Pack Carnes Remembered

Pack Carnes 1940-2000

Professor Carnes served tirelessly on the editorial board of Bestia: Yearbook of the Beast Fable Society for may years.
He will be remembered with much gratitude and warmth.

Pack Carnes, professor of Japanese, died January 10, 2000, after a brief
hospitalization. Carnes, who was 60 years old, is remembered by colleagues and students alike as a warm, caring man who loved his life as a scholar and educator.
"Pack was a marvelous colleague and wonderful teacher," said Cynthia Hahn, associate professor of French and chair of the department of foreign languages and literatures. "He was immersed in it, and he loved sharing his work with others." In addition to teaching Japanese language, literature, and culture classes, Carnes taught comparative literature classes on folklore and fable in various cultures.
Chris Holland (Lake Forest '97), who studied under Carnes throughout his undergraduate career, said, "His enthusiasm for his students was amazing. If you had been a student of his for even a brief amount of time, he would go to the ends of the earth for you." Holland recalled that Carnes's playful nature helped him connect with students on a personal level. "He put you at ease right away. He would open the first day of every class by telling a joke or a story. It was very easy from that point on to ask him for help or guidance."

Carnes's love of folklore grew out of a colorful academic career that began with elementary school education in Germany and France. After attending an American high school, he earned his B.A., with honors, from Wabash College in 1962, and then in 1964 traveled to Japan to teach. With a long-standing interest in German folklore, he naturally felt compelled to learn more about the equally colorful folklore of Japan and made his six-year stay in Japan a rich intellectual experience. Carnes returned to the United States to complete his M.A. (University of California-Los Angeles, 1970, cum laude) and Ph.D. (University of California-Los Angeles, 1973), both in Germanic languages and literature. During the next 14 years, teaching assignments involving folklore, language, and literature took him to the University of Arizona, Arizona State University, University of California-Berkeley, San Francisco State University, and University of California-Davis, among other schools. He earned a Fulbright Fellowship in 1977.

Carnes came to Lake Forest College in 1987 to assume a newly created teaching post in Japanese studies. At the time, the College was establishing its Asian studies, and Carnes helped lay a solid foundation on which this program continues to flourish. In 1989, Carnes received the College's William Dunn Award for Outstanding Teaching and Scholarly Promise. He served as an associate professor until 1991, when granted a full professorship.

In the course of his life, Carnes learned more than a dozen languages and taught English, Danish, German, Greek, Japanese, Latin, and Russian. His immense intellectual energy was also reflected in his prodigious output as a lecturer and writer. During his career, Carnes delivered 131 papers at academic conferences as well as giving countless other, less formal addresses on his areas of expertise. He published dozens of papers and wrote numerous translations. Carnes's published books included Fable Scholarship: An Annotated Bibliography; Proverbia in Fabula: Essays on the Relationship of the Proverb and the Fable; Western Folklore: The Twenty-Five Year Index; and Bibliography of the Pancatantra. Up until his death, he was working relentlessly on at least two other manuscripts and several articles.

Carnes is survived by his wife Reiko, their daughter Stephanie, and two brothers, Conrad and Cal Carnes. Condolences may be sent to Stephanie Carnes at 2515 K. St. NW #311, Washington, D.C. 20037.