Lafcadio Hearn Correspondence

Biographical Note

Lafcadio Hearn was a writer during the closing decades of the nineteenth century and the opening years of the twentieth. His writings--fiction and nonfiction alike--typically drew on his firsthand observations of life in what were then considered exotic places: New Orleans, the West Indies, and Japan.

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.

Scope and Content Note

Collection #5
0.5 Linear Feet

This collection consists almost entirely of fifty-nine letters. Most of these are intact, but several are missing one or more pages. In addition, roughly half the letters are either undated or have only approximate dates; it seems likely, however, that with one or two exceptions they were all written between 1883 and 1905.

Of the fifty-nine letters, forty-five were written by Hearn to Page Baker. Baker was the editor of the Times-Democrat when Hearn worked for that newspaper; he was also a steadfast champion of Hearn's literary ambitions. Hearn wrote Baker from various places--New Orleans, Grand Isle in Louisiana, New York, the West Indies, and Japan. In these letters, which ranged from one paragraph to ten pages, Hearn touched on many subjects. Perhaps the most revealing passages concerned his work at the Times-Democrat, his literary efforts, his travels, and in several letters from Grand Isle, his dislike for Jews. Nine of the remaining letters or telegrams constitute correspondence between Baker and S. S. McClure of McClure's Magazine; written in 1895 and 1896, this correspondence discussed publication and syndication of pieces written by Hearn about Japan. Also of note, there is an apparent draft of a letter in which Baker related to Elizabeth Bisland-Wetmore--an early biographer of Hearn--his thoughts about Hearn.

The final four folders of this collection contain various types of material. One folder contains twenty-five envelopes, most of which were addressed to Baker by Hearn. Another contains a poem written in Hearn's hand. Another contains a five-page typed reminiscence about Hearn that is undated and unsigned. And the final folder contains two typescript duplicates of Hearn's letters to Baker.