Volume II Part 32 (2/2)
DEAR McDONALD,--I et soive ood an opinion of myself A reverse state of mind is, on the whole, much better for the writer,--I mean for any professional writer
I believe all that you wish enerous call--but, if friend McDonald does not think my house a poor rat-trap, that is because friend McDonald has not yet discovered what a beautiful japanese house is like Letso dainty, so wonderful, that only by custom can one cease to be afraid to walk about in it
Yes, as you sur The professional writer, however se of literary possibilities; and I _know_ that what you wish cannot be done by any Western writer with the least hope of success It has been extensively tried--alith the result of failure The best attempt, perhaps, was the effort of Judith Gautier,--a very delicate French writer; but it did not succeed As for ”A Muramasa Blade,” ”Mito Yashi+ki,” etc, the less said the better In any case, it is not so much that the subject itself is i this difficulty mastered, the Western public would not care twopence about the result Material is everywhere at hand Yearly, from the japanese press are issued thestories of japanese feudal life; but a master-translation of these, accompanied with illustrations of the finest kind, would fall dead in a Western book-market, and find its way quickly into the ten-cent boxes of second-hand dealers And why? Simply because the Occidental reader could not feel interested in the poetry or romance of a life so res taken raw and palpitating out of life itself,--the life they know,--the life everybody knows,--not that which is known only to a few Stories from japan (or India or China, for thatalien surroundings And the people must not be difficult to understand; they 's ”Seven Seas” (You ought to buy that book--and love it) Of course, I don't 's kind--I should have to dowhat I estion,--who ever was such a pretty maker of compliments!--I can only say that I am happy to have a friend who thus thinks ofletter,
LAFCADIO HEARN
TO MITChell McDONALD
TOKYO, March, 1898
DEAR McDONALD,--I did not think e I began the volume--in bed I read three quarters at a run, and the rest early in theThey are queer and so because they are, most of them, improbable They have the charm of the now old-fashi+oned stories of 1850-70,--perhaps not finished to the same extent as the _Atlantic_ stories used to be; but they make me think of them a little (The literary centres clamour for realism to-day; but I fancy that the taste for the roain there is a little of the old-tiht of California days here--that will always have a char man: if he is, I should believe him likely to do still better in the future If he writes for money, he need not do , I should say that he could finish his work better than he does,--as in the study of the emotions of the man who finds his wife untrue to him, and solves a moral problem after quite an ideal fashi+on The subject was splendid: it s--especially things which I could not do ht to have a very good sale
So on the back of that gold dragon all the while I was reading The real dominated the romantic, and yet beti to be just as it was--ave verisiht-errant in soul,--a real knight, tilting, not against shadows and windiants of fraud who haunt the nineteenth century You are a survival, I fear--there are few like you: you ride alone: all the more reason that you should take every care of yourself--care of your health; I fear you are not exercising enough, keeping too confined If you are really, as I believe, fond of your little friend, don't forget his prayer that you make health your No 1 consideration
Hope to be down Friday about 2 P M or 230 at latest
Affectionately, LAFCADIO
TO MITChell McDONALD
MARCH, 1898
DEAR McDONALD,--I do not feel pleased at your returning tome your own copy of the book I feel mean over it But what can one do with a man who deliberately takes off his own coat to cover his friend during a nine _ of that coat--warmth of friendshi+p must also have been electrical in it--until I die
Affectionately and somewhat reproachfully,--in haste,
LAFCADIO HEARN
I write _in haste_, so as not to keep your
TO MITChell McDONALD
TOKYO, March, 1898
DEAR McDONALD,--Just got your letter,--your more than kind letter
Happily there is no occasion to send the telegra on Monday No: I did not s I have been laid up, but it was more painful than serious Can't tell what it was--a painful swelling of one side of the face, and nose
My picturesque nose suffered most That a square mile of solid pain could be concentrated into one square inch of nose was a revelation!
Anyhow, it felt just like a severe case of frost-bite; but I suppose it was only so to do with it; but the weather , you know, last Tuesday