Donald Keene (New York, 1922) graduated from Columbia University. During World War II he was part of the United States Navy as a secret agent and translator. After the war, he resumed his academic life, teaching Japanese at the University of Cambridge. In 1955, after a stay at Kyoto University, he returned to Columbia, where he taught until his retirement in 1992, when he was appointed professor emeritus. He has published over fifty books, most notably the four volumes of A History of Japanese Literature.