Lafcadio Hearn
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was a Greek-born Irish and Japanese writer, translator, and teacher who introduced the
culture Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...
and
literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...
of
Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
to the
Western world The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to various nations and state (polity), states in Western Europe, Northern America, and Australasia; with some debate as to whether those in Eastern Europe and Latin America also const ...
. His writings offered unprecedented insight into
Japanese culture Japanese culture has changed greatly over the millennia, from the country's prehistoric Jōmon period, to its contemporary modern culture, which absorbs influences from Asia and other regions of the world. Since the Jomon period, ancestral ...
, especially his collections of legends and ghost stories, such as '' Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things''. Before moving to Japan and becoming a Japanese citizen, he worked as a journalist in the United States, primarily in
Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...
and
New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
. His writings about New Orleans, based on his decade-long stay there, are also well-known. His home in Orleans Parish is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
and the Lafcadio Hearn Memorial Museum is in Japan. Hearn was born on the Greek island of
Lefkada Lefkada (, ''Lefkáda'', ), also known as Lefkas or Leukas (Ancient Greek and Katharevousa: Λευκάς, ''Leukás'', modern pronunciation ''Lefkás'') and Leucadia, is a Greece, Greek list of islands of Greece, island in the Ionian Sea on the ...
but moved to
Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
, where he was abandoned first by his mother, then his father, and finally by his father's aunt (who had been appointed his official guardian). At the age of 19, he emigrated to the United States, where he found work as a newspaper reporter, first in Cincinnati and later in New Orleans. From there, he was sent as a correspondent to the
French West Indies The French West Indies or French Antilles (, ; ) are the parts of France located in the Antilles islands of the Caribbean: * The two overseas departments of: ** Guadeloupe, including the islands of Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Les Saintes, Ma ...
, where he stayed for two years, and then in 1890 to Japan, where he would remain for the rest of his life. In Japan, Hearn married Koizumi Setsuko, with whom he had four children. His writings about Japan offered the Western world greater insight into a still largely unfamiliar culture.


Biography


Early life

Patrick Lafcadio Hearn was born on 27 June 1850 on the Ionian Island of
Lefkada Lefkada (, ''Lefkáda'', ), also known as Lefkas or Leukas (Ancient Greek and Katharevousa: Λευκάς, ''Leukás'', modern pronunciation ''Lefkás'') and Leucadia, is a Greece, Greek list of islands of Greece, island in the Ionian Sea on the ...
, then part of a British protectorate, the United States of the Ionian Islands, now part of Greece. His mother was a
Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
named Rosa Cassimati, a native of the Greek island of
Kythera Kythira ( ; ), also transliterated as Cythera, Kythera and Kithira, is an Greek islands, island in Greece lying opposite the south-eastern tip of the Peloponnese peninsula. It is traditionally listed as one of the seven main Ionian Islands, altho ...
, while his father, Staff Surgeon of the Second Class Charles Bush Hearn, a
British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...
medical officer, was of Irish and English descent, who was stationed in Lefkada during the British protectorate of the United States of the Ionian Islands. Throughout his life, Lafcadio boasted of his Greek blood and felt a passionate connection to Greece. He was baptized Patrikios Lefcadios Hearn (
Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
: Πατρίκιος Λευκάδιος Χερν) in the
Greek Orthodox Church Greek Orthodox Church (, , ) is a term that can refer to any one of three classes of Christian Churches, each associated in some way with Christianity in Greece, Greek Christianity, Antiochian Greek Christians, Levantine Arabic-speaking Christian ...
, but he seems to have been called "Patrick Lefcadio Kassimati Charles Hearn" in English; the middle name "Lafcadio" was given to him in honour of the island where he was born.According to one of his biographers, a family Bible records 'Patricio Lafcadio Tessima Carlos Hearn, August 1850.' Hearn's parents were married in a Greek Orthodox ceremony on 25 November 1849, several months after his mother had given birth to Hearn's older brother, George Robert Hearn, on 24 July 1849. George died on 17 August 1850, two months after Lafcadio's birth.


Emigration to Ireland and abandonment

Hearn's father Charles in 1850 was reassigned from Lefkada to the
British West Indies The British West Indies (BWI) were the territories in the West Indies under British Empire, British rule, including Anguilla, the Cayman Islands, the Turks and Caicos Islands, Montserrat, the British Virgin Islands, Bermuda, Antigua and Barb ...
. Since his family did not approve of the marriage, and because he was worried that his relationship might harm his career prospects, Charles did not inform his superiors of his son or pregnant wife and left his family behind. In 1852, he arranged to send his son and wife to live with his family in
Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
, where they received a cool reception. Charles's Protestant mother, Elizabeth Holmes Hearn, had difficulty accepting Rosa's Greek Orthodox views and lack of education; she was illiterate and spoke no English. Rosa found it difficult to adapt to a foreign culture and the Protestantism of her husband's family, and was eventually taken under the wing of Elizabeth's sister, Sarah Holmes Brenane, a widow who had converted to Catholicism. Despite Sarah's efforts, Rosa suffered from homesickness. When her husband returned to Ireland on medical leave in 1853, it became clear that the couple had become estranged. Charles Hearn was assigned to the Crimean Peninsula, again leaving his pregnant wife and child in Ireland. When he came back in 1856, severely wounded and traumatized, Rosa had returned to her home island of Cerigo (Kythera), where she gave birth to their third son, Daniel James Hearn. Lafcadio had been left in the care of Sarah Brenane. Charles petitioned to have the marriage with Rosa annulled, on the grounds that she had not signed their marriage contract, which made it invalid under English law. After being informed of the annulment, Rosa almost immediately married Giovanni Cavallini, a Greek citizen of Italian ancestry, who was later appointed by the British as governor of Cerigotto (Antikythera). Cavallini required as a condition of the marriage that Rosa give up custody of both sons. As a result, James was sent to his father in Dublin while Lafcadio remained in the care of his great-aunt, Sarah Brenane, who had disinherited Charles because of the annulment. Neither Lafcadio nor James ever again saw their mother, who had four children with her second husband. Rosa was eventually committed to the National Mental Asylum on
Corfu Corfu ( , ) or Kerkyra (, ) is a Greece, Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands; including its Greek islands, small satellite islands, it forms the margin of Greece's northwestern frontier. The island is part of the Corfu (regio ...
, where she died in 1882. Charles Hearn, who had left Lafcadio in the care of Sarah Brenane for the past four years, now appointed her as Lafcadio's permanent guardian. He married his childhood sweetheart, Alicia Goslin, in July 1857, and left with his new wife for a posting in
Secunderabad Secunderabad () is a twin cities, twin city of Hyderabad and one of the six zones of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Telangana. It is the headquarters of the South ...
, a city in India, where they had three daughters prior to Alicia's death in 1861. Lafcadio never saw his father again: Charles Hearn died of malaria in the Gulf of Suez in 1866. In 1857, at age seven and despite the fact that both his parents were still alive, Hearn became the permanent ward of Sarah Brenane. She divided her residency between Dublin in the winter months, and her husband's estate at Tramore,
County Waterford County Waterford () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. It is named after the city of Waterford. ...
, on the southern Irish coast, and a house at Bangor in North Wales. Brenane engaged a tutor during the school year to provide Hearn with basic instruction and the rudiments of Catholic dogma. Hearn began exploring Brenane's library and read extensively in Greek literature, especially myths.


Catholic education and more abandonment

In 1861, his great-aunt, aware that Hearn was turning away from Catholicism and at the urging of Henry Hearn Molyneux, a relative of her late husband, he was sent to a Catholic college in France, but was disgusted with the life and gave up the Roman Catholic faith. He became fluent in French and would later translate into English the works of Guy de Maupassant and
Gustave Flaubert Gustave Flaubert ( , ; ; 12 December 1821 – 8 May 1880) was a French novelist. He has been considered the leading exponent of literary realism in his country and abroad. According to the literary theorist Kornelije Kvas, "in Flaubert, realis ...
. In 1863, again at the suggestion of Molyneux, Hearn was enrolled at St Cuthbert's College, Ushaw, a Catholic
seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as cle ...
in
County Durham County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne an ...
, England. In this environment, Hearn adopted the nickname "Paddy" to try to fit in better, and was the top student in English composition for three years. At age 16, while at Ushaw, Hearn injured his left eye. The eye became infected and, despite consultations with specialists in Dublin and London, and a year spent out of school convalescing, the eye went blind. Hearn also suffered from severe myopia, so his injury left him permanently with poor vision, requiring him to carry a magnifying glass for close work and a pocket telescope to see anything beyond a short distance. Hearn avoided eyeglasses, believing they would weaken his vision further. The iris was permanently discoloured, and left Hearn self-conscious about his appearance for the rest of his life, causing him to cover his left eye while conversing and always posing for the camera in profile so that the left eye was not visible. In 1867, Henry Molyneux, who had become Sarah Brenane's financial manager, went bankrupt, along with Brenane. As there was no money for tuition, Hearn was sent to London's East End to live with Brenane's former maid. She and her husband had little time or money for Hearn, who wandered the streets, spent time in workhouses, and generally lived an aimless, rootless existence. His main intellectual activities consisted of visits to libraries and the
British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...
.


Immigration to Cincinnati

By 1869, Henry Molyneux had recovered some financial stability and Brenane, now 75, was infirm. Resolving to end his financial obligations to the 19-year-old Hearn, he purchased a one-way ticket to New York and instructed the young man to find his way to
Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...
, where he could locate Molyneux's sister and her husband, Thomas Cullinan, and obtain their assistance in making a living. Upon meeting Hearn in Cincinnati, however, it became clear that the family wanted little to do with him: Cullinan all but threw him out into the streets with only $5 in his pocket. As Hearn would later write, "I was dropped moneyless on the pavement of an American city to begin life." For a time, he was impoverished, living in stables or store rooms in exchange for menial labor. He eventually befriended the English printer and communalist Henry Watkin, who employed him in his printing business, helped find him various odd jobs, lent him books from his library, including utopianists Charles Fourier, Hepworth Dixon and John Humphrey Noyes, and gave Hearn a nickname which stuck with him for the rest of his life,
the Raven "The Raven" is a narrative poem by American writer Edgar Allan Poe. First published in January 1845, the poem is often noted for its musicality, stylized language and supernatural atmosphere. It tells of a distraught lover who is paid a visit ...
, from the
Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic who is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales involving mystery and the macabre. He is widely re ...
poem. Hearn also frequented the Cincinnati Public Library, which at that time had an estimated 50,000 volumes. In the spring of 1871 a letter from Henry Molyneux informed him of Sarah Brenane's death and Molyneux's appointment as sole executor. Despite Brenane having named him as the beneficiary of an annuity when she became his guardian, Hearn received nothing from the estate and never heard from Molyneux again.


Newspaper and literary work

By the strength of his talent as a writer, Hearn obtained a job as a reporter for the '' Cincinnati Daily Enquirer'', working for the newspaper from 1872 to 1875. Writing with creative freedom in one of Cincinnati's largest circulating newspapers, he became known for his lurid accounts of local murders, developing a reputation as the paper's premier sensational journalist, as well as the author of sensitive accounts of some of the disadvantaged people of Cincinnati. '' The Library of America'' selected one of these murder accounts, ''Gibbeted,'' for inclusion in its two-century retrospective of ''American True Crime'', published in 2008. After one of his murder stories, the Tanyard Murder, had run for several months in 1874, Hearn established his reputation as Cincinnati's most audacious journalist, and the ''Enquirer'' raised his salary from $10 to $25 per week. In 1874, Hearn and the young Henry Farny, later a renowned painter of the American West, wrote, illustrated, and published an 8-page weekly journal of art, literature and satire entitled ''Ye Giglampz.'' The Cincinnati Public Library reprinted a facsimile of all nine issues in 1983. The work was considered by a 20th-century critic to be "Perhaps the most fascinating sustained project he undertook as an editor."


Marriage and firing by the ''Enquirer''

On 14 June 1874, Hearn, aged 23, married Alethea ("Mattie") Foley, a 20-year-old African American woman, and former slave, an action in violation of Ohio's anti-miscegenation law at that time. In August 1875, in response to complaints from a local clergyman about his anti-religious views and pressure from local politicians embarrassed by some of his satirical writing in ''Ye Giglampz,'' the ''Enquirer'' fired him, citing as its reason his illegal marriage. He went to work for the rival newspaper ''The Cincinnati Commercial.'' The ''Enquirer'' offered to re-hire him after his stories began appearing in the ''Commercial'' and its circulation began increasing, but Hearn, incensed at the paper's behavior, refused. Hearn and Foley separated, but attempted reconciliation several times before divorcing in 1877. Foley remarried in 1880. While working for the ''Commercial'' he championed the case of Henrietta Wood, a former slave who won a major reparations case. While working for the ''Commercial'' Hearn agreed to be carried to the top of Cincinnati's tallest building on the back of a famous steeplejack, Joseph Roderiguez Weston, and wrote a half-terrified, half-comic account of the experience. Hearn wrote a series of accounts of the Bucktown and Levee neighborhoods of Cincinnati, "...one of the few depictions we have of black life in a border city during the post-Civil War period." He also wrote about local black song lyrics from the era, including a song titled "Shiloh" that was dedicated to a Bucktown resident named "Limber Jim." In addition, Hearn had printed in the ''Commercial'' a stanza he had overheard when listening to the songs of the
roustabout Roustabout (Australia/New Zealand English: rouseabout) is an occupational term. Traditionally, it referred to a worker with broad-based, non-specific skills. In particular, it was used to describe show or circus workers who put up tents and boo ...
s, working on the city's levee waterfront. Similar stanzas were recorded in song by Julius Daniels in 1926 and Tommy McClennan in his version of " Bottle Up and Go" (1939).


Move to New Orleans

During the autumn of 1877, recently divorced from Mattie Foley and restless, Hearn had begun neglecting his newspaper work in favor of translating works by the French author
Théophile Gautier Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier ( , ; 30 August 1811 – 23 October 1872) was a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, and art and literary critic. While an ardent defender of Romanticism, Gautier's work is difficult to classify and rema ...
into English. He had grown disenchanted with Cincinnati, writing to Henry Watkin, "It is time for a fellow to get out of Cincinnati when they begin to call it the Paris of America." With the support of Watkin and ''Cincinnati Commercial'' publisher Murat Halstead, Hearn left Cincinnati for
New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
, where he initially wrote dispatches on the "Gateway to the Tropics" for the ''Commercial''. Hearn lived in New Orleans for nearly a decade, writing first for the newspaper ''Daily City Item'' beginning in June 1878, and later for the ''Times Democrat''. Since the ''Item'' was a 4-page publication, Hearn's editorial work changed the character of the newspaper dramatically. He began at the ''Item'' as a news editor, expanding to include book reviews of Bret Harte and
Émile Zola Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (, ; ; 2 April 184029 September 1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of Naturalism (literature), naturalism, and an important contributor to ...
, summaries of pieces in national magazines such as '' Harper's'', and editorial pieces introducing Buddhism and Sanskrit writings. As editor, Hearn created and published nearly two hundred woodcuts of daily life and people in New Orleans, making the ''Item'' the first Southern newspaper to introduce cartoons and giving the paper an immediate boost in circulation. Hearn gave up carving the woodcuts after six months when he found the strain was too great for his eye. At the end of 1881, Hearn took an editorial position with the New Orleans '' Times Democrat'' and was employed translating items from French and Spanish newspapers as well as writing editorials and cultural reviews on topics of his choice. He also continued his work translating French authors into English:
Gérard de Nerval Gérard de Nerval (; 22 May 1808 – 26 January 1855), the pen name of the French writer, poet, and translator Gérard Labrunie, was a French essayist, poet, translator, and travel writer. He was a major figure during the era of French romantici ...
,
Anatole France (; born ; 16 April 1844 – 12 October 1924) was a French poet, journalist, and novelist with several best-sellers. Ironic and skeptical, he was considered in his day the ideal French man of letters.Pierre Loti, an author who influenced Hearn's own writing style. Milton Bronner, who edited Hearn's letters to Henry Watkin, wrote: " e Hearn of New Orleans was the father of the Hearn of the West Indies and of Japan," and this view was endorsed by Norman Foerster. During his tenure at the ''Times Democrat'', Hearn developed a friendship with editor Page Baker, who went on to champion Hearn's literary career; their correspondence is archived at the
Loyola University New Orleans Loyola University New Orleans is a Private university, private Jesuit university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Originally established as Loyola College in 1904, the institution was chartered as a university in 1912. It bears the nam ...
Special Collections & Archives. The vast number of his writings about New Orleans and its environs, many of which have not been collected, include the city's Creole population and distinctive cuisine, the French Opera, and
Louisiana Voodoo Louisiana Voodoo, also known as New Orleans Voodoo, was an African diasporic religion that existed in Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to ...
. Hearn wrote enthusiastically of New Orleans, but also wrote of the city's decay, "a dead bride crowned with orange flowers". Hearn's writings for national publications, such as ''
Harper's Weekly ''Harper's Weekly, A Journal of Civilization'' was an American political magazine based in New York City. Published by Harper (publisher), Harper & Brothers from 1857 until 1916, it featured foreign and domestic news, fiction, essays on many su ...
'' and '' Scribner's Magazine'', helped create the popular reputation of New Orleans as a place with a distinctive culture more akin to that of Europe and the Caribbean than to the rest of North America. Hearn's best-known Louisiana works include: * ''Gombo zhèbes: Little dictionary of Creole proverbs'' (1885) * ''La Cuisine Créole'' (1885), a collection of culinary recipes from leading chefs and noted Creole housewives who helped make New Orleans famous for its cuisine * ''Chita: A Memory of Last Island'' (1889), a novella based on the hurricane of 1856 first published in '' Harper's Monthly'' in 1888 Hearn published in ''Harper's Weekly'' the first known written article (1883) about Filipinos in the United States, the Manilamen or
Tagalogs The Tagalog people are an Austronesian ethnic group native to the Philippines, particularly the Metro Manila and Calabarzon regions and Marinduque province of southern Luzon, and comprise the majority in the provinces of Bulacan, Bataan, N ...
, one of whose villages he had visited at Saint Malo, southeast of Lake Borgne in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana. At the time he lived there, Hearn was little known, and even now he is little known for his writing about New Orleans, except by local cultural devotees. However, more books have been written about him than any former resident of New Orleans except
Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...
. Hearn's writings for the New Orleans newspapers included impressionistic descriptions of places and characters and many editorials denouncing political corruption, street crime, violence, intolerance, and the failures of public health and hygiene officials. Despite the fact that he is credited with "inventing" New Orleans as an exotic and mysterious place, his obituaries of the vodou leaders Marie Laveau and Doctor John Montenet are matter-of-fact and debunking. Selections of Hearn's New Orleans writings have been collected and published in several works, starting with ''Creole Sketches'' in 1924, and more recently in ''Inventing New Orleans: Writings of Lafcadio Hearn.''


Move to the French West Indies

'' Harper's'' sent Hearn to the
West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...
as a correspondent in 1887. He spent two years in
Martinique Martinique ( ; or ; Kalinago language, Kalinago: or ) is an island in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It was previously known as Iguanacaera which translates to iguana island in Carib language, Kariʼn ...
and in addition to his writings for the magazine, produced two books: ''Two Years in the French West Indies'' and ''Youma, The Story of a West-Indian Slave'', both published in 1890.


Later life in Japan

In 1890, Hearn went to Japan with a commission as a newspaper correspondent, which was quickly terminated. It was in Japan, however, that he found a home and his greatest inspiration. Through the good will of Basil Hall Chamberlain, Hearn gained a teaching position during the summer of 1890 at the Shimane Prefectural Common Middle School and Normal School in Matsue, a town in western Japan on the coast of the
Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it ...
. During his fifteen-month stay in Matsue, Hearn married Koizumi Setsuko, the daughter of a local
samurai The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court d ...
family, with whom he had four children: Kazuo, Iwao, Kiyoshi, and Suzuko. He became a Japanese citizen, assuming the legal name Koizumi Yakumo in 1896 after accepting a teaching position in Tokyo; Koizumi is his wife's surname and Yakumo is from ''yakumotatsu'', a poetic modifier word ('' makurakotoba'') for
Izumo Province was an Old provinces of Japan, old province of Japan which today consists of the eastern part of Shimane Prefecture. It was sometimes called . The province is in the Chūgoku region. History During the early Kofun period (3rd century) this reg ...
, which he translated as "the Place of the Issuing of Clouds". After having been Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and, later on, Spencerian, he became
Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
. During late 1891, Hearn obtained another teaching position in
Kumamoto is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Kumamoto Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, Japan. , the city has an estimated population of 738,907 and a population density of 1,893 people per km2. The total area is 390.32 km2. had a populat ...
, at the Fifth High Middle School (a predecessor of Kumamoto University), where he spent the next three years and completed his book '' Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan'' (1894). In October 1894, he secured a journalism job with the English-language newspaper ''Kobe Chronicle'', and in 1896, with some assistance from Chamberlain, he began teaching
English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from the English-speaking world. The English language has developed over more than 1,400 years. The earliest forms of English, a set of Anglo-Frisian languages, Anglo-Frisian d ...
at Tokyo Imperial University, a job he had until 1903. In 1904, he was a lecturer at
Waseda University Waseda University (Japanese: ), abbreviated as or , is a private university, private research university in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as the Tōkyō Professional School by Ōkuma Shigenobu, the fifth Prime Minister of Japan, prime ministe ...
. While in Japan, he encountered the art of ju-jutsu which made a deep impression upon him: "Hearn, who encountered judo in Japan at the end of the nineteenth century, contemplated its concepts with the awed tones of an explorer staring about him in an extraordinary and undiscovered land. "What Western brain could have elaborated this strange teaching, never to oppose force by force, but only direct and utilize the power of attack; to overthrow the enemy solely through his own strength, to vanquish him solely by his own efforts? Surely none! The Western mind appears to work in straight lines; the Oriental, in wonderful curves and circles." When he was teaching at the Fifth High Middle School, the headmaster was founder of Judo Kano Jigoro.


Death

On 26 September 1904, Hearn died of heart failure in
Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...
at the age of 54. His grave is at the Zōshigaya Cemetery in Tokyo's Toshima district.


Legacy


Literary tradition

In the late 19th century, Japan was still largely unknown and exotic to Westerners. However, with the introduction of Japanese aesthetics, particularly at the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1900, Japanese styles became fashionable in Western countries. Hearn became known to the world by his writings concerning Japan. In later years, some critics would accuse Hearn of exoticizing Japan, but because he offered the West some of its first descriptions of pre-industrial and
Meiji era The was an Japanese era name, era of History of Japan, Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feu ...
Japan, his work is generally regarded as having historical value. Admirers of Hearn's work have included
Ben Hecht Ben Hecht (; February 28, 1894 – April 18, 1964) was an American screenwriter, director, producer, playwright, journalist, and novelist. A journalist in his youth, he went on to write 35 books and some of the most enjoyed screenplays and play ...
, John Erskine,
Malcolm Cowley Malcolm Cowley (August 24, 1898 – March 27, 1989) was an American writer, editor, historian, poet, and literary critic. His best known works include his first book of poetry, ''Blue Juniata'' (1929), and his memoir, ''Exile's Return'' ( ...
and
Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo ( ; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator regarded as a key figure in Spanish literature, Spanish-language and international literatur ...
. Hearn was a major translator of the short stories of Guy de Maupassant.. Yone Noguchi is quoted as saying about Hearn, "His Greek temperament and French culture became frost-bitten as a flower in the North." Hearn won a wide following in Japan, where his books were translated and remain popular to the present day. Hearn's appeal to Japanese readers "lies in the glimpses he offered of an older, more mystical Japan lost during the country’s hectic plunge into Western-style industrialization and nation building. His books are treasured here as a trove of legends and folk tales that otherwise might have vanished because no Japanese had bothered to record them."


Museums

The Lafcadio Hearn Memorial Museum and his old residence in Matsue are still two of the city's most popular tourist attractions. In addition, another small museum dedicated to Hearn opened in Yaizu, Shizuoka, in 2007 ( :ja:焼津小泉八雲記念館). The first museum in Europe for Hearn was inaugurated in Lefkada, Greece, his birthplace, on 4 July 2014, as the Lafcadio Hearn Historical Center. It contains early editions, rare books and Japanese collectibles. The visitors, through photos, texts and exhibits, can wander in the significant events of Lafcadio Hearn's life, but also in the civilizations of Europe, America and Japan of the late 18th and early 19th centuries through his lectures, writings and tales. The municipalities of
Kumamoto is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Kumamoto Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, Japan. , the city has an estimated population of 738,907 and a population density of 1,893 people per km2. The total area is 390.32 km2. had a populat ...
, Matsue,
Shinjuku , officially called Shinjuku City, is a special ward of Tokyo, Japan. It is a major commercial and administrative center, housing the northern half of the busiest railway station in the world ( Shinjuku Station) as well as the Tokyo Metropol ...
, Yaizu, Toyama University, the Koizumi family and other people from Japan and Greece contributed to the establishment of Lafcadio Hearn Historical Center. On a trip to Matsue in 2012, Professor Bon Koizumi (Hearn's great-grandson) and his wife Shoko were introduced to Dublin-based Motoko Fujita, a published photographer of ''The Shadow of James Joyce'' (Lilliput Press Ltd., Ireland, 2011) and the founder of the Experience Japan Festival in Dublin. Acting on the Koizumi's desire to reconnect with their Irish roots, Fujita then coordinated a trip for Bon and Shoko in autumn 2013, during which relationships to more Lafcadio supporters in Ireland were forged. Fujita's initiative led to the exhibition ''Coming Home: The Open Mind of Patrick Lafcadio Hearn'' at the Little Museum of Dublin (15 October 2015 to 3 January 2016), the first time Hearn was honoured in the city. The exhibit contained first editions of Hearn's works and personal items from the Lafcadio Hearn Memorial Museum. Professor Bon Koizumi was in attendance at the opening of the exhibition. Fujita initiated the planning of a Japanese garden in Hearn's honour, and in 2015 th
Lafcadio Hearn Japanese Gardens
in Tramore, County Waterford opened. There is a cultural centre named after Hearn at
Durham University Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...
, where in 2022 a conference ''Lafcadio Hearn and the Global Imagination at the Fin de Siècle'' was held.


Sister cities

His life journey later connected its both ends; Lefkada and Shinjuku became
sister cities A sister city or a twin town relationship is International relations, a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there ar ...
in 1989. Another pair of cities he lived in, New Orleans and Matsue, did the same in 1994.


Media and theater

The Japanese director Masaki Kobayashi adapted four Hearn tales into his 1964 film, '' Kwaidan''. Some of his stories have been adapted by Ping Chong into his
puppet A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or Legendary creature, mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. Puppetry is an ancient form of theatre which dates back to the 5th century BC in anci ...
theatre, including the 1999 ''Kwaidan'' and the 2002 ''OBON: Tales of Moonlight and Rain''. In 1984, four episode Japanese TV series ''Nihon no omokage'' ( :ja:日本の面影, Remnants of Japan), depicting Hearn's departure from the United States and later life in Japan, was broadcast with Greek-American actor George Chakiris as Hearn. The story was later adapted to theatrical productions. Two manga book versions of Hearn’s Japanese stories have been made by writer, Sean Michael Wilson, who lives in Kumamoto, as Hearn did, and is also half Irish. These are ''The Faceless Ghost'' (2015) with Japanese artist Michiru Morikawa, and ''Manga Yokai Stories'' (2020) with Japanese artist Ai Takita. The video game series Touhou Project is influenced by Hearn's works. This
doujin In Japan, a is a group of people who share an interest, activity, or hobby. The word is sometimes translated into English as "clique", "fandom", "coterie", "society", or "circle" (as in "sewing circle"). Self-published creative works produ ...
series is about a fantasy world known as "Gensokyo", separated from "our" world with a magical barrier, which world was stuck on the late Edo period. Two of its characters, Yukari Yakumo and Maribel Hearn, are direct references to Lafcadio Hearn. Yukari is a
Yōkai are a class of supernatural entities and Spirit (supernatural entity) , spirits in Japanese folklore. The kanji representation of the word comprises two characters that both mean "suspicious, doubtful", and while the Japanese name is simply ...
who helped create the border separating Gensokyo from the outside world, and Maribel Hearn is a college student who is able to see Gensokyo in her dreams. ZUN (the sole writer of the Touhou series), ambiguously stated that these two characters are the same person. Yukari Yakumo appears in many Touhou games, books and manga, and considered as "a mastermind who only takes action once its really required", and Maribel appears in the stories included in "ZUN's Music Collection", a series of music CD albums, from the second installment onwards, alongside another character, Renko Usami.


Works


Louisiana subjects

* ''La Cuisine Creole: A Collection of Culinary Recipes'' (1885) * ''"Gombo Zhèbes": A Little Dictionary of Creole Proverbs, Selected from Six Creole Dialects.'' (1885) * ''Chita: A Memory of Last Island'' (1889) * ''Creole Sketches'' (1878-1880; published 1924) with illustration by the author


West Indies subjects

* ''Youma: The Story of a West-Indian Slave'' (1889) * ''Two Years in the French West Indies'' (1890)


Japanese subjects

Source: * '' Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan'' (1894) * ''Out of the East: Reveries and Studies in New Japan'' (1895) – it includes " The Dream of a Summer Day" * ''Kokoro: Hints and Echoes of Japanese Inner Life'' (1896) * ''Gleanings in Buddha-Fields: Studies of Hand and Soul in the Far East'' (1897) * '' The Boy Who Drew Cats'' (1897) * ''Exotics and Retrospectives'' (1898) * ''Japanese Fairy Tales'' (1898, and sequels) * ''In Ghostly Japan'' (1899) * ''Shadowings'' (1900) * ''Japanese Lyrics'' (1900) * ''A Japanese Miscellany'' (1901) * ''Kottō: Being Japanese Curios, with Sundry Cobwebs'' (1902) * '' Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things'' (1904) * ''Japan: An Attempt at Interpretation'' (1904) * ''The Romance of the Milky Way and Other Studies and Stories'' (1905)


Posthumous anthologies

* ''Letters from the Raven: Being the Correspondence of Lafcadio Hearn with Henry Watkin'' (1907), includes ''Letters from the Raven'', ''Letters to a Lady'', ''Letters of Ozias Midwinter'' * ''Leaves from the Diary of an Impressionist'' (1911, Houghton Mifflin Company) * ''Interpretations of Literature'' (1915, Dodd, Mead and Company). This is a selection of his University of Tokyo lectures (1896-1902). * ''Appreciations of Poetry'' (London: William Heinemann, 1916). This is a further selection from his University of Tokyo lectures (1896-1902). * ''Karma'' (1918) * ''On Reading in Relation to Literature'' (1921, The Atlantic Monthly Press, Inc.) * ''Creole Sketches'' (1924, Houghton Mifflin) * ''Lectures on Shakespeare'' (1928, Hokuseido Press) * ''Insect-Musicians and Other Stories and Sketches'' (1929) * ''Japan's Religions: Shinto and Buddhism'' (1966) * ''Books and Habits; from the Lectures of Lafcadio Hearn'' (1968, Books for Libraries Press) * ''Writings from Japan: An Anthology'' (1984, Penguin Books) * ''Lafcadio Hearn's America: Ethnographic Sketches and Editorials'' (2002, University Press of Kentucky) * ''Lafcadio Hearn's Japan: An Anthology of His Writings on the Country and Its People'' (2007, Tuttle) * ''Whimsically Grotesque: Selected Writings of Lafcadio Hearn in the Cincinnati Enquirer, 1872-1875''. (2009, KyoVision Books) Bilingual edition in English and Japanese. * ''American Writings'' (2009, Library of America) * ''Nightmare-Touch'' (2010, Tartarus Press) * ''Insect Literature'' (2015, Swan River Press; for details, see Insects in literature) * ''Japanese Ghost Stories''. Murray, Paul, ed. 2019 London: Penguin. * ''Japanese Tales of Lafcadio Hearn''. Andrei Codrescu, ed. 2019. Princeton: Princeton University Press.


Translations

* '' One of Cleopatra's Nights and Other Fantastic Romances'' by
Théophile Gautier Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier ( , ; 30 August 1811 – 23 October 1872) was a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, and art and literary critic. While an ardent defender of Romanticism, Gautier's work is difficult to classify and rema ...
(1882) * ''Tales from Theophile Gautier'' (1888) * ''The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard'' by
Anatole France (; born ; 16 April 1844 – 12 October 1924) was a French poet, journalist, and novelist with several best-sellers. Ironic and skeptical, he was considered in his day the ideal French man of letters.The Temptation of Saint Anthony'' by
Gustave Flaubert Gustave Flaubert ( , ; ; 12 December 1821 – 8 May 1880) was a French novelist. He has been considered the leading exponent of literary realism in his country and abroad. According to the literary theorist Kornelije Kvas, "in Flaubert, realis ...
(1910) * ''Stories from Emile Zola'' (1935) * ''The Tales of Guy de Maupassant'' (1964)


Other

* ''Stray Leaves From Strange Literature: Stories Reconstructed from the Anvari-Soheili, Baital Pachisi, Mahabharata, Pantchantra, Gulistan, Talmud, Kalewala, etc.'' (1884, James R. Osgood and Company) * ''Some Chinese Ghosts'' (1887)


See also

* Goryo Hamaguchi


Notes


References


Further reading

* Amenomori, Nobushige (1905). "Lafcadio Hearn, the Man," ''The Atlantic Monthly'', October 1905. * Bisland, Elizabeth (1906)
''The Life and Letters of Lafcadio Hearn''Vol. II
New York: Houghton, Mifflin & Company. * Bronner, Simon J. 2002. ''Lafcadio Hearn's America: Ethnographic Sketches and Editorials''. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky. * * . * Dawson, Carl (1992). ''Lafcadio Hearn and the Vision of Japan'', Johns Hopkins University Press. * . *Hirakawa, Sukehiro and Yoko Makino (2018), ''What is Shintō? Japan, a Country of Gods, as Seen by Lafcadio Hearn'', Tokyo: Kinseisha. * . * Kunst, Arthur E. (1969). ''Lafcadio Hearn'', Twayne Publishers. * Langton, D. H. (1912)
"Lafcadio Hearn: Journalist and Writer on Japan,"
''The Manchester Quarterly'', Vol. XXXI. * . * Mais, S. P. B. (1920)
"Lafcadio Hearn."
In ''Books and their Writers'', Grant Richards, Ltd. * McWilliams, Vera (1946)
''Lafcadio Hearn''
Houghton Mifflin Company. * Miner, Earl Roy (1958). ''The Japanese Tradition in British and American Literature'', Princeton University Press. * Monaham, Michael (1922)
"Lafcadio Hearn,"
''An Attic Dreamer'', Mitchell Kennerley. * More, Paul Elmer (1905)
"Lafcadio Hearn."
In ''Shelburne Essays'', Second Series, G. P. Putnam's Sons. * Murray, Paul (1993). ''A Fantastic Journey: The Life and Literature of Lafcadio Hearn'', Japan Library. * Noguchi, Yone (1905)
"Lafcadio Hearn, A Dreamer,"
''National Magazine'', Vol. XXII, No. 1. * . * . * . * ; republished in . * Setsu, Koizumi (1918)
''Reminiscences of Lafcadio Hearn''
Houghton Mifflin Company. * . * Stevenson, Elizabeth (1961). ''Lafcadio Hearn'', Macmillan New York * Thomas, Edward (1912)
''Lafcadio Hearn''
Houghton Mifflin Company. *Murray, Paul, ed. 2019. Japanese Ghost Stories. Lafcadio Hearn. London: Penguin. *Hearn, Lafcadio. 2019. Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things. By. 2019. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. (soft cover). 'Sayonara' collection of Japanese folk tales translated from English to Irish by Pádraig Mac Cearáin. Published by Coiscéim 2018.


External links


Lafcadio Hearn Memorial Museum
Matsue city in Japan
Lafcadio Hearn History Center
Lefkada in Greece
Lafcadio Hearn Gardens
Tramore in Ireland

* * * *
Works by Lafcadio Hearn
at
Hathi Trust HathiTrust Digital Library is a large-scale collaborative repository of digital content from research libraries. Its holdings include content digitized via Google Books and the Internet Archive digitization initiatives, as well as content digit ...
* .
Hearn's influence in literature
* .
Lafcadio Hearn's papers
at the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia
Japan and the Japanese as Seen by Foreigners



Two Years in the French West Indies
From the Collections at the Library of Congress
Lafcadio Hearn Correspondence
digitized by
Loyola University New Orleans Loyola University New Orleans is a Private university, private Jesuit university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Originally established as Loyola College in 1904, the institution was chartered as a university in 1912. It bears the nam ...
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hearn, Lafcadio 20th-century Buddhists Greek Buddhists Irish Buddhists Converts to Buddhism from Christianity 1850 births 1904 deaths 19th-century Irish writers Alumni of Ushaw College Collectors of fairy tales Converts to Buddhism from Eastern Orthodoxy English-language writers from Japan Foreign advisors to the government in Meiji-era Japan Former Greek Orthodox Christians Ghost story writers Greek people of Irish descent Greek people of English descent Irish emigrants to Japan Greek emigrants to the United States Irish emigrants to the United States Japanese folklorists Japanese writers Japanologists Japanophilia Naturalized citizens of Japan Japanese people of Greek descent People from Lefkada Academic staff of the University of Tokyo Academic staff of Waseda University The Cincinnati Enquirer people Greek emigrants to Ireland People from Rathmines Weird fiction writers Translators of Gustave Flaubert Burials at Zōshigaya Cemetery People from Tramore