Helen Craig McCullough
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Helen Craig McCullough (1918-1998) was an eminent scholar of classical Japanese poetry and prose. Born in California, she graduated from Berkeley in 1939 with a degree in political science. After the outbreak of World War II, she entered the U.S. Navy’s Japanese Language School in Boulder, Colorado. She served as a translator in Washington and Tokyo until 1950, when she returned to Berkeley and earned an MA and PhD.
She served as a lecturer at Stanford, later returning to Berkeley (1969) where she became professor in 1975. Her honours included several visiting professorships and a Medal of Honor from the Japanese government. She retired in 1988.
McCullough’s scholarly publications included 11 volumes of studies and translations.
She was married to fellow Berkeley graduate student William McCullough, who was also a noted scholar of Japanese literature. She also gave birth to her son Dundas McCullough on January 30, 1957, who later on had two children Duncan McCullough and Amanda McCullough. Each one of her books is dedicated to at least one of them, on one book the book could not be published until after the birth of her grandchild so she could dedicate it to her.
Her publications included the study Brocade by Night: 'Kokin Wakashu' and the Court Style in Japanese Classical Poetry and translations of major works of Japanese literature:
- Taiheiki a Chronicle of Medieval Japan
- The Tale of the Heike
- Kokin Wakashu: The First Imperial Anthology of Japanese Poetry
- Tales of Ise: Lyrical Episodes from 10th Century Japan (Ariwara no Narihira)
- Okagami, the Great Mirror: Fujiwara Michinaga (966-1027 and His Times : a Study and Translation)
- Tale of Flowering Fortunes : Annals of Japanese Aristocratic Life in the Heian Period (with William McCullough) -- the Eiga Monogatari
