“Less than one-fifth of this work contains the record of Hearn’s life. The rest is pure Hearn—even more intimate than the books he has written, dealing with the themes which always moved his imagination. His strange origin, his troubled boyhood and years of apprenticeship, his pursuit of the weird, the exotic among tropical peoples, and finally his departure for Japan in 1890 resulting in permanent expatriation, are recorded in more or less brief compass.” Lit. D.
“The facts of his later life Miss Bisland tells with exactly the brevity and precision with which such facts should be told. Indeed, it is a pleasure to feel that too much praise cannot be given for the ability and reverence with which she has done her work.”
| + + | Acad. 72: 88. Ja. 26, ’07. 1810w. |
“It is certain that no letters reveal more vividly or subtly the inner feeling—the essence, one might say—of the writer, than do these.”
| + | A. L. A. Bkl. 3: 9. Ja. ’07. |
Reviewed by Paul S. Reinsch.
| + + | Ann. Am. Acad. 30: 607. N. ’07. 1230w. |
“Perhaps the worthiest thing to say of these two volumes of some nine hundred pages is that there is not a page too much. Indeed, one page more would have been welcome—containing a bibliography and a glossary of Japanese words.”
| + + − | Ath. 1907, 1: 126. F. 2. 2170w. |