Lafcadio Hearn Correspondence

Hearn was born on June 27, 1850 on the Greek island of Leucadia.  His father, an Irishman, was a surgeon in the British army; his mother was Greek. In 1852 Hearn was taken to Ireland to live with his father's family.  When his parents divorced several years later, he remained in Ireland under the care of a great-aunt.  He was educated at Catholic boarding schools in France and England.             In 1869 at the age of nineteen, Hearn moved to the United States.  He eventually settled in Cincinnati, where he worked as a journalist, first for the Enquirer and then for the Commercial.  In 1877 he moved to New Orleans where he continued working for newspapers-- first joining the staff of the Item and then in 1881 becoming literary editor of the Times-Democrat.  As a journalist and as author of several books--notably, Gombo Zhebes, La Cuisine Creole, and Chita--Hearn wrote perceptively and with flair about the Creole culture of New Orleans and southern Louisiana.             In 1887 Hearn left the Crescent City, but his desire to live in and write about exotic places endured for the rest of his life.  After a brief stay in New York, he traveled to the West Indies and took up residence in Martinique. His observations of the local Creole culture found expression in journalism and in two books, Youma and Two Years in the French West Indies.  In 1889 he left the Caribbean and returned to the northeastern United States.  Roughly a year later, in the spring of 1890, he departed for Japan. There he immersed himself in Japanese culture--marrying a Japanese woman, taking Japanese citizenship, and teaching at a Japanese university.  And there he enjoyed his most prolific literary period.  Spurred on by his keen interest in his adopted country, he wrote numerous books and articles.  This output established his reputation as a major interpreter of Japan to the West.  Hearn died in Japan on September 26, 1904.

Note written by