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Japanese Ghost Stories
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Description
A selection of Lafcadio Hearn's brilliantly entertaining and eerie ghost stories, regarded as major classics in Japan.
In this collection of classic ghost stories from Japan, beautiful princesses turn out to be frogs, paintings come alive, deadly spectral brides haunt the living, and a samurai delivers the baby of a Shinto goddess with mystical help. Here are all the phantoms and ghouls of Japanese folkloreโ'rokuro-kubi', whose heads separate from their bodies at night; 'jikininki', or flesh-eating goblins; and terrifying faceless 'mujina' who haunt lonely neighbourhoods.
Lafcadio Hearn, a master storyteller, drew on traditional Japanese folklore, infused with memories of his own haunted childhood in Ireland, to create these chilling tales. They are today regarded in Japan as classics in their own right.
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Lafcadio Hearn's Japanese Ghost Stories, compiled by Paul Murray, is praised for providing a comprehensive journey through Hearn's supernatural writings, showcasing his unique transformation of Japanese originals into distinct tales shaped by his personal experiences. The collection is noted for its postmodern flair and idiosyncratic style, rendering ancient stories highly readable for contemporary audiences. The mood of wonder pervades the book, blending ordinary life with the supernatural, enhanced by Murray's insightful introduction and contextual information about Hearn's influences and life.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9780241381274
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 25 July 2019
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Penguin Classics
Contributors:
- Edited by Paul Murray
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 16.0mm
Width: 129.0mm
Height: 197.0mm
Weight: 203g
Pages: 272
About the Author
The improbable life story of Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904) included a peculiarly gothic childhood in Ireland during which he was successively abandoned by his mother, his father and his guardian; two decades in the United States, where he worked as a journalist and was sacked for marrying a former slave; and a long period in Japan, where he married a Japanese woman and wrote about Japanese society and aesthetics for a Western readership. His ghost stories, which were drawn from Japanese folklore and influenced by Buddhist beliefs, appeared in collections throughout the 1890s and 1900s. He is a much celebrated figure in Japan. Paul Murray is the author of biographies of Lafcadio Hearn and Bram Stoker, and the editor of collections of Hearn's work. He is a former Irish diplomat whose posting to Japan in the late 1970s first ignited his interest in Hearn.
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