Volume I Part 18 (1/2)

unrhymed, what the French call _vers assonances_ This corresponds exactly with your lines in breadth; also in tone, as the accent of the assonance is thrown upon the last syllable of each line

Very gratefully yours, L H

P S Just received another note froly thankful for the coht business is concerned, the credit ton to find any fault I suppose you receive the _Times-Democrat_ of New Orleans I forward last Sunday's issue, containing a little coonaut_

Very sincerely yours, LAFCADIO HEARN

TO JEROME A HART

NEW ORLEANS, December, 1882

DEAR SIR,--I venture to intrude upon you to ask a little advice, which as a brother-student of foreign literature you could probably give me better than any other person to whom I could apply I a and liberal-minded publishers, hom unknown authors have a better chance than with the austere and pious publishers of the East It would be a very great favour indeed, if you could give me some positive indication in this matter I desire to find a publisher for that excessively curious but somewhat audacious book, ”La Tentation de Saint Antoine,” of Flaubert, of which I have completed and corrected the MS translation You who know the original will probably agree with me that it would be little less than a literary crime to emasculate such a masterpiece in the translation I have translated almost every word of the Heresiarch dispute, and the soliloquy of the God Crepitus, etc

Consequently I have very little hopes of obtaining a publisher in New York or Boston Do you think I could obtain one in San Francisco? I would be willing to advance so,--if necessary

Trust you will pardon my intrusion I think the n literature is a fair excuse for my letter

With thanks for previous many kindnesses,

I remain, truly yours, LAFCADIO HEARN

TO JEROME A HART

NEW ORLEANS, January, 1883

DEAR SIR,--Writing to San Francisco seereat is the lapse of time consumed in the transit of mail-matter, especially when one is anxious I was quite so, fearing you ly pleasant reply has dispelled all apprehension

I am not surprised at the infor publishers in the United States is so colossal, and my hopes burned with a very diton,--as he is absent in Europe, perhaps he will undertake the publication; but I fear, inasmuch as he is a Methodist of the antique type, that he will not Now the holy _Observer_ declared that the ”Cleopatra” was a collection of ”stories of unbridled lust without the apology of natural passion;” that ”the translation reeked with the ton was ested the publication in English of ”Maderet that I cannot tell you anything about the fate of ”Cleopatra's Nights,” but the publisher preserves a peculiar and sinister silence in regard to it Perhaps he is sitting upon the stool of orthodox repentance Perhaps he is preparing to be generous But this I much doubt; and as the translations were published partly atthe fate of inal capital

Yes, I read the _Critic_--and considered that the observation on Gautier stultified the paper If the translator had been dissected by the same hand, I should not have felt very unhappy But I received some very nice private letters fro the for other translations froreatest, by far, of Flaubert's creations, because harmonious in all its plan and purpose, and because it introduces the reader into an unfa skill and verisimilitude It ritten, like ”La Tentation” I translated the prayer to the Moon for the preface to ”La Tentation” I sincerely trust you will translate it As for ti what system will accomplish If a man cannot spare an hour a day, he can certainly spare a half-hour I translated ”La Tentation” by thisa day to pass without an attee or two The work is audacious in parts; but I think nothing ought to be suppressed That serpent-scene, the crucified lions, the breaking of the chair of gold, the hideous battles about Carthage,--these pages contain pictures that ought not to ren museum

I pray you may translate ”Salammbo,”--a most difficult task, I fancy,--but one that you would certainly succeed admirably with In my preface I spoke of ”Salammbo” as the most wonderful of Flaubert's productions

”Herodias” is another story which ought to be translated But I would write too long a letter if I dilate upon the French ard to recent publications, I have noticed some extraordinary novels which have not earned the attention they deserve ”Le Roe de Loti” contains passages of wonderful and weird beauty These, with ”Aziyade,” are the productions of a French naval officer who signs himself Loti Think I shall try to translate the first-named next year

Verily the path of the translator is hard The Petersons and Estes & Lauriat are deluging the country with bogus translations or translations so unfaithful to the original that they reat American public like the stuff One who translates for the love of the original will probably have no reward save the satisfaction of creating so a masterpiece from desecration by less reverent bards But this is worth working for

With grateful thanks, and sincere hopes that you will not be deterred fro ”Salammbo” before some incompetent hand attempts it, I remain,

Sincerely, LAFCADIO HEARN

TO REV WAYLAND D BALL