Osman Edwards
Osman Edwards | |
|---|---|
 Osman Edwards 1902 | |
| Born | 18 February 1864 Liverpool,England |
| Died | 30 April 1936(aged 72) London,England |
| Language | English,Greek,Danish,Japanese,French |
Osman Edwards(18 February 1864 – 30 April 1936) was a British writer, translator, and critic, best known for his works introducing European and Japanese drama to English readers.
Early life
[edit]Osman Edwards was born inLiverpool, England,on 18 February 1864 and died in London on 30 April 1936. His father, Osman Frederick Adams Edwards, was a captain in the British army.[1]Edwards studied classics atChrist's Hospitaland became a master atMerton College, Oxford,from 1883 to 1887 and then at theReading Schoolfrom 1889 to 1891.
According to Frederic Sharf, "Edwards had a private income, enabling him to leave his teaching responsibilities and embark on a ten-year period of extensive travel to France, Germany, Norway, Russia, and Japan."[2]He studied the national theatrical arts of the countries he visited, contributed articles to English magazines on dramatic subjects, and translated plays and other theatre-related writings from European languages into English, includingShort Studies of Theatrical Life(from the French ofAlphonse Daudet,1892), andA Gauntlet(from the Norwegian ofBjørnstjerne Bjørnson,1894).
Japan visit
[edit]Edwards arrived in Japan in 1898 for a six-month stay, during which he wrote articles on Japanese theatre forThe SketchandThe Studio.FromTokyo,where he watched asumomatch on 1 July,[3]Edwards traveled toIkahoandAkabane,where he joined a traveller he had met three months earlier at a Kyoto curio shop; together they traveled toKaruizawaandAkakura,arriving inOsakaandKobein October,[4]then traveled by rail toOnomichi,by steamer toMiyajima,and by ship toMatsuyama, Ehime,before returning by ship toKobe.By November 1898, Edwards had left for England, traveling by way ofHawaii,the United States, and France.Lafcadio HearnwroteMary Fenollosa"I see Mr. Edwards has gone; and I am sorry to think that I may never see him again" in November 1898.[5]
While in Japan, Edwards authored three small books forHasegawa Takejirō.According to Scharf, it wasBasil Hall Chamberlainwho introduced Edwards to Hasegawa, and "this introduction led to a collaboration that resulted in three publications in a very short period of time. Edwards translated the French text of Jules Adam's book on Japanese storytellers, enabling Hasegawa to issue it in English under the titleJapanese Story-Tellers.At the same time, Edwards was writing the text forResidential Rhymes,a humorous yet accurate depiction of Japan's foreign residents during theMeiji period,"which Sharf calls" arguably Hasegawa's finest publication. "And" Edwards also prepared twelve poems for theCalendar with Versesthat Hasegawa wanted to issue for the year 1900. "All three books were published in autumn 1899, in the hope of sales at the Japanese exhibit in Paris at theExposition Universelle of 1900.[6]
Plays and Playfellows
[edit]Edwards sentLafcadio HearnanÉmile Verhaerenbook from Paris in 1899 and continued to correspond with Hearn for several years.[7]Shortly after his return to London, he lectured to theJapan Society of Londonon "Japanese Theatres."[8]In the fall of 1899, he was instrumental in arranging performances of theKawakami Theatre Companyin London.
In 1901 London publisherWilliam Heinemannpublished Edwards' best-known work, a combined Japan travelogue and study of Japanese entertainment entitledJapanese Plays and Playfellows.[9]
Later life
[edit]Although Edwards published relatively little in his later years,[10]he remained an active member of the Playgoers Club (serving as vice-president in 1903), and theJapan Society of Londonfor many years.
He died in London on 30 April 1936.
References
[edit]- ^Frederic Alan Sharf,Takejiro Hasegawa: Meiji Japan's Preeminent Publisher of Wood-block-illustrated Crepe-paper Books(Salem, Mass.: Peabody Essex Museum, 1994), 41.
- ^Sharf,Takejiro Hasegawa,41.
- ^Japanese Plays and Playfellows(London: W. Heinemann, 1901), 168.
- ^Japanese Plays and Playfellows,187.
- ^Lafcadio Hearn,The life and letters of Lafcadio Hearn,v. 2 (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1906), 136.
- ^Sharf,Takejiro Hasegawa,41.
- ^Osman Edwards, “Lafcadio Hearn on the Decadent School,”CraftsmanVol. 13 (Oct. and Nov 1907), 14-21[1]
- ^Osman Edwards, "Japanese Theatres,"Transactions and Proceedings of the Japan Society, London(1902), 142-165.
- ^Japanese Plays and Playfellows(London: W. Heinemann, 1901).
- ^His translation of Emile Verhaeren'sThe Cloister: A Play in Four Acts(London: Constable, 1915) had been "made in close collaboration with the author some fourteen years ago," he noted in the introduction.
External links
[edit]
- Residential Rhymesat BaxleyStamps[2]
