2011 books

[peteryoung]

29) Lafcadio Hearn, Chinese Ghost Stories: Curious Tales of the Supernatural, 2011
First published as Some Chinese Ghosts in 1887, this collection of six stories is more accurately subtitled Curious Tales of the Supernatural as it contains two that have supernatural aspects that do not feature ghosts. All set among the early Chinese dynasties, Hearn relates these traditional tales secondhand as the bookish outsider that he was, living at the time in New Orleans yet fascinated by the mysterious East. For this edition Hearn's frequent use of literal Chinese sounds has been standardised into pinyin yet the stories all retain a heavy-handed 'properness', an archaic formality that says Hearn clearly did not write these using his own journalistic voice, but for amateur Sinologists this is probably a good companion volume to the better-known Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, also recently published by Tuttle. [Edited; see comments]

Comments

[dfordoom.livejournal.com]

I've only read his Japanese ghost stories, Kwaidan, which I enjoyed enormously. I must check out these Chinese ghost stories!

[desperance.livejournal.com]

For this edition Hearn's frequent use of pinyin has been discarded

I didn't think pinyin was developed until the '50s?

[peteyoung.livejournal.com]

I wasn't aware of that, so you've effectively pointed out my own misunderstanding of a slightly ambiguous note from the Foreword, and re-reading it makes more sense now. Hearn's often indecipherable transliteration of Chinese sounds have been converted to pinyin, however I see several titles of stories also have pinyin words that have been changed from previous editions. Which probably partly added to my misperception, so thanks for helping clear that up and I'll alter that particular sentence.