Bonnie McClure
Japanese Program
Bonnie studies Japanese poetry from the Heian through Edo periods, focusing particularly on medieval waka and renga. Her interests include the historical development of medieval poetic styles; premodern theories of poetics; and the development of travel poetry. With additional interests in narrative theory, cognitive linguistics, affect theory, and ecocriticism, she reads the Japanese short poem as a narrative that constructs emotional experience in ways strongly shaped by its medium. Bonnie received a B.A. in classical piano performance from Birmingham-Southern College and an M.A. in Japanese literature from the University of Washington. She also spent several years studying renga at Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo before coming to Berkeley.