{"product_id":"2940013145283","title":"Concerning Lafcadio","description":"CONTENTS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    CHAP.                                               PAGE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e      I.  HEREDITY AND THE EARLY LIFE                          1\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e     II.  IN PERSON                                            7\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    III.  THE PERIOD OF THE GRUESOME                          13\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e     IV.  THE NEW ORLEANS TIME                                33\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e      V.  AT MARTINIQUE                                       57\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e     VI.  \"GETTING A SOUL\"                                    65\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    VII.  \"IN GHOSTLY JAPAN\"                                  81\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e   VIII.  AS A POET                                           93\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e     IX.  THE POET OF MYOPIA                                 103\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e      X.  HEARN'S STYLE                                      119\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e     XI.  SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION                             137\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    XII.  APPRECIATIONS AND EPITOMES                         143\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e          BIBLIOGRAPHY                                       247\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e                                                 _To face page_\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    LAFCADIO HEARN, FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY GUTEKUNST\u003cbr\u003e    IN 1889                                       _Frontispiece_\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    HEARN AT ABOUT THE AGE OF EIGHT, FROM A PHOTOGRAPH         5\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    REDUCED FIRST PAGE OF THE FIRST ISSUE OF \"YE\u003cbr\u003e    GIGLAMPZ\"                                                 21\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    LAFCADIO HEARN, FROM A PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN AT MARTINIQUE,\u003cbr\u003e    AUGUST 24, 1888                                           61\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    HANDWRITING OF HEARN IN 1889                              68\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePREFACE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHERE are as many possible biographies of a man as there are possible\u003cbr\u003ebiographers--and one more! Of Lafcadio Hearn there has been, and there\u003cbr\u003ewill be, no excuse for any biography whatever. A properly edited volume\u003cbr\u003eof his letters, and, perhaps, a critical estimate of the methods and\u003cbr\u003edevelopment of his imaginative power and literary character are, and\u003cbr\u003estill remain, most desirable. That some competent hand may yet be found\u003cbr\u003eto undertake this task is still hoped by those who recognize the value\u003cbr\u003eof a man's best work. To furnish material and help toward this end is my\u003cbr\u003eobject in collecting the following pages. The life of a literary man\u003cbr\u003einterests and is of value to the world because of the literature he has\u003cbr\u003ecreated. Without a bibliography, without even mention of the works he\u003cbr\u003ewrote, his biography would be useless. To correct many untrue and\u003cbr\u003emisleading statements and inferences of a serious nature that have been\u003cbr\u003epublished concerning him and his life, should it ever be undertaken,\u003cbr\u003ewill prove a labour so difficult and thankless that it will scarcely be\u003cbr\u003eentered upon by one who would do it rightly. That it will not be\u003cbr\u003ehazarded comes, as I have said, from the fact that it is not needed,\u003cbr\u003ebecause neither Hearn himself, nor his real friends, nor again, a\u003cbr\u003ediscriminating literary sense, have been, nor can be, under any illusion\u003cbr\u003eas to his \"greatness.\" He has been spoken of as \"a great man,\" which, of\u003cbr\u003ecourse, he was not. Two talents he had, but these were far from\u003cbr\u003econstituting personal greatness. Deprived by nature, by the necessities\u003cbr\u003eof his life, or by conscious intention, of religion, morality,\u003cbr\u003escholarship, magnanimity, loyalty, character, benevolence, and other\u003cbr\u003econstituents of personal greatness, it is more than folly to endeavour\u003cbr\u003eto place him thus wrongly before the world.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe irony of the situation is pathetically heightened by the fact that,\u003cbr\u003esupposing him to be very great, \"the weaknesses of very great men,\"\u003cbr\u003ewhich he said should not be spoken of, are amazingly paraded in the\u003cbr\u003eletters. Had he ever dreamed that his letters would be published, he\u003cbr\u003ewould not, and could not, have so unblushingly exposed himself and his\u003cbr\u003efaults to the public gaze. The fact has now been writ exceeding large,\u003cbr\u003eor it would not be, and should not be, corrected and contradicted. A\u003cbr\u003eword to the wise suffices.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere remains the question, truly pertinent, concerning the nature and\u003cbr\u003eprogress toward perfection of his imagination, and of his literary\u003cbr\u003eexecution.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWe know nothing, and doubtless we may never know anything definite,\u003cbr\u003eaccurate and of value about the character either of his father or of his\u003cbr\u003emother. Any attempt, therefore, to estimate what effect heredity had in\u003cbr\u003ehanding down the strange endowment we find in his early manhood is\u003cbr\u003ewholly futile. We may not be too sure concerning either the parentage or\u003cbr\u003enationality ascribed to him.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47069830021360,"sku":"2940013145283","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013145283_p0.jpg?v=1763577108","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013145283","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}