapes of Medieval Japan,” Cahiers d’Extrême-Asie 21 (2012):165-199.
    • Bialock, D. T. “Outcasts, Emperorship, and Dragon Cults in The Tale of the Heike,” in Buddhist Priests, Kings and Marginals: Studies on Medieval Japanese Buddhism, ed. Bernard Faure, vol. 13 of Cahiers d’Extrême-Asie (2002-2003), pp. 227-310. 2003
    • Bialock, D. T. (1994). “Voice, Text, and the Question of Poetic Borrowing in Late Classical Japanese Poetry,” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, vol. 54, no. 1 (June 1994), pp. 181-231.
    • Japan Foundation Fellowship, 2003-2004
    • Andrew Mellon Post-doctoral Fellowship in the Humanities, Stanford University, 1996-1997
    • Fulbright Award, Fulbright-Hays Research Grant, 1992-1993
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