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Shadowings
A menagerie of observation, philosophy, musing, and storytelling, Shadowings is quirky and charming, not unlike its author, transplanted Westerner Lafcadio Hearn. In this work, Hearn takes us from an ancient Japanese legend of love and spirits to an intimate contemplation on fear to a philosophical study of feminine Japanese names. Applying both his keen aesthetic eye and his uncanny ability to translate feelings as well as words, Hearn awakens the intellect and spirit, and offering us a prime view not only into his beloved adopted country, but into humanity itself. Bohemian and writer PATRICK LAFCADIO HEARN (1850-1904) was born in Greece, raised in Ireland, and worked as newspaper reporter in the United States before decamping to Japan. He also wrote In Ghostly Japan (1899), and Kwaidon (1904).
268 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1900
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About the author
Lafcadio Hearn
1,478 books454 followersGreek-born American writer Lafcadio Hearn spent 15 years in Japan; people note his collections of stories and essays, including
Kokoro
(1896), under pen name Koizumi Yakumo.
Rosa Cassimati (Ρόζα Αντωνίου Κασιμάτη in Greek), a Greek woman, bore Patrick Lafcadio Hearn (Πατρίκιος Λευκάδιος Χερν in Greek or 小泉八雲 in Japanese), a son, to Charles Hearn, an army doctor from Ireland. After making remarkable works in America as a journalist, he went to Japan in 1890 as a journey report writer of a magazine. He arrived in Yokohama, but because of a dissatisfaction with the contract, he quickly quit the job. He afterward moved to Matsué as an English teacher of Shimané prefectural middle school. In Matsué, he got acquainted with Nishida Sentarô, a colleague teacher and his lifelong friend, and married Koizumi Setsu, a daughter of a samurai.
In 1891, he moved to Kumamoto and taught at the fifth high school for three years. Kanô Jigorô, the president of the school of that time, spread judo to the world.
Hearn worked as a journalist in Kôbé and afterward in 1896 got Japanese citizenship and a new name, Koizumi Yakumo. He took this name from "Kojiki," a Japanese ancient myth, which roughly translates as "the place where the clouds are born". On that year, he moved to Tôkyô and began to teach at the Imperial University of Tôkyô. He got respect of students, many of whom made a remarkable literary career. In addition, he wrote much reports of Japan and published in America. So many people read his works as an introduction of Japan. He quit the Imperial University in 1903 and began to teach at Waseda University on the year next. Nevertheless, after only a half year, he died of angina pectoris.
Rosa Cassimati (Ρόζα Αντωνίου Κασιμάτη in Greek), a Greek woman, bore Patrick Lafcadio Hearn (Πατρίκιος Λευκάδιος Χερν in Greek or 小泉八雲 in Japanese), a son, to Charles Hearn, an army doctor from Ireland. After making remarkable works in America as a journalist, he went to Japan in 1890 as a journey report writer of a magazine. He arrived in Yokohama, but because of a dissatisfaction with the contract, he quickly quit the job. He afterward moved to Matsué as an English teacher of Shimané prefectural middle school. In Matsué, he got acquainted with Nishida Sentarô, a colleague teacher and his lifelong friend, and married Koizumi Setsu, a daughter of a samurai.
In 1891, he moved to Kumamoto and taught at the fifth high school for three years. Kanô Jigorô, the president of the school of that time, spread judo to the world.
Hearn worked as a journalist in Kôbé and afterward in 1896 got Japanese citizenship and a new name, Koizumi Yakumo. He took this name from "Kojiki," a Japanese ancient myth, which roughly translates as "the place where the clouds are born". On that year, he moved to Tôkyô and began to teach at the Imperial University of Tôkyô. He got respect of students, many of whom made a remarkable literary career. In addition, he wrote much reports of Japan and published in America. So many people read his works as an introduction of Japan. He quit the Imperial University in 1903 and began to teach at Waseda University on the year next. Nevertheless, after only a half year, he died of angina pectoris.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
June 17, 2011
This book really reminded me of the other Hearn book I've read Kwaidan which consisted of two sections: stories and essays (the essays were all about insects).
Shadowings on the other hand was three sections. Only the first section being Japanese horror folklore which is what I was really wanting to read. The other sections are, well, a little odd.
The second section is titled "Japanese Studies" and contains three essays - one on cicadas, one on female Japanese names, and one on old Japanese songs. The last one was really not my cup of tea, but the first two (particularly the name one) were interesting.
The last section is, like "Japanese Studies," his own writings (not translated from the Japanese). This section really did not appeal to me with the exception of his essay on Gothic Architecture being horrific.
Overall, an easy read and not a bad one but the collection seems a little odd/disjointed to me.
Shadowings on the other hand was three sections. Only the first section being Japanese horror folklore which is what I was really wanting to read. The other sections are, well, a little odd.
The second section is titled "Japanese Studies" and contains three essays - one on cicadas, one on female Japanese names, and one on old Japanese songs. The last one was really not my cup of tea, but the first two (particularly the name one) were interesting.
The last section is, like "Japanese Studies," his own writings (not translated from the Japanese). This section really did not appeal to me with the exception of his essay on Gothic Architecture being horrific.
Overall, an easy read and not a bad one but the collection seems a little odd/disjointed to me.
December 4, 2018
Lasca dio Hearn es el primer occidental que se enamoró de la cultura japonesa. En este libro "Sombras", nos describe diferentes aspectos de la los japoneses, como: los insectos, los nombres de las mujeres, canciones populares y algunas historias.
September 15, 2019
3.50 stars
I first read his Kokoro: Hints and Echos of Japanese Inner Life (Tuttle, 2005) followed by Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things (Tuttle, 2005) in 2016 with arguable enjoyment. Well-known as one of the first Japanophiles living in late 19th-century- early 20th-century Japan, he had a rough and tough life, deciding to settled in Japan after his marriage to a Japanese lady. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lafcadi...) As far as I recalled on his mentioned two books, his description and narration could be categorized as his typical writing due to, probably, the style of English as expressed around a century ago.
This book's contents cover three parts: STORIES FROM STRANGE BOOKS, JAPANESE STUDIES, and FANTASIES; the first part having six stories (The Reconciliation, A Legend of Fugen-Bosatsu, The Screen-Maiden, etc.), the second part three stories (Semi, Japanese Female Names, Old Japanese Songs), and the third part seven stories (Noctilucae, A Mystery of Crowds, Gothic Horror, etc.).
Having liked his first story in the first part, I would take his opening and closing paragraphs as exemplary texts with a brief interlude of my own so that you could better understand on his typical writing:
However, while working for years in the Governor's service, he found that his life with a new wife was not happy as expected. When he was free, he decided to send her wife back home and hurried back home in Kyoto without changing his traveling clothing. He was so surprised that he saw his former wife sewing by a paper-lamp. She cordially welcomed him with kind words, he kept asking her for forgiveness and eventually she prepared his bed in another room, soon he slept soundly all night till he woke up in the morning and, in a horror, found he slept by a corpse. And this is what someone told him when enquired.
To continue . . .
I first read his Kokoro: Hints and Echos of Japanese Inner Life (Tuttle, 2005) followed by Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things (Tuttle, 2005) in 2016 with arguable enjoyment. Well-known as one of the first Japanophiles living in late 19th-century- early 20th-century Japan, he had a rough and tough life, deciding to settled in Japan after his marriage to a Japanese lady. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lafcadi...) As far as I recalled on his mentioned two books, his description and narration could be categorized as his typical writing due to, probably, the style of English as expressed around a century ago.
This book's contents cover three parts: STORIES FROM STRANGE BOOKS, JAPANESE STUDIES, and FANTASIES; the first part having six stories (The Reconciliation, A Legend of Fugen-Bosatsu, The Screen-Maiden, etc.), the second part three stories (Semi, Japanese Female Names, Old Japanese Songs), and the third part seven stories (Noctilucae, A Mystery of Crowds, Gothic Horror, etc.).
Having liked his first story in the first part, I would take his opening and closing paragraphs as exemplary texts with a brief interlude of my own so that you could better understand on his typical writing:
THERE was a young Samurai of Kyoto who had been reduced to poverty by the ruin of his lord, and found himself obliged to leave his home, and to take service with the Governor of a distant province. Before quitting the capital, this Samurai divorced his wife, -- a good and beautiful woman, -- under the belief that he could better obtain promotion by another alliance. He then married the daughter of a family of some distinction, and took her with him to the district whither he had been called. (p. 5)
However, while working for years in the Governor's service, he found that his life with a new wife was not happy as expected. When he was free, he decided to send her wife back home and hurried back home in Kyoto without changing his traveling clothing. He was so surprised that he saw his former wife sewing by a paper-lamp. She cordially welcomed him with kind words, he kept asking her for forgiveness and eventually she prepared his bed in another room, soon he slept soundly all night till he woke up in the morning and, in a horror, found he slept by a corpse. And this is what someone told him when enquired.
"There is no one in that house," said the person questioned. "It used to belong to the wife of a Samurai who left the city several years ago. He divorced her in order to marry another woman before he went away; and she fretted a great deal, and so become sick. She had no relatives in Kyoto, and nobody to care for her; and she died in the autumn of the same year, -- on the tenth day of the ninth month. . . " (p. 11)
To continue . . .
November 3, 2011
This is a total hodgepodge, with a few ghost stories, some anthropological studies of aspects of Japanese culture, and some unrelated personal essays. But it's an INTERESTING hodgepodge, if you want to read a folkstory about a samurai returning to his wife only to find he's spent the night with a ghost, then learn about the meanings of popular Japanese given names for women, round it off with some reflections about why everyone has dreams in which they fly and the peculiar aspects of flying in dreams. Hearn was just such a fascinating guy! I have to admit I skipped a few of the personal essays and skimmed the piece about word choices in Japanese songs, because they did nothing for me.
July 13, 2020
Lafcadio Hearn escuchó juiciosamente todo lo que se hablaba y todo lo que cantaba en el bosque. Observó atentamente todo lo que lo rodeaba. Interiorizó todo sonido, todo dato y lo estudió para luego documentarlo y
salvarlo del tiempo y el olvido. Resultado, un libro íntimo.
En un intento de traducción (recordando que toda traducción es una interpretación), aproxima al hombre occidental a la naturaleza de las cosas en Japón, recordando que allí todo tiene un espíritu, que allí todo es un poco más. Podemos entender el idioma pero esto no nos garantiza que entendamos el código, el real significado.
Estos textos son ejercicios de memoria, observación científica; una entomología poética, etnográfico.
La belleza de una pintura; el amor de los amantes; el amor de una esposa repudiada y abandonada que traspasa el reino de la muerte para volver a estar con su esposo; los insectos y su canto (el canto de la cigarra que va en crecento), el detalle de sus cantos y las poesías que hablan de ellas para bien, para mal o de forma cómica.
El significado de los nombres femeninos donde la belleza moral está por encima de la belleza física y donde Occidente invirtió el orden, se es bello por lo que se es y no por como se es, olvidando que la apariencia física es solo accidental y caduca.
En un intento de traducción (recordando que toda traducción es una interpretación), aproxima al hombre occidental a la naturaleza de las cosas en Japón, recordando que allí todo tiene un espíritu, que allí todo es un poco más. Podemos entender el idioma pero esto no nos garantiza que entendamos el código, el real significado.
Estos textos son ejercicios de memoria, observación científica; una entomología poética, etnográfico.
La belleza de una pintura; el amor de los amantes; el amor de una esposa repudiada y abandonada que traspasa el reino de la muerte para volver a estar con su esposo; los insectos y su canto (el canto de la cigarra que va en crecento), el detalle de sus cantos y las poesías que hablan de ellas para bien, para mal o de forma cómica.
El significado de los nombres femeninos donde la belleza moral está por encima de la belleza física y donde Occidente invirtió el orden, se es bello por lo que se es y no por como se es, olvidando que la apariencia física es solo accidental y caduca.
March 25, 2022
Hearn's seventh book on Japan, published in 1900, consisting of three sections: stories from "strange books," "Japanese studies," and "Fantasies." Among the 6 stories, the best one is "The Reconciliation, a short horror story that was used as one of the four stories in the film Kwaidan. In the film this segment is called "Black Hair": a samurai has divorced his wife to make a better match in another town. Years later he returns to his first wife - she has kept her gorgeous black hair, but there is also something strange about her... Another good story is "The Corpse-rider", in which the dead body of a revengeful woman has to be subdued by riding it a whole night long while grabbing her hair.
Among the "Japanese studies" the essay on "semi," the Japanese cicada and its lore, is of interest, as Hearn also gives a smattering of haiku about semi.
But that is it as far as I am concerned. The other essays, about female names and old songs are of much lesser interest - the one on female names just gives long lists of names, Hearn should have shortened it and picked up a few interesting names as examples instead. The "Fantasies" contain some fears of the supernatural - in "Gothic Horror" a literal fear of Gothic architecture and its "pointed" style, which later would remind Hearn of palm trees. In all, this anthology is a step down from its predecessor, In Ghostly Japan: Spooky Stories with the Folklore, Superstitions and Traditions of Old Japan.
Also see my website https://adblankestijn.blogspot.com/.
Among the "Japanese studies" the essay on "semi," the Japanese cicada and its lore, is of interest, as Hearn also gives a smattering of haiku about semi.
But that is it as far as I am concerned. The other essays, about female names and old songs are of much lesser interest - the one on female names just gives long lists of names, Hearn should have shortened it and picked up a few interesting names as examples instead. The "Fantasies" contain some fears of the supernatural - in "Gothic Horror" a literal fear of Gothic architecture and its "pointed" style, which later would remind Hearn of palm trees. In all, this anthology is a step down from its predecessor, In Ghostly Japan: Spooky Stories with the Folklore, Superstitions and Traditions of Old Japan.
Also see my website https://adblankestijn.blogspot.com/.
February 16, 2020
This book contains enchanting stories and essays on a variety of topics. Lafcadio is a hidden gem of an author who I think should be taught in school classrooms alongside a Poe or Irving. I would have honestly rated it a 4 out of 5 were it not for the piece titled "Readings From A Dream Book". This single story changed my life at a pivotal time of my spiritual development. It consists of dialogues with a man's subconscious concerning the unknowable and numinous aspect of the universe. I think I'll leave a quote from it here
"The stones and the rocks have felt; the winds have been breath and speech; the rivers and oceans of earth have been locked into chambers of hearts. And the palingenesis cannot cease till every cosmic particle shall have passed through the uttermost possible experience of the highest possible life."
"But what of the planetary core?—has that, too, felt and thought?"
"Even so surely as that all flesh has been sun-fire! In the ceaseless succession of integrations and dissolutions, all things have shifted relation and place numberless billions of times. Hearts of old moons will make the surface of future worlds...."
A rewarding read indeed.
"The stones and the rocks have felt; the winds have been breath and speech; the rivers and oceans of earth have been locked into chambers of hearts. And the palingenesis cannot cease till every cosmic particle shall have passed through the uttermost possible experience of the highest possible life."
"But what of the planetary core?—has that, too, felt and thought?"
"Even so surely as that all flesh has been sun-fire! In the ceaseless succession of integrations and dissolutions, all things have shifted relation and place numberless billions of times. Hearts of old moons will make the surface of future worlds...."
A rewarding read indeed.
March 24, 2016
Like the last book I read of Mr. Hearn, 1CKwaidan 1D, this book starts out with a interesting and fun sampling of Japanese ghost stories and folk tales. About 1/5 of the way through the book, we meander off to other things. Essays on cicadas, the first names of women in japan, and a fine selection of poetry and songs. All charming, if not a bit dull.
The section called 18Fantasies 19 is really just Mr. Hearn meandering on paper about various topics that strike his fancy. Nothing awful, occasionally very insightful, but most often dull. The returns diminish as you proceed through this book, but overall it is an enjoyable ride.
Added bonus for Art Bell peeps: Shadow People!
The section called 18Fantasies 19 is really just Mr. Hearn meandering on paper about various topics that strike his fancy. Nothing awful, occasionally very insightful, but most often dull. The returns diminish as you proceed through this book, but overall it is an enjoyable ride.
Added bonus for Art Bell peeps: Shadow People!
April 5, 2019
Breve acercamiento a algunas creencias de la cultura japonesa. La edición es muy bonita, con notas al pie y con algunos haikus. No es una gran lectura pero es interesante, ya que muestra aspectos como el significado de los nombres; el porqué son tan importantes las cigarras; habla del amor; algunos fantasmas y otras cosas.
November 12, 2024
Siguiendo con la colección de cuentos de Lafcadio Hearn, en esta ocasión tocó "Shadowings". Me gustó mucho su narración y estilo cuando leí "In Ghostly Japan", se nota el amor de Lafcadio Hearn por la mitología japonesa. Se nota esa pasión por inmortalizar leyendas, fragmentos y elementos de Japón. En esta ocasión con Shadowings, también tiene historias que considero memorables pero creo que no me pegaron tan fuerte como la anterior selección de cuentos. En esta ocasión son relatos menos fatídicos y con menos elementos del horror tradicional japonés, así que se disfrutan como relatos curiosos del Japón clásico.
🏮La reconciliación: Buen relato para empezar y creo que es una obra que refleja bastante bien el refrán "no sabes lo que tienes hasta que lo pierdes". Es bastante directo y sorpresivo en su mensaje, creo que la virtud del autor es en esa simpleza en crear imágenes tan impactantes que a cualquiera con una imaginación ávida le perturbaría.
🏮 Una leyenda de Fugen Bosatsu: ni fu ni fa, una leyenda y ya sobre un sacerdorte y la divinidad que se esconde en una cortesana. No cuenta una historia como tal, es solo un relato. Tampoco creo que sea memorable por el hecho de que no hay una trama que seguir ni algo impactante que contar.
🏮 La doncella del cuadro: sí estuvo interesante. Este tema de la belleza encapsulada en un cuadro y un amante hipnotizado por lo retratado en el cuadro es un concepto bastante llamativo. No es que no me gustara que terminara bien pero esperaba algo más tétrico. Si te gustan las historias de fantasmas con final feliz, este es
🏮 El jinete de cadáveres: o sea sí, estuvo perturbador imaginar la idea de pasar la noche en esa posición junto el cadáver de tu ex esposa. Creo que acá noto prejuicios sobre los divorcios, pero al final terminó demasiado bien para lo que esperaba. Entonces no me termina de encantar, pero no deja de ser interesante
🏮 La compasión de benten: se me hizo el más meh. Porque acaba bien y ya.
🏮 La gratitud del samébito: me gustó la relación que formó el prota con el samébito, creo que es de las más tiernas y te lo podrías imaginar perfectamente como un slice of life ambientado en el Japón costeño, me dio esas vibras. Termina bien y no tengo más que decir.
Seguiré con los cuentos de Lafcadio Hearn que se incluyeron en la edición de Kwaidan de Valdemar, así que seguiré actualizando.
🏮La reconciliación: Buen relato para empezar y creo que es una obra que refleja bastante bien el refrán "no sabes lo que tienes hasta que lo pierdes". Es bastante directo y sorpresivo en su mensaje, creo que la virtud del autor es en esa simpleza en crear imágenes tan impactantes que a cualquiera con una imaginación ávida le perturbaría.
🏮 Una leyenda de Fugen Bosatsu: ni fu ni fa, una leyenda y ya sobre un sacerdorte y la divinidad que se esconde en una cortesana. No cuenta una historia como tal, es solo un relato. Tampoco creo que sea memorable por el hecho de que no hay una trama que seguir ni algo impactante que contar.
🏮 La doncella del cuadro: sí estuvo interesante. Este tema de la belleza encapsulada en un cuadro y un amante hipnotizado por lo retratado en el cuadro es un concepto bastante llamativo. No es que no me gustara que terminara bien pero esperaba algo más tétrico. Si te gustan las historias de fantasmas con final feliz, este es
🏮 El jinete de cadáveres: o sea sí, estuvo perturbador imaginar la idea de pasar la noche en esa posición junto el cadáver de tu ex esposa. Creo que acá noto prejuicios sobre los divorcios, pero al final terminó demasiado bien para lo que esperaba. Entonces no me termina de encantar, pero no deja de ser interesante
🏮 La compasión de benten: se me hizo el más meh. Porque acaba bien y ya.
🏮 La gratitud del samébito: me gustó la relación que formó el prota con el samébito, creo que es de las más tiernas y te lo podrías imaginar perfectamente como un slice of life ambientado en el Japón costeño, me dio esas vibras. Termina bien y no tengo más que decir.
Seguiré con los cuentos de Lafcadio Hearn que se incluyeron en la edición de Kwaidan de Valdemar, así que seguiré actualizando.
February 1, 2022
Leer esto fue una experiencia bizarra.
Mi calificación en realidad es en extremo subjetiva en esta ocasión. Me sentí demasiado parcial por la temática del texto. Pero que puedo decir, desde que era niño desarrollé un extraño amor por Japón.
Se de sobra de su historia y sus matices, de sus innombrables pecados, de sus muchas neurosis. Pero no puedo evitar sentirme atraído por él.
Ocurre que Lafcadio Hearn sintió lo mismo pero en una potencia que abruma. Y quedé encantado con el resultado.
Fue como haberme reunido con un viejo amigo que no sabía que conocía, quedando en un café por la tarde para que se dejase llevar en esa pasión por el lugar sujeta a las convenciones sociales. Hablando sobre nombres, etimología, relatos y hasta cigarras. Y como la cosa se iba poniendo cada vez más nipona decidimos mover la reunión a un bar, en donde a altas horas de la madrugada, el buen hombre me terminó relatando sus más profundo sentir, pensar así como sus terrores y creencias como lo haría un verdadero amigo de la infancia.
En resumen, este libro no lo puedo recomendar a cualquiera. Incluso no a aquellos que están acostumbrados a sus relatos y que piensan que van a encontrar más de eso aquí. No, aquí hay otro tipo de talento, hay oro pero es muy sutil.
Mi calificación en realidad es en extremo subjetiva en esta ocasión. Me sentí demasiado parcial por la temática del texto. Pero que puedo decir, desde que era niño desarrollé un extraño amor por Japón.
Se de sobra de su historia y sus matices, de sus innombrables pecados, de sus muchas neurosis. Pero no puedo evitar sentirme atraído por él.
Ocurre que Lafcadio Hearn sintió lo mismo pero en una potencia que abruma. Y quedé encantado con el resultado.
Fue como haberme reunido con un viejo amigo que no sabía que conocía, quedando en un café por la tarde para que se dejase llevar en esa pasión por el lugar sujeta a las convenciones sociales. Hablando sobre nombres, etimología, relatos y hasta cigarras. Y como la cosa se iba poniendo cada vez más nipona decidimos mover la reunión a un bar, en donde a altas horas de la madrugada, el buen hombre me terminó relatando sus más profundo sentir, pensar así como sus terrores y creencias como lo haría un verdadero amigo de la infancia.
En resumen, este libro no lo puedo recomendar a cualquiera. Incluso no a aquellos que están acostumbrados a sus relatos y que piensan que van a encontrar más de eso aquí. No, aquí hay otro tipo de talento, hay oro pero es muy sutil.
January 3, 2024
A good book to end the year with. Lafcadio Hearn, for me, constantly surprises and pleases. Shadowings begins with a few stories, mostly of the supernatural category. Then it launches into a series of observational studies/essays. A lengthy diagnosis of female Japanese name origins and construction is probably the least satisfying but still contains numerous insights and poetic/social/etymological connections, particularly in the footnotes. And there is the essay on Japanese cicadas. I doubt anyone other than Lafcadio Hearn is capable of making a discourse on the different Japanese cicadas so appealing. He does so not only through description but in an analysis of the poems written around the appearance, sounds, husks, and departure of the insects. Finally, Shadowings ends with a series of freewheeling essays. Two in particular are memorable: Hearn's study of street crowds and how they move like herds and avoid collisions; and his "Gothic Horror" article, which ends up comparing giant tropical palms to the spires and arches of Gothic architecture meeting at a sharp point. Both he says reflect the energy of organic life and thus have a sort of ghostly presence to them. As I say, only Hearn.
June 20, 2022
Charming and interesting while talking about Japan, but the rest of the book was just a lot of me going "what's your point?" My man here goes on about actual REM type dreams and I just have so many other books to read.
July 27, 2024
Es un muy buen libro que recoge gran parte de la cultura japonesa. En mi caso escuché el audio libro. Me resultaron algo tediosas las listas de nombres y sus significados así cómo las baladas. Quizá si lo hubiese leído ésta sección hubiese sido más amena.
January 20, 2022
As with Kwaidan, which I've read earlier, but which was written later, Shadowings consists partly of Japanese folktales recounted by Lafcadio Hearn for his Anglophonic audience ("Stories From Strange Books"), partly of essays on elements of Japanese culture heretofore (for his time) obscure to the West ("Japanese Studies"), and a selection of quasi-prose-poetic musings ("Fantasies"). My thoughts on this book align very much with my thoughts on Kwaidan: the folk stories are interesting, if not feeling too "detached" per Hearn's narration; the semi-scientific essays aren't terribly thrilling; and the last set are absolutely brilliant and more or less "carry" the entire book.
The shittiest part of how I read this book was that I ended up taking a break of several weeks after reading the "Stories From Strange Books" section. The consequence is that I cannot recall those stories as well as I do the later essays. "The Reconciliation" holds in my mind for its adaptation in Masaki Kobayashi's 1965 film adaptation of Hearn's writings. "The Gratitude of the Samebito" I remember well... because it's actually where I picked back up when resuming the book. It happens to be a favorite of mine among the pieces collected herein, but I wonder if that might just be because I read it closer in Time to the day I finally finished the book and began writing on it here.
The essay on cicadas reads as a very minimal encyclopedia, with most entries being about how Hearn doesn't know precisely why the people of certain regions in Japan call certain cicadas by certain names, followed by trying to transcribe their cries in onomatopoeia. The essay on girls' names is interesting if only as a snapshot of a certain period of time; Hearn mentions how the suffix "-chan" had started to come up in some regions, which would go on to become far more common in the contemporary age. Otherwise, it's just a bunch of Japanese words and their English-translated definitions, which isn't terribly fun to read. The poems collected in the "Old Japanese Songs" section are quite nice, but I feel too much book-space is wasted transcribing Romaji lyrics for many of the songs.
The "Fantasies" are probably better (to me) than anything written in Kwaidan, and are worth the price of admission (which is $0 because I read this on archive.org, but I'll likely buy a physical copy eventually). In particular, I most enjoy "A Mystery of Crowds," "Levitation," and "In a Pair of Eyes," though that's not to say the others are "inferior" (though I do wish "Gothic Horror" ended up being about the genre...). "A Mystery of Crowds" makes me slightly nostalgic for my earlier college years, during which time my buds and I would go on walks with frequency, though the sense of nostalgia is compromised (ordinarily, I would capitalize the "N," which I've not done here) because I never really walked about in densely-populated areas, and would generally prefer not to. Regardless, the essay calls to mind Modern ideas of the "flâneur," about which I think my old friends and I recontextualized into a post-Kaczynski cynicism-through-wistful-Romanticism, which is a feeling I believe applies to much of Hearn's writing. "Levitation," more naively, reminds me why I like Spider-Man so much; Hearn's description of bounding through the streets of his dreams to drift slowly back to the surface illustrated itself as Spidey's web-swinging, appealing to my Nostalgia for childhood "heroes," but also recalling a dream I had when I was four in which I remember jumping in slow-motion down a staircase in our flat (Hearn mentions how a handful of his acquaintances levitated in dreams from the top of stairs). "In a Pair of Eyes" might link my feelings of the previous two essays together; I'm Nostalgic for similar phenomena as portrayed in this essay, but I often find myself believing it is now "too late" for the like (I think in the sense that I'm "too old" for such ephemera, where maybe I wasn't a short couple of years ago, but today find my primary motivation more like "getting someone to share the burden of rent payments"), Time was wasted in the past, and so Time can no longer be anything but wasted going forward. I'm sure this was not Hearn's intent in writing that essay. Somewhat related, bits of each of the "Fantasies" (not just those I've written about) made me yearn to return to The Book of Disquiet, which is a very different book in many ways, but perhaps has some similarity in Soul with what Hearn may idealize in his "Fantasies."
The shittiest part of how I read this book was that I ended up taking a break of several weeks after reading the "Stories From Strange Books" section. The consequence is that I cannot recall those stories as well as I do the later essays. "The Reconciliation" holds in my mind for its adaptation in Masaki Kobayashi's 1965 film adaptation of Hearn's writings. "The Gratitude of the Samebito" I remember well... because it's actually where I picked back up when resuming the book. It happens to be a favorite of mine among the pieces collected herein, but I wonder if that might just be because I read it closer in Time to the day I finally finished the book and began writing on it here.
The essay on cicadas reads as a very minimal encyclopedia, with most entries being about how Hearn doesn't know precisely why the people of certain regions in Japan call certain cicadas by certain names, followed by trying to transcribe their cries in onomatopoeia. The essay on girls' names is interesting if only as a snapshot of a certain period of time; Hearn mentions how the suffix "-chan" had started to come up in some regions, which would go on to become far more common in the contemporary age. Otherwise, it's just a bunch of Japanese words and their English-translated definitions, which isn't terribly fun to read. The poems collected in the "Old Japanese Songs" section are quite nice, but I feel too much book-space is wasted transcribing Romaji lyrics for many of the songs.
The "Fantasies" are probably better (to me) than anything written in Kwaidan, and are worth the price of admission (which is $0 because I read this on archive.org, but I'll likely buy a physical copy eventually). In particular, I most enjoy "A Mystery of Crowds," "Levitation," and "In a Pair of Eyes," though that's not to say the others are "inferior" (though I do wish "Gothic Horror" ended up being about the genre...). "A Mystery of Crowds" makes me slightly nostalgic for my earlier college years, during which time my buds and I would go on walks with frequency, though the sense of nostalgia is compromised (ordinarily, I would capitalize the "N," which I've not done here) because I never really walked about in densely-populated areas, and would generally prefer not to. Regardless, the essay calls to mind Modern ideas of the "flâneur," about which I think my old friends and I recontextualized into a post-Kaczynski cynicism-through-wistful-Romanticism, which is a feeling I believe applies to much of Hearn's writing. "Levitation," more naively, reminds me why I like Spider-Man so much; Hearn's description of bounding through the streets of his dreams to drift slowly back to the surface illustrated itself as Spidey's web-swinging, appealing to my Nostalgia for childhood "heroes," but also recalling a dream I had when I was four in which I remember jumping in slow-motion down a staircase in our flat (Hearn mentions how a handful of his acquaintances levitated in dreams from the top of stairs). "In a Pair of Eyes" might link my feelings of the previous two essays together; I'm Nostalgic for similar phenomena as portrayed in this essay, but I often find myself believing it is now "too late" for the like (I think in the sense that I'm "too old" for such ephemera, where maybe I wasn't a short couple of years ago, but today find my primary motivation more like "getting someone to share the burden of rent payments"), Time was wasted in the past, and so Time can no longer be anything but wasted going forward. I'm sure this was not Hearn's intent in writing that essay. Somewhat related, bits of each of the "Fantasies" (not just those I've written about) made me yearn to return to The Book of Disquiet, which is a very different book in many ways, but perhaps has some similarity in Soul with what Hearn may idealize in his "Fantasies."
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