The Dream of a Summer Day
"The Dream of a Summer Day" is an essay by Lafcadio Hearn that reminisced on his childhood, and which also incorporated a retelling of the Japanese folktale of Urashima Tarō. It was the first piece in the collection Out of the East (1895).
Essay
[edit]"The Dream of a Summer Day" was first printed in the 28 July 1894 issue of The Japan Weekly Mail, and republished in the collection Out of the East (1895).[1][2]
Urashima and Irish legend
[edit]Commentators have noted a parallel between the underlying Japanese fairy tale of Urashima Tarō and the Irish legend around Oisín and the fairy princess of the sea,[a][4] and Hearn might have recalled this legend in writing the piece, even though he does not explicitly state this.[5]
Hearn himself considered the Urashima to be similar to Washington Irving's "The Adelantado of the Seven Cities" which deals with a search for St. Brendan's fabled isle, more so than to "Rip van Winkle".[6]
Hearn's biographer Paul Murray has identified it as an "enchanted memory" of his beloved aunt, Catherine Frances Elwood, the elder sister of his Irish father,[7] even though other commentators have assumed it was about his parting with his Greek mother, née Rosa Antonia Cassimati.[b][10][11]
Hearn and the Manyo poem of Urashima
[edit]Although most commentators stress Hearn's identification with the Urashima figure, Hearn may have also empathized with the ancient poet of the Man'yōshū who recounted the even older legend of Urashima.[12] For Hearn's essay begins in the same way: he starts by describing the scenery of Misumi, Kumamoto where he was then staying, and drifts into the tale of Urashima; likewise, the ancient poet opens by describing the scenery of Suminoe (Suminoe-ku, Osaka), then launches into his musings about the Urashima legend.[13][14] Hearn's Misumi was not anywhere near the spot of the legend, however, he happened to be staying at an inn named "Urashima-ya".[15] The identity of the ancient poet was unknown to Hearn, but scholars have determined the author of this poem have been Takahashi no Mushimaro.[16]
Explanatory notes
[edit]References
[edit]Citations
- ^ Hearn (1895), pp. 1–27 (in: Out of the East: Reveries and Studies in New Japan)
- ^ Hearn, Lafcadio (28 July 1894). "The Dream of a Summer Day". The Japan Weekly Mail.
- ^ Murray (1993), p. 167
- ^ Murray (1995)(=Murray (1998), p. 250) cite in Williamson & Sameshima (2012), p. 86
- ^ Williamson & Sameshima (2012), p. 86
- ^ Satomi (2001), pp. 103–105.
- ^ Murray (1993), pp. 167, 244
- ^ Murray (1993), p. 211
- ^ Kawamura (1934), p. 13
- ^ Kawamura (1934), p. 11
- ^ Williamson & Sameshima (2012), p. 86 and Williamson (2015), p. 16
- ^ Makino (2011), pp. 126–125.
- ^ Makino (2011), pp. 127–126.
- ^ Chamberlain, Basil Hall (1887), A The Language, Mythology, and Geographical Nomenclature of Japan, Imperial University, pp. 20–22
- ^ Hagiwara (1995), p. 375.
- ^ Makino (2011), p. 125.
Bibliography
- Hagiwara, Junko (1995), "Lafcadio Hearn and 'Urashima'", Proceedings of the XIIIth Congress of the International Comparative Literature Association, pp. 375–382
- Hearn, Lafcadio (1895). Out of the East: Reveries and Studies in New Japan. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin. pp. 1–27.
- Kawamura, Kinichi Edward (1934). Lafcadio Hearn's life and his interpretation of Japan and the Japanese people (M.A.). Boston University. hdl:2144/9167.
- Murray, Paul (1993), A Fantastic Journey: The Life and Literature of Lafcadio Hearn, RoutledgeCurzon, ISBN 1873410239
- Murray, Paul (11 Nov 1995), "Lafcadio Hearn and Irish Tradition", Lecture at the meeting of the Yeats Society, Matsue, Japan
- Murray, Paul (1998) [1995], "Lafcadio Hearn and Irish Tradition", That other world: the supernatural and the fantastic in Irish literature and its contexts, vol. 2, C. Smythe, p. 238254, ISBN 0861404181 (reprint)
- Williamson, Rodger S.; Sameshima, Chiaki (2012), "The Creation of Japanese and Irish Traditions by Lafcadio Hearn and WB Yeats", Faculty of Foreign Languages Kita-Kyushu University bulletin (北九州市立大学外国語学部紀要), 132: 85–87 (67–99)
- Williamson, Rodger S. (2015), "The Longing and Belonging of Lafcadio Hearn" (PDF), Lafcadio Hearn & Japan, Dublin City University, pp. 15–16 (extract)
- Makino, Yoko (2011), "Unasaka no fūkei:Hān to Chenbaren sorezore no Urashima densetsu (2)" 海界の風景〜ハーンとチェンバレンそれぞれの浦島伝説〜（二） ["Past the bounds of Ocean" : The Legend of Urashima as told by L. Hearn and B. S. Chamberlain (2)] (PDF), Seijo University economic papers (in Japanese), 191: 138–116
- Satomi, Shigemi (2001), "Hān no Urashima densetsu ni taisuru ninshiki :washinton āvingu no sakuhin wo kijiku ni" ハーンの浦島伝説に対する認識―ワシントン.アーヴィングの作品を基軸に― [Hearn's conception of Urashima Legend: with Washington Irving's works as base], Hikaku bungaku, the Journal of Comparative Literature of JCLA (in Japanese), 44: 99–111
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