Japanese tales of Lafcadio Hearn / edited and introduced by Andrei Codrescu ; with a forward by Jack Zipes.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

A collection of twenty-eight brilliant and strange stories, inspired by Japanese folk tales and written by renowned Western expatriate Lafcadio Hearn

Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904) was one of the nineteenth century's best-known writers, his name celebrated alongside those of Mark Twain and Robert Louis Stevenson. Born in Greece and raised in Ireland, Hearn was a true prodigy and world traveler. He worked as a reporter in Cincinnati, New Orleans, and the West Indies before heading to Japan in 1890 on a commission from Harper's . There, he married a Japanese woman from a samurai family, changed his name to Koizumi Yakumo, and became a Japanese subject. An avid collector of traditional Japanese tales, legends, and myths, Hearn taught literature and wrote his own tales for both Japanese and Western audiences. Japanese Tales of Lafcadio Hearn brings together twenty-eight of Hearn's strangest and most entertaining stories in one elegant volume.

Hearn's tales span a variety of genres. Many are fantastical ghost stories, such as "The Corpse-Rider," in which a man foils the attempts of his former wife's ghost to haunt him. Some are love stories in which the beloved is not what she appears to be: in "The Story of Aoyagi," a young samurai narrowly escapes the wrath of his lord for marrying without permission, only to discover that his wife is the spirit of a willow tree. Throughout this collection, Hearn's reverence for Japan shines through, and his stories provide insights into the country's artistic and cultural heritage.

With an introduction by Andrei Codrescu discussing Hearn's life and work, as well as a foreword by Jack Zipes, Japanese Tales of Lafcadio Hearn provides a unique window into one writer's multicultural literary journey.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Booklist Review

Hearn, contemporary of Mark Twain, traveler, and earned citizen of Japan, known there by his chosen name Koizumi Yakumo, elegantly brought the macabre and beautiful world of feudal Japan to Western audiences. This enjoyable collection of retold stories presents a lush and ancient world inhabited by ghosts, goblin heads, vengeful and regretful samurai, faceless maidens, and armies of the dead. Novelist and poet Codrescu provides a well-researched introduction to those unfamiliar with Hearn's literary legacy and noteworthy life. The real treasures of this volume, however, are the stories. Each is told as if around a campfire. with Hearn's factoids on Japanese culture thrown in hither and thither to supplement the entertainment. The importance of these astute stories is established when one considers the specific time in which Hearn reimagined them, the era in which Japan opened its ports to Western influence. These stories bridge Japanese folklore, from the ancient to the modern world, and their influence can be seen in Japanese cinema and read in manga serials. Scary, surreal, and utterly captivating.--Michael Ruzicka Copyright 2019 Booklist