Extracts from reviews of Concerning Lafcadio Hearn by George M. Gould, M.D.

Date:
[1908]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Extracts from reviews of Concerning Lafcadio Hearn by George M. Gould, M.D. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    EXTRACTS FROM REVIEWS GF ConcernMg LAfcadio Hearn V® ; BY / ^/ GEORGE M.^pCl^, M.D. WITH A BIBLIOGkAPHY^^AURA STEDMAN 12mo. Cloth, Gilt Top, with 6 Portraits of Hearn. PRICE, $1.50 NET GEORGE W. JACOBS & CO., PHILADELPHIA D.r. Gould’s book is neither a biography nor a critical essay, but a causerie written with the fullest knowledge and insight. Blind neither to Hearn’s defects of character nor to his literary ability, he judges him with impartiality and justice, and he leaves us with a profound pity for a man whose life was marred by sightlessness and lovelessness.—London Times. Dr. Gould’s book supplements Miss Bisland’s'“Life and Letters” by a volume valuable both for its documents and for its criticism. It reproduces not a few early and neglected specimens of Hearn’s writings, makes epitomes of all of his books, and selects appreciations of them from leading reviews, and in its original chapters provides a full account of the facts of his odd career and an estimate of his char- acter and his literary faculty which cannot but enlighten anyone who has felt the charm of his writing and wishes to reason it out. The book will be read with a keen interest by all who are curious to understand the character of the best,of the writers who have interpreted Japan to the English- speaking world.—Scotsman. Dr. Gould’s book is a necessity to those who think it worth while to study Hearn’s paradoxical personality.—The Christian World, Sept. 17, 1908. Without any exception, Dr. Gould’s new book, “Concerning Lafcadio Hearn,” is the most important contribution to literary biography and interpretation of the year, and the many readers of Hearn who have been waiting for it will be well repaid for their impatience. The book might never have been written had it not been for the errors and omissions of the “Life and Letters,” and while all who uphold high standards of literary accuracy and tactful editing have regretted the inadequacy of Miss Bisland’s work, they have reason to be thankful that the author of the present volume was moved thereby to persevere in his undertaking. It will be obvious at once that Dr. Gould’s researches into the life and ante- cedents of Hearn had led him to results which had not altogether been anticipated; but like a true searcher for truth he has not hesitated to follow it whithersoever it led him. It gives an illuminating insight into the influences, external and internal, which combine to form Hearn’s character, and, in addition, the first adequate summary and epitomes of Hearn’s various writings. Dr. Gould’s admiration of Hearn’s inter- pretative and illuminating work in Japan, and of the quality of his translations, is warm and unqualified, but it does not prevent him from seeing the truth about the limitations of the man’s genius or the defects of his personal character. It is the elucidation of this enigma that Dr. Gould set himself, and his success will be heartily conceded.