Omschrijving
"When not penning his observations, travels and historico-cultural analysis, Hearn switches to passages of novelistic invention, as if crafting an inspirational gothic fantasy out of Japan that will take him to the heart ("kokoro") of the mystery of human existence." --The Japan Times
"When not penning his observations, travels and historico-cultural analysis, Hearn switches to passages of novelistic invention, as if crafting an inspirational gothic fantasy out of Japan that will take him to the heart ("kokoro") of the mystery of human existence." --The Japan Times
"Many of the essays in Kokoro are informed by Hearn's preoccupation and fascination with Japan's headlong rush to catch up with the West. Now, 125 years later, his heartfelt reflections on the psyche of a nation in a time of transition still captivate the reader." --The Japan Times
"This book is a brilliant analysis of the collective Japanese heart from an honest outsider's perspective…Hearn's prose is as vivid as it gets. He writes in a way that reads like fiction--as if life simply couldnÆt be as beautiful as he describes…" --Dominique Jardiolin, "Chroniqled" bookstagram
Lafcadio Hearn was one of the earliest foreign writers to publish stories and essays about Japan in English. Arriving in 1890, he taught English literature and began publishing books on Japan in 1894, soon becoming known as the most perceptive interpreter of all things Japanese to the West. His books on Japan include Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan, Kwaidan and In Ghostly Japan.
Patricia Welch is a professor of Japanese and Comparative Literature in the Department of Comparative Comparative Literature, Languages, and Linguistics at Hofstra University.