New-York tribune., 1906-12-05
literary NesVa
and Criticism
rs Late Lafcadio Hearn as Re
neaIed in His Letters.

- orocsfion and sometimes even without
.rovocation whatever he would withdraw
- .,e shell But he had, in HIS way. faculty
=. .-,eDdship. and. with pen in his hand,
ls nour cut his soul TO one whom he loved
-l,b v-srrn feeling and good deal OF freedom 1t
,.,,sns therefore. that the present volumes
~ abundant light upon his personality. Mrs.
,r,.,norss memoir of her old friend fills little
- ,bsn one hundred and fifty pages The
-. NJ The space Is given TO Mr.. Hearn's letters.
,.as Without annexation editorial connect
- links. Tho collection covers practically the
r,,o NJ the writer's career. and the reader can
-. out from il without much difficulty the
-, NJ that career in its external relations.
;, sense however, these are Of subordinate
,~.sest What the letters have chiefly TO tell
ns has 10 do with the qualities OF tempera-
reut.
The tangible experiences OF Lafcadio Hearn
"a ,n6eed. surprising title significance, con-
,iserng tha; he had Ich Of the equipment OF
,ouector Of sensations. They ought to have
,rrar.zea him. but they seem only to have
.,-ou-n hin, back upon himself. to have made
rim more and more a man Of letters. and less
80 less 4 man IN touch with life. AS a wan
i,-sr he has OF the gusto for sheer vaga-
sorsase which you find IN Borrow or Burton.
~
- .bA self-conscious Robert Louis Stevenson or
% the super-sophisticated impressionist, Pierre
~. who was one of hts idols In letter al
hiding 10 Eastern literature and to his own
...l,nss with It. he says modestly. II am only
suettante. not a linguist," and there was much
in his nature woke the same fe4iecuoi no
,o.,tsr what phase Of his activity might be in
o,.stoa. Elsewhere explaining his ignorance
-rs- devote himself 10 one thing IN order to
su,,sed. 50 I have pledged 10 the worship
!, ne ODD. the Queer. the Strange. the Exotic,
he Morsrous. II quite suits my tempera-
megt." This confession supplies key to his
entire correspondence.
When. at the close OF his boyhood across the
Atlantic. he ceme 10 this country he appears
% have suffered hardship in New York as he
hs6 suffered Il in London. Mrs. Wetmore strives
10 extract some CLEANS Of romance from this
,s-iod She thinks Of her hero at that time
one who had already looked in secret places.
fsoe 10 face, upon the magic countenance Of
the Muse. and was thereafter vowed to the
Guest OF the Holy Cup. wherein glows the essen
iial blood Of beauty" But then Mrs Wetmore
thinks that Lafcad.o Hearn was "a great man.
that he was "one OF the great stylists Of the
Nineteenth Century" and that his letters will
hear comparison with the most famous letters
IN literature" She is more seryiceab BILE as a bi-
os-apher, does more 20 help US understand the
man Q; whom she writes. when she tells how.
IN the early 70s. he went to work reporter
upon Cincinnati paper and gives Us facts
follows:
Ills work was of a kind that gave him at first
scope for his talents ana must have been Pc
cslsry unsympathetic, consisting OF daily market
Myers to his capacity for better things. A Pc
c-arly atrocous crime. stil known in Cincinnati
E-zicaied 10 the Office Of The Enquirer at a
moment when al tie members Of the staff. usually
eeiaAed 10 cover such assignments. were absent
IL ec!tor calling uron the Indifferent gods for
some one Instantly 70 take up the matter. was
surprised by q trlid request from the shy cub
'sporJer who turned in daily market stuff" to
he allowed 10 deal with this tragedy. and after
S7-f denur, he consented TO accept what ap
lsdes The "con, snbr4ittes some boure Iater
.2seo aSto'isfed eyebrows. considered worthy
= seere-heads end for the nine succeeding
3e ~ q me ne Ne Of the wonder CINCINNATI sought
.ileItY Tie ECtfTrsunescue story whose poignant
49, H.'osen phrases set before them grim picture
-l, . caused Tie flesh 70 crawl upon their bones;
.sosnecied caDacit"s and his talents al
I've. I've expansion he direction Of descriptive
The testimony Of this passage to Hearn's IN
'l'' tor things l1dc0bre. and to his skill In the
'eefration Of them, IS borne out by the great
GIN Or grotesque. otherwise remarkable
events but that they are essentially morbid In
atmosphere constantly suggesting his preoc-
ollation with the Queer. the Strange. the Ex-
%, and 50 on. l. 1894. when he published his
Unfamiliar japan" a friend sent him a copy Of
'@ review published in The Tribune and in
1le- given in the present collection. he refers
~ this wise. The curious fact Of the
fuce was the statement about the influence of
-e oec1qspts and OF Veriaine being apparent
| ''eI read Lne of Nerlaine IN my life.-and
Wy! Know enough of the decadent school TO
--'H!oe Inc that the principle is scientifically
'Vlg and that 10 study the stuff is mere waste
" ~he. Even If we did not recall the review
QUESTION as the work Of one who knew Hearn
| a. ana was peculiarly qualified TO interpret
~ 'orE, we should maintain the essential
--1-NesS OF the criticism passed upon him in
| = Columns. His literary tastes Were very
~ tnose u the decadent school. The reader
1"' poubts this las only TO turn to the refer
~es 10 Gauticr, for example, in his corre-
T0AoeAce. and 10 note the outcropping IN
| -1- PAGES. of z strain of feeling which would
a'e immediately placed him IN harmony with
y'ialae Il thsy Ald ever CHANGED to meet.
us detachment from Journalism and his de-
~oIA'ent as a contributor to the magazines
'aleF on B. q writer Of books, make in
.'sliig though somewhat painful story. The
'''sslon he leaves IS of an imaginative
-a''y individual, intensely sensitive. intensely
-, 80 hunSering always 10 concentrate him
i. -i'A some work of 4 purely literary char
~ 49, @ho growing more and more restive under
IKE lald upon him by circumstance. Life
-, ~,' ahc he WINGED Yet he seems 10 have
-. ---'A resolution Of certain sort. His work
Lin ~ nave Invariably been sympathetic 10
"A. -, al least he did it, no matter how hard
Nv @'1'h imposed b. his limited eyesight and
,re,,. passion for rcining what he wrote until
ht "o used was proved the right word. and