Special Edition The Cincinnati Commercial Tribune Extra
VOL XXIII NO 23 MONDAY MORNING 26 SEPTEMBER 1904 PRICE FIVE CENTS

Lafcadio Hearn
Disappeared from the World

Lafcadio Hearn

Tokyo, JAPAN — Reports reach us from the Japanese capital that the distinguished author and lecturer Mr. Lafcadio Hearn, long resident in Japan and known throughout Europe and America for his studies of Oriental life and legend, has vanished from public view.

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Mr. Hearn, whose writings Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan and Kwaidan brought the mysteries of this land to Western readers, was last seen in the company of his family at his residence in Tokyo. Neighbors recall the gentleman speaking of retreating to solitude, desiring to forsake the world's notice. “The world will see me no more,” he is reported to have declared.

Whether this pronouncement was of poetic fancy or solemn intent, it is now uncertain; yet his absence is attested by all, and the whereabouts of Mr. Hearn remain wholly unknown. Some whisper that he has sought refuge with his family upon one of the lonely isles of the Inland Sea; others maintain that he has retired into the fastness of some hidden Buddhist temple, there to live out his remaining years.

Born in Greece, son of an Irish military officer, and former Cincinnati local, Mr. Hearn devoted the latter part of his life to Japan, where he entered into the service of the Imperial Universities and became a naturalized subject, taking the name Koizumi Yakumo. His writings, marked by singular delicacy and imagination, have won him a place among the foremost interpreters of the East to the West.

At present no official notice has been issued, and there is no certainty whether Mr. Hearn's departure signifies death, exile, or the chosen seclusion of a man weary of the world. Until further word is received, it can only be said that Lafcadio Hearn has disappeared from the world.

Lafcadio Hearn
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Lafcadio Hearn

Set in 1904, "Lafcadio Hearn Disappeared from the World" details the last year of Lafcadio Hearn's life, allowing us to catch glimpses of his everyday life with his family, colleagues and students in Tokyo; each interaction a unique way to explore the past. Mimicking Hearn's natural ability to narrate and retell stories, he serves as the vehicle that transports the viewer to stories told and untold.

These stories revolve around his own experiences in the various places he lived (Dublin, Cincinnati, New Orleans, Matsue, etc), the people he met, and the stories he heard that captured his wit and imagination.

Lafcadio Hearn
Lafcadio Hearn Lafcadio Hearn
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Based on Yakumo Koizumi's life and writings

Japanese house