Into the Forest discussion

This is the place to discuss Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things by Lafcadio Hearn.

I actually have this book in my home library, but I haven’t read it yet! I am plan on finishing New Jim Crow and Count of Monte Cristo by the end of the month and will start this as close to August 1st as possible.

I found it in Project Gutenberg :)

I’m about halfway through and so far enjoying most of the stories. A few have left me feeling a little “meh” afterwards, but so far I’d have to give this 4-stars.

I'm on the fence. I'd love to reread it, but there is always the ever-growing tbr pile and my sick leave is ending...

I've placed it on hold. My library also has Lafcadio Hearn's "The Faceless Ghost" and Other Macabre Tales from Japan: A Graphic Novel, so I put it on hold too.

Annette wrote: "I found it in Project Gutenberg :)"

I did the same.

I might not get started on this one for a couple of weeks.

As much as I wish I could say I unwaveringly loved this, I’d have to settle at 3.5 - 4 stars. Some of the stories were haunting and beautiful, but Hearn’s thoughts on ants (the last part), were simultaneously insightful and boring. Overall, I wish he had left me alone of his philosophy on the sex-life of ants and what that means for society, but enjoyed a number of stories otherwise.

Hmm, may end up scanning some of that then.

I just finished this interesting collection of ghost stories. My favorite was The Story of Aoyagi.

As pointed out by others, the sections about insects at the end seemed out of place. I could see the tie in with the butterflies and maybe the mosquitoes but I confess that I do not get the the significance of the ants with respect to the ghost stories. Result: I skimmed the last couple of ant subsections.

So this is totally off topic but...

All this talk of ants makes me think of a really dramatic scene in an episode of Wonder Woman I watched a couple years ago on MeTV. Here's a clip Sorry I couldn't find a better clip anywhere online. It's Season 3 Episode 6 Formicida.

Ever since I watched that episode, whenever I see an ant or someone says anything about ants (like in this discussion thread), that scene replays in my head and occasionally (okay, frequently) I say it out loud. Like when I saw a huge ant crawling on my flowers yesterday, I pointed at it, turned to my daughter and said, "Ants, Elysia. Ants!" LOL good times.

Leah wrote: "So this is totally off topic but...

All this talk of ants makes me think of a really dramatic scene in an episode of Wonder Woman I watched a couple years ago on MeTV. Here's a clip Sorry I couldn..."

Watching this reminded how good Wonder Woman (the series) was!

This was quite a curious collection, what with the ghost stories and the entomological musings.

At times, the author inserts himself into the story, or to the fact these are stories re-told (at one point jumping over missing pages in the source material). This left me in two minds whether it was a case of Hearn striving for faithful accuracy, or of an attempt at postmodernist fiction. I suspect the former.

Some stories don't seem to go anywhere. Others illustrate the close link between Japanese folklore and animé, including the films of Hayao Miyazaki. As a novice in Japanese folklore, but a fan of Miyazaki, I found this aspect intriguing (but not unexpected).

My three favourites: Jikininki, Mujina, and the Story of Aoyagi.

Finished it! I enjoyed the beginning stories, and scanned the bug stuff. So strange, though some of the stories did contain butterflies and ants.

My absolute favorite was the opening story: The Story of Mimi-Nashi-Hoichi. Maybe because I play a musical instrument? I enjoy music folklore, and I also like the magic in this one.

Jikininki was also a favorite. It has similar themes to stories like "the boy who knew no fear," but less humorous and more religious.

Sometimes, I could see where a Western version of a tale would veer off into something different. For example, in Ubazakura, the nurse-maid on her deathbed asks the family to plant a cherry tree where they bury her. They do so, and it blooms beautifully. In a Western version, the family would forget to plant the tree, and have bad luck afterward, unless they completed 3 impossible tasks.

All these tales also have a religious bent and while there are many of say, the Grimms tales, that have religion as a component, not to the same degree I think.

It's interesting that some of you like Story of Aoyagi. I didn't like that one so much. Partly because of Hearn's interjection, but also, I was tired of vapid beautiful young women at that point, as being the crux of a story.

My copy of this misspelled Hearn's first name twice on the back cover, so I was really worried about reading it. But there was nothing wrong with the actual text of the book. How weird that that would happen!

I enjoyed the stories in this book a lot-- they often seemed to be a blend of ghost story and fairy tale. I also found the section on insects to be very interesting-- I especially liked the idea of butterflies representing souls. I have read other books by Hearn, and there always seems to be a mix of the ghostly fairy tales and essays (for example, In Ghostly Japan: Spooky Stories with the Folklore, Superstitions and Traditions of Old Japan has a lengthy essay about incense, and also essays on Buddhism and silkworms-- there are probably as many pages of factual writing as there is of fiction. It is all fascinating, but can be disappointing if you are expecting a book of only ghost stories).

Overall, I really enjoyed this. The parts with the insects at the end seemed irrelevant, except for the first about butterflies. That one, however, could have been tied back into the story where the guy fell asleep and apparently became an ant ruler (I'm shortening badly). For that matter the ant part might have been tied to that as well.
I liked that they were mainly stories with ghosts, not necessarily spooky. They tended to end more abruptly than modern, western stories do, but I didn't mind. There was one story that seemed to be the author recounting a story from when he was a child; that story was still good, but you could definitely tell it was from a western author, not a Japanese author. That's not a bad thing, just an observation on style.
I read the book Hiroshima Diary earlier this year. Having read that, and now this, all of the mentions of 'can still be seen' or 'is still done' etcetera in this book, just made me sad because so much of that culture was lost in and after WWII.
I also enjoyed the reminder that, while Japan also has the 'white woman' mythos, it's different from the western iteration. It does seem to have some similarities, though this is a myth that I'm only peripherally familiar with.
As a final note, the art shown throughout the copy I had, as well as the design of the book, pages, and endpapers, was beautiful.

Oh, I wish I'd had an illustrated copy. Mine looked self-published.

Shannon wrote: "As a final note, the art shown throughout the copy I had, as well as the design of the book, pages, and endpapers, was beautiful."

What's the ISBN for the edition you read? I'd be interested in an illustrated copy too.

Leah wrote: "What's the ISBN for the edition you read? I'd be ..."

I believe this is it 9781435120235 it's one for my edition anyway. I got it from the library and already returned it. :)

Shannon wrote: "Leah wrote: "What's the ISBN for the edition you read? I'd be ..."

I believe this is it 9781435120235 it's one for my edition anyway. I got it from the library and already returned it. :)"

Thanks!