The Life and Letters of Lafcadio Hearn, Volume 1

A biographical volume assembles extensive personal correspondence and fragments of memoir with a concise narrative that follows the subject from childhood through artistic apprenticeship to later maturity. The editor reproduces many letters in full while explaining selective redactions of business matters and private personalities, and includes a transcriber’s note describing corrections and editorial principles. Material is organized chronologically and supplemented with photographs and facsimiles, using the correspondence to illuminate the subject’s temperament, creative development, and recurring interests in travel, culture, and literary taste.