Rachel Matt Thorn

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Rachel Matt Thorn (born May 12, 1965 in Pennsylvania ) is an American cultural anthropologist and translator. Her main work is the analysis and history of Shōjo manga.

Life

Thorn was an exchange student at Kōnan University in Kōbe in 1985 and got to know Manga in order to learn Japanese. Reading Moto Hagios Thomas no Shinzō in particular motivated her to study manga intensively from now on. During a master's degree in East Asia and Pacific Studies at the University of Illinois , she began to study Shōjo-Manga in 1988. At the same time she began to translate manga from Japanese into English, including Banana Fish , Ranma ½ and Nausicaä from the Valley of the Winds . In 1991 she began a doctorate in cultural anthropology from Columbia University and received a scholarship from the Japan Foundation for her fieldwork in the Hanshin region from 1994 to 1995 . For the American magazine Animerica she wrote a column on Shōjo-Manga.

In 1997 she moved to Kyoto , where she began to teach at the Kyōto Seika University , which is now best known for its Institute for Manga Studies. From 1998 Thorn was involved in the creation of this institute; since 2000 she has been a full professor at the university. From 2003 to 2005 she was a juror for the Osamu Tezuka Culture Prize .

Thorn continues to translate manga from Japanese into English. Since 2010, she has worked with the American publisher Fantagraphics on a series of manga translations that are intended to appeal to older and discerning readers than the majority of manga translations into English. The first translation was a selection of short stories by Moto Hagio (A Drunken Dreams and Other Stories) .

Thorn wants to be addressed with female pronouns and describes himself on her website as transgender , quote: “Although she generally presents as a man, she identifies as a woman. 'She / Her,' please. "(Although she generally presents herself as a man, she identifies as a woman. 'She / Her' please.)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c About Matt Thorn. In: Committee for the Revival & Promotion of Shōjo Manga. Retrieved October 2, 2016 .
  2. ↑ a b Kai Ming Cha: Matt Thorn Talks About Publishing Manga. In: Publishers Weekly . April 5, 2010, accessed October 2, 2016 .
  3. ↑ Own homepage: Committee for the Revival & Promotion of Shōjo Manga: About Committee Chair Rachel Matt Thorn. December 16, 2018, accessed June 4, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Thorn, Rachel Matt
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Thorn, Matthew
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American cultural anthropologist and translator
DATE OF BIRTH May 12, 1965
PLACE OF BIRTH Pennsylvania