The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1899-01-29
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and their equally frank advocacy of the
beautiful. the unworldiy. and the true,
can even now find readers, is one of the
most hopeful signs for our national flu
ture. a nation is largely made by its
literature. and God help the country
whose literature is Il mere g.orifcation of
material success.
\ part OF the thought in this book is so
thoroughly in accord with the Buddhist
philosophy that it will be appreciated only
by a reader who is to some extent in SYM
patty with that philosophy. Hearn him
self has become STEPPED in the life of the
Orient, so that thoughts which to the
Western mind appear unnatural and alien
are not so to him. Yet with all the quick
ness of imagination and depth of sympa
thetic insight which marks his work. he
still treats his subject in Western rather
than Oriental fashion. He does not forget
that, though he is writing of Japan and
must therefore picture the thought of that
country as il appears to a japanese, he is
writing for English and American readers,
and playing the part of an Interpreter be-
tween East and West. This quality is evil
dent in the second half OF the book. bit
OF personal experience which every imagi-
native child has had is used link with
which 10 connect human experience with
universal truth. For example, here in the
midst of the essay on Moon Desire" is
this paragraph:
remember when boy lying on my back in
the grass, gazing into the summer blue above me,
and wishing that could melt into it-bccomc a
part Of it. For these fancies | believe that a
religious tutor was nnoccntly responsible; he had
tried 10 explain to me, because of certain dreamy
questions. what he termed the folly and the
wickcdness Of pantheisrn with the result that
Immediately became pantheist, at the tender
age of fifteen.
nd wit 7, a CT n r.
yelous web of fancy and reflection, half
playful conjecture and farreaching
thought, is woven through the rest OF the
essay.
Two or three of the following papers deal
with the theory of reincarnation. which
may almost be called the foundation rock
of Oriental faith. The notion that each hui
man being is n composite OF myriads OF
previous lives is here handled more freely
than in any of the authors previous works.
There is an essay on Azure Psychology
which is, among other things, demon
stration of the possibilities OF the English
language in describing color. This feeling
for color is one of the salient Characters
tics OF Hearn's style. He is q born painter,
and words are his material. He is at home
in places where the air CLOVIS with heat or
becomes opalescent with mist; one cannot
imagine him depicting the life of colorless,
correct, daylight regions. Violet glooms
and golden sunshine, the gorgeous rich
world of the tropics. he can picture with
wizardlike skill; and he is even more at
home in Japan, where there is curious
ghostIiness and evanescepce about material
things. and the life of the people is ever
changing, never the same, and one must
have quick brush and quicker eye 20
catch the peculiar charm of any beautiful
thing.
There is but one non-Japanese essay in
the hook. and that deals with the fear of
/ the supernatural, and recounts an expe-
riencc of the author in the West Indies.
This chapter. which is a distinct addition
TO the literature of ghosts, is matched on
| ly in one other chapter of Mr.. Hearn s
wcrk-the story of La Guiablesse' in his
| West Indian book. Outside his writings
| there is nothing anywhere exactly like it..
| The author who, in these latter days,
| works absolutely without reference to
| fame or money is rare indeed; but there
| have been at least two such men in Ameri-
| ca One was Harold Frederic; the other
| is Lafcadio Hearn. Even in his earlier
! days, when his livelihood depended on his
| writings. Hearn is said TO have shown
| entire Indifference to the question of per-
| sonal gain. He wrote when he chose.
| and as he chose; and would have declined
10 alter a word of what he had written
| at anybody's demand. His work is that
| Of the retrospective, sensitive, beauty
! loving genius. He cannot be claimed as
an American author; he is cosmopolitan.
| In some CT his work he has touched n
! higher philosophical ideal than any
thought gatherer since Emerson. He has
! no limitations. He is not likely to write
himself out. Whatever he may do in the
! future, the books which he has already
| written are enough to secure his fame;
| and as time goes on they will be more,
! not less, appreciated. (Boston: Little,
| Brown & Co Sl95D