Earl Roy Miner oral history interview

1980-08-18

Miner, Earl, 1927-2004; Mayo, Marlene J.

Oral history interview with Earl Roy Miner conducted by Marlene Mayo on August 18, 1980. Earl Roy Miner (February 21, 1927 - April 17, 2004) was a professor, scholar, and author born in Marshfield, Wisconsin. After graduating from high school toward the end of World War II, he signed up for an Army college program and was sent to study engineering at the University of Minnesota. With the Army program, Miner received both basic training and Japanese language training before being sent to Japan in early 1946 without being able to finish his degree. During the occupation, he worked as a clerk/ typist and an interpreter. Miner left Japan in late 1947, going back to the University of Minnesota where he received his B.A. in Japanese studies. Miner went on to get his M.A. and Ph.D. in English from the University of Minnesota. In 1953, he started working as an English instructor for Williams College and then taught English from 1955-72 at UCLA. During this time, Miner taught Japanese at Oxford from 1966 to 1967 as a Fulbright lecturer. In 1972, Miner became a Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Princeton University, where he remained until his retirement in 2002. Miner wrote many books about English and Japanese literature, especially Japanese poetry, throughout his career. In 1994, he received the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays and Neck Ribbon awards from Japan for his commitment to Japanese literature and the Princeton University's Behrman Award in 1993 for his achievements in the humanities. Earl Roy Miner passed away at the age of 77.

University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)

Oral histories

Japan--History--Allied occupation, 1945-1952

Japan; New Jersey; Princeton

Postwar Japan

Special Collections and University Archives

English

Collection may be protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. To obtain permission to publish or reproduce, please contact the University of Maryland Libraries at http://www.lib.umd.edu/special/contact/home.

Recording: 02:25:00 (audio cassette; mp3); Transcript: 42 pages (PDF)

This oral history interview is part of the Marlene J. Mayo oral histories. A guide to the full collection of Marlene J. Mayo oral histories is available in our archival collections: http://hdl.handle.net/1903.1/42478.
Accession 2009-209-GWP
An interview transcript is available.

Filename: prange-087572