Beth M. Carter specializes in the study of Japanese literature in the twelfth through fourteenth centuries, teaching courses in premodern Japaneseliterature and the modern Japanese language. Her teaching and scholarship are shaped by her study of Japanese religion and literary theory. Herscholarship examines scenes of mourning in classical Japanese literature, Japanese art, and manga. To pursue this work, she was awarded grantsfrom the Fulbright and Blakemore Freeman Foundation and received the E. Dale Saunders Council on Buddhism Prize and the Cecilia SegawaSeigle Award for Graduate Research from the University of Pennsylvania. Beth has only recently returned to the USA from living in Japan for manyyears and is looking forward to exploring Chicago and the surrou