{"product_id":"9784805317600","title":"The Outsider: The Life and Work of Lafcadio Hearn","description":"Author: Steve Kemme\u003cbr\u003eISBN: 9784805317600\u003cbr\u003ePublisher: Berkeley Books\u003cbr\u003eYear first published: 12 Sep 2023\u003cbr\u003ePages: 272\u003cbr\u003eFormat: Hardback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBorn in Greece and abandoned as a child, Lafcadio Hearn lived the life of an exile. He travelled the world and became a famous writer but always felt like an outsider  in Dublin, London, Cincinnati, New Orleans, and French-speaking Martinique. To him, none of these places felt like home.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHearn\u0026amp;#x27;s life in America was punctuated by a string of successes and failures. In Cincinnati he became the city\u0026amp;#x27;s best-known crime reporter but was fired after marrying a black woman. Devastated, he moved to New Orleans, where he championed French Creole and Caribbean culture in pieces for \u003ci\u003eHarper\u0026amp;#x27;s\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eScribners\u003c\/i\u003e--and created a new image for the city as a place of voodoo and debauchery (the image which many Americans still hold today as a result).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHearn arrived in Japan at a time of historic change. Sent there as a correspondent for \u003ci\u003eHarper\u0026amp;#x27;s\u003c\/i\u003e, his commission was soon terminated over a dispute about pay. Alone and jobless, he settled in the remote town of Matsue, firmly believing that Japan would provide him with an endless supply of rich writing material--perhaps enough to last a lifetime. And he was right!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOver the next dozen years, Hearn published 15 books which were lauded by the likes of Mark Twain, William Butler Yeats, Albert Einstein and Charlie Chaplin. Hearn\u0026amp;#x27;s books on Japan made him famous as the leading writer on Japan and Japanese culture--a position he still occupies today.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis book recounts the many colourful episodes in Hearn\u0026amp;#x27;s life including:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHis troubled childhood in Greece and Ireland, and emigration to America with no job or money\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHis career as a popular newspaper writer and essayist in Cincinnati and New Orleans where he found great success but was never fully accepted\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHis journey to Japan where he became a Buddhist, married the daughter of a Samurai and took the Japanese name Yakumo Koizumi\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHearn\u0026amp;#x27;s worldwide fame as a writer, especially for his essays and books on ghosts, demons, monsters and the supernatural world of Japanese folklore\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cp\u003eAuthor Steve Kemme is president of the Lafcadio Hearn Society\/USA and a leading expert on Hearn\u0026amp;#x27;s life and writings. This book includes a foreword by Bon Koizumi, Hearn\u0026amp;#x27;s great-grandson and director of the Lafcadio Hearn Memorial Museum in Matsue, Japan, along with 30 family images which portray the pivotal people and places in Hearn\u0026amp;#x27;s amazing life.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u0026amp;#x27;Lafcadio Hearn understands contemporary Japan better, and makes us understand it better than any other writer, because he loves it better.\u0026amp;#x27;  \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eBasil Hall Chamberlain\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ships in 10 to 15 days","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46875664679070,"sku":"ADS-9784805317600","price":39.78,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0400\/9043\/5742\/files\/9784805317600.jpg?v=1779755254","url":"https:\/\/classicbargains.com.au\/products\/9784805317600","provider":"Classic Bargains Australia","version":"1.0","type":"link"}