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A review by mediaevalmuse
Japanese Ghost Stories by Lafcadio Hearn
4.0
I picked up this book on a whim. I saw it at a book store, and I generally like Penguin Classics, so I figured I'd expand on my knowledge of spooky stuff and give Japanese Ghost Stories a whirl.
Overall, I think this is a good collection, particularly because it focuses on the work of one historic writer/translator: Lafcadio Hearn. I didn't know anything about him going into this book, but the introduction gives readers a pretty good overview about his life, so I found it very helpful. The intro also helped me to orient myself in the time period and literary movements in which Hearn was working and reminded me that what we're reading isn't necessarily Japanese literature written by Japanese people (though it kind of is), but a late 19th-early 20th century translator's interpretation of Japanese tales. While we may have some qualms over who is allowed to tell what stories, I do think studying the work of translators like Hearn tells us something about the literary movements of the time and the way Orientalism may or may not function, so for that, this book is incredibly useful.
But that being said, I can't say I walked away with a greater understanding of Japanese folklore. I gleaned what I could through osmosis, but I found it very difficult to understand certain parts of the tales because information is split between footnotes and endnotes. There also wasn't a lot of critical apparata to help assist me with putting Hearn's work in a Japanese context, so it was difficult to connect individual stories to particular aspects of Japanese history or culture. Perhaps this is beyond the scope of the book, though, because it's not really a collection of Japanese Ghost Stories but a collection of Hearn's Japanese Ghost Stories. I think that distinction is important and will affect how readers approach this volume.
TL;DR: Japanese Ghost Stories is a good collection of tales that focuses on the translation work of a single author at the turn of the century. While the Penguin edition offers little in terms of critical support and can be difficult to read because of the split between footnotes and endnotes, overall, the selection is good and each tale is short enough for readers to get a quick scare between other reads or at free moments throughout the day.
Overall, I think this is a good collection, particularly because it focuses on the work of one historic writer/translator: Lafcadio Hearn. I didn't know anything about him going into this book, but the introduction gives readers a pretty good overview about his life, so I found it very helpful. The intro also helped me to orient myself in the time period and literary movements in which Hearn was working and reminded me that what we're reading isn't necessarily Japanese literature written by Japanese people (though it kind of is), but a late 19th-early 20th century translator's interpretation of Japanese tales. While we may have some qualms over who is allowed to tell what stories, I do think studying the work of translators like Hearn tells us something about the literary movements of the time and the way Orientalism may or may not function, so for that, this book is incredibly useful.
But that being said, I can't say I walked away with a greater understanding of Japanese folklore. I gleaned what I could through osmosis, but I found it very difficult to understand certain parts of the tales because information is split between footnotes and endnotes. There also wasn't a lot of critical apparata to help assist me with putting Hearn's work in a Japanese context, so it was difficult to connect individual stories to particular aspects of Japanese history or culture. Perhaps this is beyond the scope of the book, though, because it's not really a collection of Japanese Ghost Stories but a collection of Hearn's Japanese Ghost Stories. I think that distinction is important and will affect how readers approach this volume.
TL;DR: Japanese Ghost Stories is a good collection of tales that focuses on the translation work of a single author at the turn of the century. While the Penguin edition offers little in terms of critical support and can be difficult to read because of the split between footnotes and endnotes, overall, the selection is good and each tale is short enough for readers to get a quick scare between other reads or at free moments throughout the day.