Lafcadio Hearn

At the turn of the twentieth century, Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904) was instrumental in introducing Western readers to Japanese culture and literature. Raised in Dublin and a longtime resident of the United States, the writer, translator, and teacher arrived in Japan in 1890 and spent the rest of his life there. His writings from Japan became his most popular works, and he was famed not only as an interpreter of Japanese myths but also as a teller of...

Lafcadio Hearn's books have charmed and captivated readers, just as the exotic subjects about which he has written have captivated him. "Gleanings in the Buddha-Fields" presents more Hearn magic as he enters into the spirit of Buddhism as though he were born into it. This collection of stories, subtitled "Studies of Hand and Soul in the Far East," takes the reader on a journey into the soul of Hearn's adopted land as no other writer-especially a non-Japanese...

In Exotics and Retrospectives, Lafcadio Hearn plays the role not only of tour guide, but also dreamscaper. Whether through his narrative recounting of Japanese customs and traditional tales, or while sharing his personal observations and flights of fancy, Hearn's graceful and poetic prose enables the reader to enter a foreign world. Covering subjects from Buddhism to beauty to the color blue to being, he gently, honestly, and humorously lays bare...

Books and Habits from the Lectures of Lafcadio Hearn by Lafcadio Hearn These chapters, for the most part, are reprinted from Lafcadio Hearn's "Interpretations of Literature," 1915, from his "Life and Literature," 1916, and from his "Appreciations of Poetry," 1917. Three chapters appear here for the first time. They are all taken from the student notes of Hearn's lectures at the University of Tokyo, 1896-1902, sufficiently described in the earlier...

This collection of essays, individually published between 1915 and 1917, originated as lectures Hearn delivered to Japanese students at the University of Tokyo. They constitute one of the first attempts by a Western critic to interpret Western culture to the East. Chapters are dedicated to Western attitudes to women, poetry, the Bible, and an overview of Western literary influences.

A Story with Heart. "We owe more to our illusions than to our knowledge." A collection of 15 essays that examine the inner spiritual life of Japan through the people that make Japan the unique place it is.

A brief but delightful insight into Japanese culture by an author who (from my experience) has consistently captured the ways of the Japanese people of the time. (Goodreads)

“Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan” is a bewitching look into a world that few Westerners saw in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries—a world that still endures in many ways in spite of the changes that have taken place during the modernization of Japan.

Originally published in 1885, Gombo Zhebes is a collection of 352 Creole proverbs selected from 6 dialects. Included are selections from the Creole of French Guyana, the Creole of Haiti, the Creole of New Orleans, the Creole of Martinique, the Creole of Mauritius, and the Creole of Trinidad. The proverbs are translated into French and into English.