Hearn, Lafcadio

views updated May 11 2018

Lafcadio Hearn

BORN: 1850, Leukas, Greece

DIED: 1904, Okubo, Japan

NATIONALITY: American

GENRE: Travel, criticism, fiction

MAJOR WORKS:
Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan (1894)
Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things (1903)
Japan: An Attempt at Interpretation (1904)

Overview

In a relatively short life of fifty-four years, Lafcadio Hearn managed to have several different literary lives. Today, it is Hearn's work on Japan—where he was known as Koizumi Yakumo after becoming a citizen—that has maintained his literary reputation, although the locales of his travel writing are extensive and international. Also considered one of modern America's leading prose impressionists, Hearn produced a large body of work that is more closely related to nineteenth-century European than American literature. His sketches, short stories, and novellas demonstrate a vision of evil and the supernatural reminiscent of Edgar Allan Poe and Charles Baudelaire. Hearn is also recognized as a perceptive literary critic whose readings and theories reflect his devotion to the beautiful and the bizarre. His lectures on American and European literature, published in collections such as Interpretations of Literature, are exceptional for their break with the conventions of Victorian criticism, and his essays on Japanese culture long influenced Western perceptions of East Asia.

Works in Biographical and Historical Context

A Life in Transit Hearn was born on the Ionian island of Levkas, off the coast of Greece. His parents, a British army surgeon and his Greek wife, separated six years later and placed Hearn with an aunt in Ireland. He attended St. Cuthbert's College and there suffered a mishap on the playing field that resulted in the loss of sight in his left eye. This injury, coupled with Hearn's severe myopia, caused the abnormal enlargement of his right eye, giving him an odd appearance that commentators often use to explain his lifelong sense of estrangement and, consequently, his affinity for subjects outside the mainstream of human experience. Hearn immigrated to the United States in 1869 and eventually settled in Ohio. There he met an English printer, Henry Watkins, who trained him as a proofreader and encouraged his literary ambitions.

Hearn began his career as a feature writer for the Cincinnati Enquirer, gaining notoriety for his stories on slum and riverfront life. He received national attention with his report of the sensational “Tan Yard Murder.” Hearn's account, written after viewing the coroner's autopsy, contains vivid descriptions of the gruesome crime and the victim's charred corpse. In the late 1870s, Hearn moved to New Orleans, where he wrote for local newspapers and contributed to national magazines. His writings included editorials, book reviews, short stories, local color sketches, adaptations of Creole and foreign folktales, and translations of Spanish and French works. During this period, Hearn pledged himself “to the worship of the odd, the queer, the strange, the exotic, the monstrous.”

In 1887 he traveled to the West Indies. Two years later, under commission to Harper's Magazine for a series of articles, Hearn left for Japan. He remained there for the rest of his life, lecturing in English and comparative literature at schools and universities and recording his impressions of the East for Western readers. This resulted in many of his most enduring works, including Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things (1904), a collection of folk tales and ghost stories largely derived from older Japanese texts that was published just prior to his death from heart failure.

Works in Literary Context

The Bizarre, the Supernatural, and the Sensuous Hearn's work is divided into three periods, each corresponding to a juncture in his life. The first consists of the sketches, short stories, and journalism that appeared in New Orleans newspapers and various national magazines. These works, collected in Exotics and Retrospectives, Fantastics and Other Fancies, and Leaves from the Diary of an Impressionist, focus on the bizarre, the supernatural, and the sensuous. Set in New Orleans, they offer colorful, romantic descriptions of Creole society conveyed in an ornate and consciously affected style. Stray Leaves from Strange Literature and Some Chinese Ghosts, also of this

period, are volumes of obscure fables freely adapted from Eastern legends.

The Caribbean Hearn's second period, encompassing material based on his life in the Caribbean, comprises the book of sketches Two Years in the French West Indies and the novellas Chita and Youma. Extravagant diction and lush imagery pervade these efforts, as do the motifs of death and ruin. Moreover, these works, which depict the interrelationship of nature and humankind and the struggle for survival between civilized and primitive peoples, manifest Hearn's interest in the evolutionary philosophy of Herbert Spencer.

Late Life in the Far East The Far East, particularly Japan, is the dominant subject of Hearn's third period. Although the author's predilection for the grotesque is still evident, his style became more subtle and controlled. Hearn's first impressions are recorded in Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan, a series of vignettes that extol the land and its people. Out of the East and Kokoro contain similar sketches, while In Ghostly Japan relates traditional ghost stories and fairy tales. Hearn's final book on the East, the posthumously published Japan: An Attempt at Interpretation, stands in contrast to his earlier volumes, which were largely uncritical of East Asian culture. In this collection of essays, Hearn, warning against the trend toward westernization, expressed his disillusionment with contemporary Japan and his concern for its economic and cultural independence.

Works in Critical Context

Lafcadio Hearn's reputation as a writer and, in particular, as a travel writer, benefited from the initial fascination of the West for the “Mysterious East.” Although the present postcolonial and postmodern context would sometimes make of him the practitioner of a bygone exoticism, the often earnest quality of his work and the sheer quantity of his output—whether set in America, the Caribbean, or Japan—make him a figure to be reckoned with. Today, Hearn is best remembered as a literary pioneer of the East.

Critics find that at his best, Hearn was an exacting author whose work displays craftsmanship and integrity. At his worst, he appeared a flowery, mannered stylist rather than a creative artist. He has been praised for his ability to arouse the senses but criticized for the lack of variety in his sketches and short stories. Critics contend that, with the exception of Japan: An Attempt at Interpretation, he sentimentalized and misrepresented various aspects of Eastern culture. Yet, these works are credited with familiarizing Western readers with the people and traditions of the East. Despite the unevenness of his work, most reviewers agree that Hearn is an important prose stylist; a perceptive, albeit unconventional, critic; and an intriguing literary personality.

Chita, a Memory of Last Island (1889) Chita, Hearn's novella about the Last Island hurricane that struck southern Louisiana in 1856, was inspired by events well-known to his contemporary readers. An unsigned review in the Nation called it “the slightest possible melody set to an elaborate accompaniment,” noting that the author seems more concerned with describing the sea itself than with the characters or the island that was destroyed by the hurricane. The reviewer concludes, “On the whole, the impression left by the book is that of an ill-treated opportunity, a rarely fine subject made tiresome by a lush style.” Ferris Greenslet, writing in 1911, finds more to love in the work, noting that it “is still in many respects his most astonishing tour de force in word-painting.” Greenslet acknowledges, however, that “the only logic in the harrowing conclusion is the emotional logic of a temperament immitigably macabresque, that must make a tale of terror intensify in poignancy to the end.”

LITERARY AND HISTORICAL CONTEMPORARIES

Hearn's famous contemporaries include:

Yone Noguchi (1875–1947): This bilingual Japanese author, who published works both in English and Japanese, wrote influential fiction, poetry, essays, and literary criticism.
Queen Victoria (1819–1901): Ruling monarch of the United Kingdom and the British Empire whose reign spanned sixty-three years. Victoria remains an important symbol of her time and of the expansion of the British Empire.
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1904): Nietzsche was an influential German philosopher who wrote critically about a variety of subjects, including morality, religion, culture, and science. His work's influence can be seen in both the existentialist and postmodern movements.
Oscar Wilde (1854–1900): A popular figure in Victorian England, this Irish author and playwright enjoyed considerable success until details of his personal life emerged in a criminal libel trial, resulting in his imprisonment.
Sigmund Freud (1856–1939): Neurologist, medical scientist, biologist, and writer, this Austrian is widely regarded as the father of psychoanalysis.

Responses to Literature

Select one of Hearn's travel essays from Japan. What biases does Hearn bring to his writings on the Far East? Discuss your emotional reaction to the essay. Discuss any biases that influenced your reading of the essay.
Why does Hearn include a study of insects in the collection Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things? How does this section relate to the other stories?
Compare and contrast the three literary lives led by Hearn. How did the locations of New Orleans, the West Indies, and Japan affect his writing style?
Discuss the influence of Hearn's personal background on his works. Where is it most apparent? Citing specific examples from his texts, discuss the role that biographical details have on the emotional impact of his work.

COMMON HUMAN EXPERIENCE

As a sufferer of early disfigurement, much of Hearn's work is characterized by a responsiveness to the world's outcasts. Other works that explore themes relating to social alienation include:

The Metamorphosis (1915), a novella by Franz Kafka. In this novella, Gregor Samsa, a traveling salesman, wakes up to find that his body has been transformed into a “monstrous vermin.”
The Sun Also Rises (1926), a novel by Ernest Hemmingway. Jake Barnes, the novel's narrator, remains alienated in his pursuit of Lady “Brett” Ashley as a result of an injury incurred during World War I that rendered him sexually impotent.
“Good Country People” (1926), a short story by Flannery O’Connor. The self-named Helga, a university-educated nihilist, is hoodwinked by a traveling Bible salesman who steals her wooden leg.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books

Ball, Charles E. Lafcadio Hearn: An Appreciation. Chicago: Norwood Editions, 1976.

Barel, Leona. The Idyll: My Personal Reminiscences of Lafcadio Hearn. Tokyo: Hokuseido Press, 1933.

Bellair, John. In Hearn's Footsteps: Journeys around the Life of Lafcadio Hearn. Huntington, W.Va.: University Editions, 1994.

Bisland, Elizabeth. The Life and Letters of Lafcadio Hearn. 2 vols. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1906.

Cott, Jonathan. Wandering Ghost: The Odyssey of Lafcadio Hearn. New York: Knopf, 1991.

Dawson, Carl. Lafcadio Hearn and the Vision of Japan. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992.

Gould, George M. Concerning Lafcadio Hearn. Philadelphia: G. W. Jacobs, 1908.

Kennard, Nina H. Lafcadio Hearn. Port Washington, N.Y.: Kennikat, 1967.

Kunst, Arthur E. Lafcadio Hearn. New York: Twayne, 1969.

McWilliams, Vera Seeley. Lafcadio Hearn. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1946.

“(Patricio) Lafcadio (Tessima Carlos) Hearn (1850–1904).” Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Vol. 9. Edited by Dennis Poupard. Detroit: Gale Research, 1983.

Stevenson, Elizabeth. Lafcadio Hearn. New York: Macmillan, 1961.

Temple, Jean. Blue Ghost: A Study of Lafcadio Hearn. New York: J. Cape, H. Smith, 1931.

Tinker, Edward Larocque. Lafcadio Hearn's American Days. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1924.

Yu Beongcheon. An Ape of Gods; the Art and Thought of Lafcadio Hearn. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1964.

Gale Contextual Encyclopedia of World Literature

Lafcadio Hearn

views updated May 29 2018

Lafcadio Hearn

Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904), European-born American author, wrote novels and articles with exotic themes in highly precise and polished prose.

Lafcadio Hearn was born June 27, 1850, on the Greek island of Santa Maura. His mother was Maltese and his father a British army surgeon of Anglo-Irish extraction. When Hearn was 2, his mother abandoned him to an aunt in Dublin, who later sent him to St. Cuthbert's College to prepare for the priesthood. There he lost his left eye in an accident; he lost much of his religious faith as well. His other eye, strained by incessant reading, bulged badly.

At 19, extremely short, disfigured, and psychologically maimed, Hearn arrived in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he eventually became a reporter for the Inquirer. In 1874 he married a local African American girl, breaking the Ohio laws against miscegenation. The marriage lasted 3 years and cost Hearn his job. Sent by another periodical to New Orleans, he found there the colorful, exotic ambience that would energize his pen.

By 1881 Hearn had become the successful literary editor of the New Orleans Times Democrat, to which he contributed local-color sketches, obscure folktales and legends, and translations of French writers. His first book, One of Cleopatra's Nights (1882), was a perceptive translation of six Théophile Gautier stories. He also contributed to Harper's Weekly and the Century. His literary propensities were becoming more obvious; he was attracted by the romantic, strange, and grotesque, but he presented these against real backgrounds or with real people. He published a book of obscure legends and stories, Stray Leaves from Strange Literature (1884) and Some Chinese Ghosts (1887). He lived for 2 years in the West Indies, where he wrote his first novels, Chita (1889), a Rousseauesque romance, and Youma (1890), concerning a slave rebellion. Both narratives illustrate his deft, polished, precise prose and emphasis on description which often overshadow the brittle and abstract plot and characterization.

In 1890 Hearn was commissioned to go to Japan, but shortly after arriving there he quarreled with his publisher and found himself unemployed. For a while he taught English at a government school in Matsue and freelanced newspaper articles. His life in Japan was greatly enhanced by his marriage to Setsuko Koizumi, whose family adopted him. As Yakumo Koizumi, Hearn found his final nationality and an estimable academic position as professor of literature at the Imperial University of Tokyo. During this happy period Hearn composed his best prose—minute examinations of Japan, its people, and its folkways: Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan (1894); Kokoro (1896); Gleanings in Buddha-fields (1897); Exotics and Retrospectives (1898); In Ghostly Japan (1899); Shadowings (1900); and Kwaidan and Japan: An Attempt at Interpretation (1904). He died in Okubo, Japan, on Sept 26, 1904.

Additional Sources

Ball, Charles Edward, Lafcadio Hearn: an appreciation, Norwood, Pa.: Norwood Editions, 1976.

Bellair, John, In Hearn's footsteps: journeys around the life of Lafcadio Hearn, Huntington, W. Va.: University Editions, 1994.

Cott, Jonathan, Wandering ghost: the odyssey of Lafcadio Hearn, New York: Knopf, 1991; New York: Kodansha International, 1992.

Dawson, Carl, Lafcadio Hearn and the vision of Japan, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992.

Hearn, Lafcadio, The Japanese letters of Lafcadio Hearn, Wilmington, Del., Scholarly Resources 1973.

Hearn, Lafcadio, Lafcadio Hearn: Japan's great interpreter: a new anthology of his writings, 1894-1904, Sandgate, Folkestone, Kent: Japan Library; New York: Distributed in the U.S. by Talman Co., 1992.

Hearn, Lafcadio, Letters, New York: AMS Press, 1975.

Hearn, Lafcadio, Manuscripts, New York: AMS Press, 1975.

Hearn, Lafcadio, Some new letters and writings of Lafcadio Hearn, Folcroft, Pa. Folcroft Library Editions, 1973.

Hearn, Lafcadio, Writings from Japan: an anthology, New York, N.Y., U.S.A.: Penguin Books, 1984.

Hughes, Jon Christopher, The tanyard murder: on the case with Lafcadio Hearn, Washington: University Press of America, 1982.

Kennard, Nina H., Lafcadio Hearn; containing some letters from Lafcadio Hearn to his half-sister, Mrs. Atkinso, Port Washington, N.Y., Kennikat Press 1967.

Koizumi, Setsu, Reminiscences of Lafcadio Hearn, Folcroft, Pa.: Folcroft Library Editions, c1978.

Kunst, Arthur E., Lafcadio Hearn, New York, Twayne Publishers c1969.

Noguchi, Yonâe, Lafcadio Hearn in Japan, Folcroft, Pa.,: Folcroft Library Editions, 1978.

Perkins, Percival Densmore, Lafcadio Hearn; a bibliography of his writing, New York: B. Franklin 1968.

Stevenson, Elizabeth, Lafcadio Hearn, New York: Octagon Books, 1979, 1961.

Thomas, Edward, Lafcadio Hearn, Folcroft, Pa.: Folcroft Library Editions, 1977.

Thomas, Edward, Lafcadio Hearn, London: Constable; Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1912.

Webb, Kathleen M., Lafcadio Hearn and his German critics: an examination of his appeal, New York: P. Lang, 1984. □

Encyclopedia of World Biography