Arts & Culture

America’s conflicted cultural obsession with the gay cowboy movie “Brokeback Mountain” might seem old-fashioned in Japan where stories of love and romance between beautiful young men have been entertaining women for more than a decade, suggests Rebecca Copeland, Ph.D., a Japanese studies professor at Washington University in St. Louis. In addition to movies, male-male romance is a popular theme in a variety of other Japanese pop culture media, including book-length graphic novels and comics, known as manga, and an array of animated cartoons and television action series, known as anime. All of which have developed cult followings on the Internet and among fans of late-night cable television programming, including large numbers of American teens. More…

She’s a professor of Romance languages & literatures and of comparative literature; other speakers are Peter Kastor, Martha Sandweiss, Erin McGlothlin & Mariët Westermann.

He’s been described by CBC Radio as “one of the leading Baroque oboists in North America whose fine instruments are played around the world.”

The University will host a group of Japanese activists, filmmakers and scholars touring the nation to promote the documentary film project.

A highlight of the event will be a rare performance of the complicated Herzgewächse by students and faculty in the Department of Music.

Peter Kastor, Ph.D., assistant professor of history and American culture studies in Arts & Sciences, will speak on “An Accurate Empire: How American Explorers Described Their Country and Themselves” at 4 p.m., Thursday, March 9. Kastor is the third of six speakers appearing this spring as part of the Faculty Fellows Lecture and Workshop Series, presented by the Center for the Humanities Arts & Sciences.

Garber has authored four books devoted to the Bard; the most recent, Shakespeare After All, makes him more accessible to the common reader.

“Like all Shakespearean comedy, Much Ado deals with love and marriage,” says director Henry I. Schvey “But it’s also about misunderstanding, misinterpretation and disguise.”

She’s the author of three collections of poetry: Fire in the Conservatory (1982); The Woman Who Died in Her Sleep (1996); and Waterborne (2002).

“30 Years of Sisterhood,” a documentary film on the 1970s genesis of Japan’s women’s liberation movement, will be in the campus spotlight Feb. 28 as Washington University hosts a group of Japanese activists, filmmakers and scholars now touring the nation to promote the project. Plans call for a special screening of the film at 3 p.m. Feb. 28 in Room 201, Crow Hall, followed by a panel discussion and reception. Sponsored by the Visiting East Asian Professionals (VEAP) program and the Women and Gender Studies program, both in Arts & Sciences.