Erin Brightwell

Erin Brightwell is an Associate Professor of Pre-modern Japanese Literature at the University of Michigan, affiliated with the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures and the Center for Japanese Studies. She holds a PhD from Princeton University (2014) and an MA from the University of Washington (2007). Her research focuses on medieval Japanese literature and historiography, cross-cultural exchanges between Japan, China, and Europe, and the role of language in constructing authority during periods of societal upheaval. Her monograph *Reflecting the Past: Place, Language, and Principle in Japan’s Medieval Mirror Genre* (Harvard, 2020) explores how medieval Japanese thinkers used textual and linguistic tools to navigate historical narratives. She has received the Kyoko Selden Memorial Translation Prize (2017) for her work on Taiwanese author Wang Changxiong’s *The Torrent*. Brightwell teaches courses on pre-modern East Asian literature, cross-cultural encounters, and imperial-period works from Japan, Taiwan, and Germany. Her research has been supported by the Japan Foundation, the Hakuho Foundation, and the Center for Japanese Studies.