Bonnie McClure

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.