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Of Lafcadio Hearn the author of this book says, '… he succeeded in writing beautifully about things ugly and gruesome'. Perhaps, an urge to do the same thing explains the author's somewhat morbid treatment of some great writers of the last century. The alternating pejoration and praise in writing of his 'heroes' is so
plainly ambivalent that one wonders if the author's admiration for these writers is genuine. The prose style of this volume leaves much to be desired, the biographical material adds little that has not long been literary gossip, and the book lacks taste.