Lafcadio Hearn

Christopher Benfey

The writings of Hearn's American years reveal an omnivorous curiosity and an always eclectic sensibility. Some Chinese Ghosts (1887) is a stylized retelling of ancient legends, foreshadowing Hearn's later fascination with Asian themes. The exquisitely crafted novels Chita (1889), about the devastation wrought by a Louisiana hurricane, and Youma (1890) about a slave rebellion in Martinique, epitomize his writing at its most luxuriantly romantic. His extraordinary travel book Two Years in the French West Indies (1890) provides a richly impressionistic account of his long stay on Martinique and other Caribbean islands.

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