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| | D9 Lafcadio Hearn, Japan, and English-Language Verse |
 | | Hearn’s writing from Japan more than any other to this day has shaped Western perception of the country, taking on such a life in the early years of the century that it returned to Japan by way of the looking glass of the West and became determinative in shaping even Japanese perceptions of Japan. |
 | | Likewise, Hearn along with Noguchi (see especially 15e6) may be credited with bringing free verse to the English translation of Japanese poetry, but it took Pound and Waley (26) to confirm the transformation and to carry its lessons to the mainstream of English-language verse, and no evidence exists that either looked to Hearn for guidance. |
 | | George Gould, at one time a friend of Hearn, attempts to dismantle his reputation in Concerning Lafcadio Hearn (London: Unwin, 1908), arguing that Hearn was ‘deprived by nature, by the necessities of his life, or by conscious intention, of religion, morality, scholarship, magnanimity, loyalty, character, benevolence, and other constituents of personal greatness’. |
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