Fall, 2021 Edition
President’s Message,
Steve Kemme
Editor’s Note: from Gary Eith
Call for Research
Conversation with a Society Founder,
Sylvia Metzinger
Where and How My Study of Hearn Began,
Guest Author, Eileen Kues
Period of the Gruesome, by
Eileen Kues
“Cincinnati’s Literary Heritage,” Author, Kevin Grace
Book Review by
Gary Eith
Lafcadio Hearn’s Open Mind
Reprint, Steve Kemme Interview, by
Michael Limnios
Welcome from the President of the Lafcadio Hearn Society/USA
Dear
Reader,
Welcome
to the 2021 edition of the Hearn Journal, sponsored and supported by the
Lafcadio Hearn Society/USA and the Japan Research Center of Greater Cincinnati.
A lot has transpired since our last edition, including the pandemic, and
the loss of our friend, Dr. Kinji Tanaka to this illness.
We will miss him dearly and his persistent almost relentless work to
build cultural bridges between Japan and the United States.
This Society and this Journal would likely not exist if it were not for
him. Without Dr. Tanaka’s
encouragement and kind help and counsel, I never would have become so deeply
involved in the study of Hearn’s writings and life.
We hope
that the pandemic will wane and that we will again be able to meet and learn of
Hearn and his work. In that regard,
we hope you take notice of the new Call to Research, as we are still seeking
Hearn’s arrival date in Cincinnati, but this time through his fleeting
relationship with a young Scandinavian on his train trip to Cincinnati.
In the meantime, I hope you will enjoy this latest edition, the 2021
edition of the Hearn Journal.
We thank
the contributors to this edition.
It was great to hear from Sylvia Metzinger, one of the founders of the Society,
and her discussion of reference
works that provide tangible proof of Hearn’s writing foundations emanating from
Cincinnati. We thank Eileen Kues
for her acknowledgement of the Society’s and the Center’s work spurring her
onward to learn more about Hearn and his writings, and in our spirit, sharing
some of her learning with a local writer’s organization!
Also, a special thanks to Michael
Limnios for allowing us to reprint my interview for his blog.
Lastly, thanks to our new editor, Gary Eith, for sharing what he learned
(with a focus on Hearn) from Kevin Grace’s new book, Cincinnati’s Literary
Heritage A History for Booklovers.
Steve
Kemme, President
Lafcadio Hearn Society/USA
Editor’s Note:
We
would have liked to have named this issue, the Dr. Kinji Tanaka Memorial Issue,
on this one-year anniversary of his passing.
However, he would have been the first to state that it’s not about him,
but the higher mission of the Research Center (the building of cultural bridges
between Japan and the U.S.A. through examples of exemplary people).
I can’t tell you how many times he told me to pull his name and highlight
“all the others who contributed.”
The founding of the Lafcadio Hearn Society/USA was but one example, and he would
have wanted to acknowledge the good works of its first president, and editor of
the first eight issues of the journal, Jon Christopher Hughes. He also would
have recognized the founding members of the Society which included Judson
Edwards, Sylvia Metzinger and myself, and soon thereafter Jacqueline Vidourek
(now deceased) who joined this founding board.
The
contributions to this issue are also examples of the kinds of work Dr. Tanaka
would have been most pleased with.
In that regard, we hope that you will join with us in sharing this issue, this
“tribute” with others.
-
Gary Eith, Ed.D., Editor
-
September 5, 2021
CALL
FOR RESEARCH
This is a “Research Call” on an identification of “Hearn’s first love,” a young
Scandinavian woman on the immigrant train to Cincinnati who shared her lunch
with him. He was starving on the train and needed help from someone at the
time.
Everyone remembers their first crush, infatuation or “love.”
Hearn admits as much for himself while travelling on a train from New
York to Cincinnati and meeting this young woman.
Her destination (according to Bisland) was Red Wing, Minnesota. How many
19 year old women arrived in Red Wing in 1869?
How many 20 year olds may have been living there in 1870, according to
the Census? What were their names?
Did any have diaries or mention their train experience from New York to
Cincinnati, and/or meeting a hungry young man during the travels who forgot to
even thank her when she shared her lunch with him? Not showing any appreciation,
was a regret Hearn had for many years afterward.
We still haven’t found the actual date of Hearn’s arrival in Cincinnati and we
think this may be another human interest story to get to this. So, to the
researcher, who finds the most compelling or comprehensive finding related to
this young, 19 year old woman in ethnic garb on her way to Red Wing that may
include the train or trains she travelled on, a monetary award, and an
invitation to present the findings at a readings/seminar in 2022 will be
presented to you! Deadline
7/1/2022. A committee will
review submissions and choose the most compelling research. Contact Gary Eith,
eithg@yahoo.com
for an additional information sheet and/or if you have any questions or
submissions.
Sylvia Metzinger was one of the founding members of the board of the Lafcadio
Hearn Society/USA. Metzinger left
her position as Rare Books Librarian at Tulane University to become Manager of
Rare Books and Special Collections at the Public Library of Cincinnati and
Hamilton County and was serving in that capacity when she joined the Society’s
board. Both libraries have
important collections of works by and about Hearn.
Sylvia and her husband Fred are now retired, and reside just northwest of
San Antonio, Texas in a rural area, a bedroom community for some San Antonians
and a recreation area for others.
She says she keeps busy now working for her homeowners association in a virtual
capacity as the coordinator for their “Nextdoor.com” page and formerly as a
board member of the association and editor of their newsletter for six years.
Occasionally a Hearn question still comes her way via the internet.
It’s
hard to imagine Sylvia in a ten-gallon Texas-sized hat living in the “Cowboy
Capital of the World!” She is a
proud Cajun-American whose roots go back in Louisiana before the Revolutionary
War. However, she and her husband
having grown up below sea level in greater New Orleans most of their lives,
decided that the rural Texas hill country was the peaceful place where they
wanted to retire!
____________________________
Though Lafcadio Hearn is more prominently mentioned and studied in Japan and
probably Ireland, even Greece (his heritage), Cincinnati is where he created his
foundation for writing, not just subject matter and inclinations but writing and
journalism. He strengthened that foundation in New Orleans. From
his definitive Bibliography* authored by Perkins, Hearn wrote his first
332 newspaper articles in Cincinnati, a very auspicious beginning to his
journalistic and writing career! Most importantly this was expanded upon by Jon
Christopher Hughes, editor, in his Period of the Gruesome, Selected
Cincinnati Journalism of Lafcadio Hearn, which contains “Lafcadio Hearn’s
Cincinnati Writings: A Bibliography,” compiled by O.W.Frost, with an Update by
Jon Christopher Hughes, 1990.
Anyone studying the Cincinnati journalism period of Hearn should compare both
lists as the latter has entries for 439 newspaper articles.**
Hearn went on to New Orleans and wrote 713 articles and became an assistant
editor of two papers and then literary editor of a third. Some of these
articles contained woodcuts done by Hearn himself. When on sabbatical in
the 1990s at Tulane University, Metzinger compiled and photocopied onto archival
paper for preservation purposes all of Hearn’s illustrations from that period,
as many as she could locate so they could be gathered in one place. In
New Orleans, he also had 21 journal appearances, followed by nine more written
while on a sojourn of two years in the West Indies, and then 30 more while
living in Japan, all but two appearing in American periodicals from the period
1882-1904. Of course, he is well known for his over 20 book publications
as well.
I suppose what turned Hearn to Japan happened in New Orleans as well.
Hearn had been introduced to the literature and philosophy of the East as a
youth, and he read many books about Japan while in New York. However, I
think the clincher for his going to Japan was because of the World’s Industrial
and Cotton Exposition in New Orleans, 1884-85, where he had an assignment to
cover the Japanese Exhibit, (“The New Orleans Exposition,” Harpers Weekly,
Jan. 31, 1885, vol.29, p71) and became friends with Japan’s Commissioner Ichizo
Hattori who later, as Minister of Education, actually secured a teaching job for
Hearn in Matsue.
The rest is history, as they say…. But it was his writing, life, and
experiences in Cincinnati that provided a strong, solid foundation for his
future writing career. It is not only right and just for Cincinnati to
have a permanent memorial for this important literary figure, but it will serve
as an educational tool for many in the region, introducing Hearn, and to many
from overseas as well as in the United States, as a tourist attraction in
Cincinnati. The Queen City as it was called, had a strong arts and
literary heritage, especially in the 19th and 20th centuries!
__________________________
* Percival Densmore Perkins and Ione Perkins. Lafcadio Hearn, a Bibiography
of his Writings. 1934. Library locations holding various editions can be
found near you by accessing WorldCat.org
and entering this information. An e-book first edition can be found in
WorldCat by clicking the HathiTrust url when you access the record for the
online version via WorldCat.org
http://catalog.hathitrust.org/api/volumes/oclc/1208494.html
**https://www.worldcat.org/title/period-of-the-gruesome-selected-cincinnati-journalism-of-lafcadio-hearn/oclc246529268/editions?referer+di&editionsView+true
Where
and How My Study of Hearn Began: A Message to the Lafcadio Hearn Society/USA
from Guest Author, Eileen Kues
The first I heard of Lacadio Hearn was when I saw a notice about a lecture on
Hearn in the Library Links newsletter. I was intrigued by a drawing of
his face in the notice and by the few details about him that were included. A
friend who lives downtown agreed to go with me, but after we had lunch and
perused the displays of Hearn’s work in the Cincinnati Room windows, she decided
to go home. There were only fifteen or twenty people in attendance. The speakers
were wonderful and the discussion was lively. By the time it was over, I knew
two things: I wanted to know more, and I was the only person there not connected
to the Cincinnati Enquirer. Since, I attended the Hearn Symposium and
the Kwaidan performance, both in October of 2019. Many facets of Lafcadio
Hearn’s story fascinated me: his intelligence, his dogged pursuit of knowledge,
his understanding of the universe, his atheism, his nonchalance about race, and
his empathy and respect for the “underclass”. I had to know where a man like
this came from.
I knew I had to learn more about his early years to find out how he became Hearn
and how he ended up here in Cincinnati. I began to prepare a paper about him
that I could present at the Cincinnati Contemporary Club. The Contemporary Club,
which is over 100 years old, is an organization of women who want to write and
share their stories with the group. I was invited to join by a neighbor and
dog-walker friend in 2012. This was my third paper for them. I kept the topic a
secret and realized afterwards that only one person in the audience had heard of
Lafcadio Hearn.
My paper is titled The Period of the Gruesome: Lafcadio Hearn’s First 27
Years. I started with a section of his Tanyard Murder articles and then went
back to discover his origins – his parents, the Ionian Islands, traveling to
Dublin to live, his parents’ abandonment and his life with his great-aunt Sarah
Brenane, the arrival of Henry Hearn Molyneux and the beginning of the great
swindle, Hearn’s time in boarding schools and the loss of the use of his left
eye, the family bankruptcy and his life in London’s East End. After his arrival
in Cincinnati, I follow the path that eventually leads him to Henry Watkin and
his first few jobs, his first submission to the Cincinnati Enquirer and
his career there which ended in him being fired over his marriage to Alethea
Foley, and then the two successful, if exhausting years at the Cincinnati
Commercial. I have an addendum with thirteen excerpts from a variety of
Hearn’s genres.
My background is in education and, before I became an elementary school
librarian in 1993, I taught language arts in sixth, seventh and eighth grades in
Cincinnati Public Schools. I retired in 2010. I live in Clifton in a house that
was built in 1912.
EILEEN KUES
"All things share the same breath -- the beast, the tree, the man. The
air shares its spirit with all the life it supports." -- Chief Seattle
BOOK
REVIEW:
“Cincinnati’s Literary Heritage, A History for Booklovers,” A Book
Written by Kevin Grace
Congratulations to Kevin Grace on his new book, copyright 2021, published by The
History Press (www.historypress.com).
Kevin is in the Lafcadio Hearn Society/USA and has presented to the
Society. He has recently retired as
head of the Archives and Rare Books Library at the University of Cincinnati and
as the University Archivist. In
2015 he was awarded the Cooper Award by the Public Library of Cincinnati and
Hamilton County for contributions to the promotion of books and reading.
“Cincinnati’s Literary Heritage” is an easy read filled with interesting
information on a range of historical topics including Cincinnati’s early
publishers, literary clubs and collectors, libraries and bookstores, lovers of
Shakespeare and of Cincinnati writers and writers from around the world who
visited Cincinnati. Kevin includes
a recommended reference list of fifteen essential literary points of interest,
twenty-five essential organizations for books, reading and writing, and fifty
essential books for understanding Cincinnati.
I recommend you read the book (it’s under 150 pages) cover to cover, as even the
acknowledgements and introduction chapter (which I normally skip over) I found
most interesting on the early history of the city and an overview of his
findings in the first person.
Throughout, there are many photos and illustrations helping the reader perceive
and understand the city and its important literary significance.
He explains how he came upon writing this book from the many stories he
has heard over the years….and it struck me how “Hearn-like” that seemed to me.
For our purposes, I choose to focus on what Kevin has found on Lafcadio Hearn.
In addition to a photo of a middle-aged Hearn on the cover, the author
mentions Hearn about midway in the book as he proceeds through some Irish
immigrant literary figures (over 20,000 Irish settled in Cincinnati in the late
1800’s). Including a short life
history to provide the context within which we find Hearn in Cincinnati, Kevin
describes Hearn’s early years in Cincinnati and the topics and people he wrote
about for the Cincinnati Enquirer, and subsequently, The Commercial.
He, too, like so many other
researchers of Hearn, describes his “journalistic mark” from the very topics and
people of Hearn’s choosing. As
Kevin so aptly puts it, Hearn went where other journalists wouldn’t go….and
that’s not just location, but of course where the common people were.
He included all types of people, the
most colorful or mundane, the most unusual “professions” and the most
strange or outlandish experiences.
He was one of the first to live among
and write about
African Americans living in the city.
Hearn’s writing is best described by a Hearn quote that Kevin found
describing his days in Cincinnati,
“ Now in those days there was a young man connected with the Daily Enquirer
whose tastes were whimsically grotesque and arabesque.
He was by nature a fervent admirer of extremes.
He believed only in the Revoltingly Horrible or the Excruciatingly
Beautiful…..”
Now if that doesn’t intrigue the reader to find what Hearn has written!
Indeed, the newspapers and journals of his time sold many copies because
of the novel subject matter at the time, but also of the impeccably well written
work as well.
As we have learned from other presenters to the Society, these choices
influenced his future writings as he authored books and journal articles
wherever he went. With the
authoring of approximate 400 articles in Cincinnati, these early experiences not
only began Hearn’s writing career but, in many ways became his foundation for
his writing as he selected cultural and folklore topics.
I wish to thank Kevin Grace for his work on this book, for sharing with his
audiences the richness of Cincinnati’s literary history and for his many
contributions to the Hearn Society/USA in Cincinnati.
It was a trip down nostalgia lane in many respects for me, as my
grandfather, born in 1900, had spoken of many of the people, the literature and
poetry of the period. Still, I
learned a lot from the book, and it also has spurred my curiosity to visit some
of the locations mentioned, including the Author’s Grove in Eden Park, and the
remnants of a memorial wall near the water tower there.
Again, Congrats on your book, Kevin!
-Gary Eith, editor of the Lafcadio Hearn Journal
President of the Lafcadio Hearn Society/USA,
Steve Kemme talks about Lafcadio Hearn's legacy and his open mind
"Lafcadio Hearn’s legacy in terms of race and
social consciousness is demonstrating the need for tolerance of people of
different races, nations and religions. And not just to tolerate them, but to
learn about them and get to know them as fellow human beings. He also displayed
the importance of helping those in need."
Steve Kemme: Lafcadio Hearn's Open Mind
American writer/scholar Steve Kemme is president of the Lafcadio Hearn
Society/USA, retired Cincinnati Enquirer reporter, author of yet-to-be-published
Hearn biography — “From Gore to Ghosts: The Strange Odyssey of Lafcadio Hearn.”
The first westerner to translate Japanese stories into English was Patrick
Lafcadio Hearn. Born in 1850 on the Greek island of Lefkada, and later abandoned
by his parents, Hearn was sent to America. He is best remembered for his books
about Japanese culture, especially his collections of legends and ghost stories,
such as Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things. In the United States, he
is also known for his writings about New Orleans, based on his decade-long stay
there.
In his fifty-four years among the living, Patrick Lafcadio Hearn wrote
twenty-nine books in just about every conceivable genre—folktales, travelogues,
novels, cookbooks, translations, dictionaries of proverbs—none of which can
compete, in terms of sheer Dickensian horror and pluck, with the story of his
own life. Hearn distinguished himself at the Cincinnati Enquirer (1872-1875) and
the Cincinnati Commercial (1875-1877) for his sensational crime stories and his
penetrating portraits of African Americans. He moved to New Orleans in 1877,
where he wrote about the Creole culture. He moved to Martinique in 1887. During
his two years there, he wrote two novels and a book about his experiences and
observations of life on the island. Hearn went to Japan in 1890, married a woman
from a samurai family, assumed the Japanese name of Yakumo Koizumi, and lived
there until his death at the age of 54 in 1904.
Special Thanks: Takis Efstathiou & Steve Kemme
How started the thought of Lafcadio Hearn Society/USA? What characterize LHS
philosophy and mission?
The Lafcadio Hearn Society/USA was founded in 1989. Dr. Kinji Tanaka, a Japanese
native who had been living in Cincinnati for many years, and several other Hearn
enthusiasts formed the Hearn Society. The founding members included Jon Hughes,
then a journalism professor at the University of Cincinnati. He edited and wrote
an introduction to a collection of Hearn’s more sensational Cincinnati newspaper
stories called Period of the Gruesome, which was published in 1990.
The Hearn Society published a series of newsletters containing articles about
Hearn’s work and life. Tanaka, who sadly died last year of Covid-19, was the
primary force behind the Hearn Society’s establishment. He was my friend and
mentor. The Hearn Society encourages the study of Hearn’s writing and life and
strives to make more people aware of him. It is under the jurisdiction of the
Japan Research Center of Greater Cincinnati, a non-profit organization that
Tanaka founded and led.
How has Lafcadio Hearn's books/life influenced your views of the world and
life's journeys you’ve taken?
I didn’t know about Hearn until the early 1990s. I read a review of Jon Hughes’ Period
of the Gruesome shortly after it was published. Then a couple of years later
I came across a Hearn book that included selections from all periods of his
career. I was in my early 40s at the time and already had a keen interest in
other cultures throughout the world. Hearn’s work and life deepened my curiosity
and my love of exploring other cultures, primarily through the arts. I majored
in English in college and have always read fiction, non-fiction, poetry from
other English-speaking and non-English-speaking countries. Hearn stoked my
interest specifically in ancient Japanese culture. Without knowing about Hearn,
I wouldn’t have taken two trips to Japan, one in 2004 and the other in 2018. I
also wouldn’t have met and become friends with people from Japan, Ireland,
Greece and other countries. So Lafcadio’s influence on me has been profound.
Why do you think that Lafcadio Hearn continues to generate such a devoted
following in music culture?
Hearn became interested in music at an early age. When he was growing up in
Ireland, he loved listening to Irish folk songs. When he came to Cincinnati, he
frequented the bars and dance halls where African-Americans congregated and
listened to their music, which often displayed characteristics of what we would
today call gospel and blues. They radiated joy, sadness, humor and bawdiness.
Hearn wrote down many of the songs’ lyrics and included some of them in stories
in the two Cincinnati daily newspapers he wrote for, the Enquirer and
the Commercial. He and his journalist friend, Henry Krehbiel, who later
became a music critic in New York, would walk along the docks and listen to the
black stevedores and other dockworkers singing. Hearn would jot down the words,
and Krehbiel would notate the music. At this early stage in his career, Hearn
functioned as a folklorist.
In Japan, he absorbed the music of the ordinary people and wrote about it. The
voice of a blind female street singer so entranced him that he invited her into
his house and paid her to sing to his family. When construction workers spent a
week or so on a project near his house, Hearn would pause from whatever he was
doing and listen to them sing. He considered the chirping of many varieties of
Japanese insects to be musical and enjoyable. His intense love of music of many
kinds and his ability to write about it vividly continues to draw readers to his
work.
How important was Afro-American and Creole music in his life? How did the music
affect his inspirations?
Hearing African-Americans play and sing their music gave Hearn an appreciation
for music that was different from European classical music, which he liked, and
from most of the popular tunes of the day. He loved the driving rhythms of many
of the songs he heard in the black dance halls and bars in Cincinnati. In a
couple of his newspaper stories, he described not only the music, but also the
passion and skill of some of the black dancers. This music had an emotional
dimension and intensity that he hadn’t heard in other kinds of music.
Hearn immersed himself in the Creole culture in New Orleans with the same
enthusiasm that he had in the African-American culture in Cincinnati. He
immediately began writing down lyrics of the Creole songs he heard. In addition
to the Creoles’ music, he loved the melodiousness of their language.
The music of blacks and Creoles helped him understand their character and their
history and what made them unique and set them apart from the rest of society.
It inspired him to seek out the music of whatever culture he was investigating.
In a broad sense, it reinforced his belief that great art must speak to the
emotions as well as to the intellect.
What has made you laugh from Lafcadio Hearn's life and travels? How do you want
his work to affect people?
Hearn had such an eccentric personality that he was prone to get involved in
many humorous and unusual situations. In Cincinnati, he dressed up as a woman in
order to be able to go to a female-only lecture by a former nun about the
alleged sexual acts she witnessed in the convent. He donned a blond wig, a long
dress, high-button ladies’ boots and long gloves. He made it through the lecture
undetected and wrote a very funny story about it. In another incident in
Cincinnati, with the help of three steeple-jacks, he climbed to the top of the
steeple of St. Peter in Chains Cathedral. He wrote a hilarious story about it.
Hearn’s grandson, Toki Koizumi, whom I met in 2004 in Japan, told me that he
learned about this incident from his father, Kazuo Koizumi. So it made such as
impression on Hearn that he passed it down to his family.
In Martinique, he once offered to pay 17 boys 10 cents each to pose for pictures
with their canoes. After the pictures were taken, the boys lined up for
their reward. Hearn began paying them. But other boys broke into the line and
the ones who got paid went back to the end of the line in hopes of collecting a
double fee. Suddenly surrounded by dozens of naked boys wanting to be paid,
Hearn ran to the house of a friend and scrambled up to the building’s fourth
floor. Police had to shoo the boys away from the building. When Hearn saw them
later that day, the boys began to cry. Hearn felt bad for them and paid them –
even those who hadn’t posed for him.
On his first trip to Japan’s Oki Islands, many of the people in the village
where he was staying had never before seen a Westerner. He sparked so much
interest that they formed a line up the stairs to the door of his second-floor
room. One or two of them would look in his room at him, smile, bow and then
leave. The next ones in line would step up and do the same. After the hotel
manager chased all the villagers out, some boys climbed up to balconies on a
nearby building so they could look in Hearn’s window and see him. When he walked
around the village, he attracted a crowd of people who followed him at a
respectful distance. Hearn was a little unsettled by all the attention but
didn’t object.
What are some of the most important life lessons you have learned from your
experience in Hearn's work?
One of the things I most admire about Hearn is his determination to overcome
whatever obstacles faced him as he worked to build his writing career and
explore the world. He was extremely self-conscious about his face, which had
been disfigured by a boyhood injury that blinded his left eye. But he didn’t let
that stop him from achieving his writing goals. In my own case, I had a serious
stuttering problem that began in my teenage years. I related to Hearn’s fear of
being ridiculed.
As a 19-year-old immigrant, he began his life in Cincinnati in dire financial
straits, sleeping in haylofts and cardboard boxes for the first couple of
months. He had the same economic issues when he moved to New Orleans and later
to Japan. He suffered from the extreme heat and from a serious illness in
Martinique. Yet through all these hardships, he didn’t give up.
He also withstood big physical challenges in his travels. He climbed to the top
of Mount Pelee in Martinique and when he was in declining health, he climbed
Mount Fuji. If he wanted to see or experience something, he wouldn’t let
anything get in his way.
Hearn had a profound respect for non-Western cultures, racial minorities and
people on the fringes of whatever society he was living in. In Cincinnati, he
wrote about the lives of African-Americans and others struggling to survive. He
wrote about rag-pickers, seamstresses who received a pittance for their work,
dockworkers and prisoners.
In Japan, he earned the love of his students by showing a respect for their
culture that many other Western teachers there had not shown. Many Western
teachers considered Japan’s culture to be inferior to the West’s and displayed
an arrogance that conveyed that attitude to their students. On the other hand,
Hearn considered Japanese culture superior to Western culture in many respects.
He developed a personal relationship with his students and while teaching them
English literature, also encouraged them to respect the traditions of their own
country.
Hearn’s legacy in terms of race and social consciousness is demonstrating the
need for tolerance of people of different races, nations and religions. And not
just to tolerate them, but to learn about them and get to know them as fellow
human beings. He also displayed the importance of helping those in need.
If he was speaking seriously to us, what do you think he would tell us? What
would you like to ask Lafcadio Hearn?
If he were alive today, I believe he would be appalled by the growth of racial
and religious bigotry in the United States and in many parts of the world. His
message to us would be a humanitarian one. He would tell us to be more tolerant,
respectful and empathetic toward other people, regardless of their race,
religion or national origin.
I would like to ask him a lot of questions about his Cincinnati years. He was
estranged from his great-aunt who raised him and knew of no other relatives. So,
the few letters he may have written while in Cincinnati didn’t survive. I would
like to know exactly how he spent his year in London, how long he stayed in New
York City after coming to America and exactly when he arrived in Cincinnati.
Do you have a dream project you'd most like to accomplish? What projects are you
working on at the moment?
I’ve written a literary biography of Hearn that is being considered by a
publisher. It’s not meant to be a massive, definitive biography. It’s more a
concisely written book that focuses as much on his development as a writer as
his personal growth from orphan to an internationally acclaimed writer. I look
forward to having this book published.
-