Professor Glynne Walley is the recipient of a 2020-21 Presidential Fellowship in Humanistic Study. He will be using the award to continue work on his translation of one of the most important literary works in East Asian history: Nansō Satomi hakkenden (Eight Dogs of the Satomi of Southern Fusa; Eight Dogs for short) by Kyokutei Bakin. Serialized in Japan between 1814 and 1842, Eight Dogs is possibly the longest novel in the world; the most recent edition runs to some 6,000 pages in twelve volumes. Eight Dogs was massively popular at the time of its initial publication, it played a crucial role in the establishment of modern Japanese literature, and its influence can still be seen in literary, visual, and popular culture today.

Eight Dogs is the subject of Professor Walley’s 2017 monograph Good Dogs: Edification, Entertainment & Kyokutei Bakin’s Nansō Satomi hakkenden (Cornell East Asia Series). The translation is projected to appear in eight volumes from Cornell East Asia Series. The first volume is scheduled to be published in spring 2021 and has already received the 2018-19 William F. Sibley Memorial Subvention Award for Japanese Translation from the University of Chicago, a prestigious prize that underscores the significance of this project. (https://ceas.uchicago.edu/news/2018-19-william-f-sibley-memorial-subvention-award-japanese-translation-presented-cornell)

Please join the department in congratulating Professor Walley for receiving this award to continue his work on this much awaited translation. His masterful translations are making this hugely important novel available to a wide audience of English-language readers.