Zusammenfassung
Zusammenfassung von Kwaidan: Geschichten und Studien über seltsame Dinge
Go deeper: the whole of Kwaidan: Geschichten und Studien über seltsame Dinge
About 2 h 30 min to read.Für wen es gedacht ist
For readers who love short, eerie tales, Japanese folklore and quiet supernatural fear. It also rewards anyone curious about how one writer carried a culture into English.
Worum es in diesem Buch geht
What if the scariest stories are the ones told in the calmest voice? Kwaidan is a book of Japanese ghost stories, followed by a few short studies of small creatures. Lafcadio Hearn published it in 1904, the year he died. He was born in Greece, grew up in Ireland, and lived in Japan from 1890. You will meet a blind musician, a mysterious woman in white, lost travellers and a man who lives a lifetime in one dream. The fear is quiet. It grows from clear detail and the sense that the unseen world lies close beside ours.
In dieser Zusammenfassung
- 1A foreign writer gathers Japan's old talesFree
- 2A musician's talent draws the wrong audience
- 3Strangers on lonely roads are never what they seem
- 4Love and loyalty reach across death
- 5Dreams, ants and the thin line of reality
- 6The calm voice that makes the fear work
Punkt 1 von 6
A foreign writer gathers Japan's old tales
Lafcadio Hearn arrives in Japan in 1890 as a journalist and soon becomes a teacher of English. He marries a Japanese woman, takes a Japanese name, and learns from his family and neighbours what ordinary people believe about spirits and the dead.
He does not claim to invent these stories. Many come from old Japanese collections, and he says plainly that he found them in books or heard them told. He keeps the plain, direct voice of folk telling and avoids the heavy manner of Victorian horror.
Think of the book as retold folklore. The pleasure lies in old patterns, a promise, a warning, a debt or a punishment. Short notes explain customs for readers who know little of old Japan.
That’s 1 of 6 key points.
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Go deeper: the whole of Kwaidan: Geschichten und Studien über seltsame Dinge
About 2 h 30 min to read.Questions about Kwaidan: Geschichten und Studien über seltsame Dinge
What is Kwaidan about?
Kwaidan is a collection of Japanese ghost stories and folk tales retold by Lafcadio Hearn, plus three short studies of butterflies, mosquitoes and ants. The tales deal with spirits, haunted roads, loyalty, debt and the thin line between the living and the dead.
What does the word Kwaidan mean?
Hearn used it as the title because the book gathers stories of ghosts, goblins and other uncanny happenings from Japanese tradition.
Are the stories in Kwaidan true or original?
They are retellings. Hearn took most of them from old Japanese books and from tales he heard in Japan, and he shaped them in English. The book was published in 1904, the year he died.
Which stories in Kwaidan are best known?
The best known are Mimi-Nashi-Hoichi, about a blind biwa player, and Yuki-Onna, the snow woman. Mujina, Rokuro-Kubi, Jikininki, Oshidori and The Dream of Akinosuke are also often read and adapted.
Is Kwaidan hard to read?
Kwaidan is generally approachable, with clear scene setting and a calm storytelling voice. The ghost stories draw readers into familiar places before introducing something strange, while the closing studies turn toward more reflective questions.
Cite this edition
Hearn, Lafcadio. Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/kwaidan-stories-and-studies-of-strange-things.
Hearn, L. (2026). Kwaidan: Stories and studies of strange things. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/kwaidan-stories-and-studies-of-strange-things (Original work published 1904)
Hearn, Lafcadio. Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/kwaidan-stories-and-studies-of-strange-things.
@book{hearn2026kwaidan,
author = {Hearn, Lafcadio},
title = {Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/kwaidan-stories-and-studies-of-strange-things},
note = {First published 1904}
}
