Volume I Part 36 (1/2)

I gave up journalis N O I went to Deust of last year,--returned to New York after three months with so in New York, where I had good offers,--suddenly o back to the tropics by the very saht azine-work So far I have just been able to scrape along;--the climate numbs mental life, and the inspirations I hoped for won't coination--whel here,--not old and wise and grey as in the North; and one must not seek the Holy Ghost in it I suspect that the material furnished by the tropics can only be utilized in a Northern atether; for I will certainly call on you in Philadelphia soin the _num opus_;--the only ti to the printer Then one e upon the question of what h fresh expansions of science But the true way to attein it as a duty, without considering one's self in the matter at all, but the subject only,--which you loveform and colour and beauty with the patient years

I anorant about scientific ement of a lay to your question about ”Chita” ”Chita” was founded on the fact of a child saved from the Lost Island disaster by soht up by thenized her, and reported her whereabouts to relatives These, ere rich, deterht up in the South, and had her sent to a convent But she had lived the free healthy life of the coast, and could not bear the convent;--she ran away from it, married a fisherman, and lives somewhere down there now,--the mother of multitudinous children

And about my work, I can only tell you this:--I will have two illustrated articles on a West Indian trip in the _Harper's Monthly_ soon,--within four or five months These will be followed by brief West Indian sketches Other sketches, not suited for the o to form a volume to be published later on I do not correspond or write for any newspaper, and I would always let you know in advance where anything would be published written by inative work means; and this sort of work I do not think I shall be able to do here One has no vital energy to spare in such a cliy” (vol II) in despair But I did not e about the evolution of the eye--hair--snail-horn--etc, etc I want to see anything you write that I can understand, with e of scientific terain, tell me what you said of Loti in the letter I never received Did you read his ”Roht you would like it If you do not, let me knohy,--because Loti has had much literary influence upon me, and I want to know his faults as well as his merits With love to you,

LAFCADIO HEARN

TO GEORGE M GOULD

SAINT-PIERRE, MARTINIQUE, August, 1888

DEAR GOULD,--Many thanks for the _quid_!--the surprising _quid_ I have been waiting to send you the _quo_, which I do not like so well as one taken in New Orleans, of which I have no copy within reach But before I tell you anything about the _quo_, I ought to scold you for your startling deception I pictured you as a h quite conscious ofthan er: this did not, however, astonish me; for whatever qualities I have lie only in that one direction which pleased you and won your friendshi+p,--er men than myself, my mental superiors in every respect But, all of a sudden you come upon me with such a revelation of your personality as ure_ is ined:--I ; and then your advice and suggestions, whileyour ability to teach me much in my own line, resemble only those proffered by old experienced uidance It is exactly the advice of Alden, a one or two others

Now about the _quo_ I ah about 137 pounds in good health;--fever has hadphthisical,--36 inches round the chest, stripped Was born in June (27th), 1850, in Santa Maura (the antique Leucadia), of a Greek mother

My father, Dr Charles Bush Hearn, who spent eon- Battalion) Do not know anything about my mother, whether alive or dead;--was last heard of (remarried) in Smyrna, about 1858-9 My father died on his return from India There was a queer roe It is not, however, of the sort to interest you in a letter I aures htedness always prevented the gratification of a natural _penchant_ for physical exercise I aood swi is capital; I aestion of plot I cannot believe--in view of the extraordinary changes (changes involving even the whole osseous structure) wrought in the offspring of Europeans or foreigners within a single generation by the tropical cli of the parental moral character on the _father's_ side would survive with force sufficient to produce the psychical phenomena you speak of In tely, even through generations; in the tropics, Nature_at once_ into perfect accord with environment, or else destroys it The idea you speak of occurred to me also; it was abandoned after a careful study of tropical conditions It could only be used on an _inverse_ plot,--transporting the tropical child to the North At least, I think so, with ht be vastly i, dear friend, you ought to knoould like to be able to do nothing else But even in these countries, where life is so cheap, I could not make the pot--or as they call it here, the _canari_--boil by story-writing until I gain h prices A story takes at least ten or twelve th of ”Chita” Suppose it brings only 500,--half as le operation! It is pretty hard to live even in the tropics on that suood also, involve research I lect I have prepared soation that will prove invaluable for a forthco, sonorous letter, better than anything of the sort I ever received The only thing I did not relish in it was the suggestion that I should prepare a lecture, or make an appearance before a private club I would not do it for anything! I shrink from real life, however, not at all because I aliness of so that outlines the view; the nobility of oodness of woman can only be felt by those who know the possibilities of degradation and corruption Philosophically I areatest conception of Divinity I can yet expand to receive The faultiness is not with the world, but with myself I inherit certain susceptibilities, weaknesses, sensitivenesses, which render it impossible to adapt myself to the ordinary _o, and never e, but I escape pains which, in spite of all your own knowledge, you could not wholly cole with e in life to be 5 ft 3 in high I re of Anificant looking ers of one hand Success in life still largely depends upon the power to impose respect, the reserve of mere physical force; since the expansion of everybody's individuality--at the expense of everybody else's individuality--is still the law of existence

I a certain is that I ao to South or to Central Ah to finish a novelette If not able to do so, I will perhaps be in New York before December I left it October 2, 1887, after a stay of only three weeks, to return to the tropics It was then io to the Continent from here, you will know at least six weeks in advance

Thanks for the superb paper on Loti I cannot i much finer in the way of literary analysis But what does James want?--evolution to leap a thousand years? What he classes as sensual perceptions must be sensitized and refined supernally,--fully evolved and built up _before_ the ical foundations, pedestals Granting the doubt as to the ultimate nature of Mind, it is still tolerably positive that its development--so far as man is concerned--follows the development of the nervous systehts and scandalizes Jaher sensitiveness to coe of writers and poets,--the finer ”_sensibility of soul_,” whose creative ill caress the nobler eenius ever caressed the senses of colour and form and odour

You ask about my idea of Whitman? I have not patience for hiestiveness_ in both, rather than clear utterance I used to like John Weiss better than Einess, an uncouthness, a Calibanishness about Whit that sees things, and wants to make others see them, and cannot for want of a finer ives him But there is manifest the rude nobility of theto men and the world Whitman lays a Cyclopean foundation on which, I fancy, so

Yes, there is nonsense in Swinburne, but he is ue,--shows its richness, unsuspected flexibility, ade-power of beauty-absorption He is not to be despised by the student

Letwritten to you thus, even incidentally, to newspaper folk--or to any literary folk ould not be _intimate_ friends There are reasons, estion, acceptance of which would remove any check on frankness

Best love to you, fro of Whitman, I must add that ed within some years What I like, however, was not Whit Whitman feels, and disappoints by his atte letter I reazine They are after photos I am sorry to say incorrect use has been made of several: the types published as _Sacratra_ were not _Sacratra_, but in two cases half-breed Coolie,--one see a touch of Malay There were other errors It is horrible not to be able to correct one's _oork,--on account of irregularities in mail involved by quarantine In the December nuirls here If you want, yourself, to have so, send word, and I will try to get it for you

I can only work here ofbefore noon: all rise with the sun After 2 PM, the heat and weight of the air ets heavy, as if there was lead in it, and you sleep

TO GEORGE M GOULD

SAINT-PIERRE, MARTINIQUE, October, 1888

DEAR FRIEND GOULD,--I have read your delightful letter,--also, the delightful essays of James you so kindly sent me I suspect James has not his equal as a literary chemist: the analyses of his French contemporary, Lemaitre, are far less qualitative You have made me know him as a critic;--I had only known him as a novelist My work has been poor; it has been condensed and recondensed for the inality has been taken out of it; finally I never had a chance to revise it in proof I believe I have temporarily lost all creative power: it will come back to me, perhaps, when I inhale some Northern ozone

I would like to call your attention to the article by Loti in _Fortnightly Review_--”Un Reve,” a delicious little psychological phenomenon Have you seen ”Madame Chrysanthemum”--wonderfully illustrated!