This festival of the young corn, or The heroism of Poucha-Houmma: a tragedy in five acts / Paul Louis LeBlanc De Villeneufve -- The old Eden ; Mr. Cable's "Freedman's case in equity" / Charles Gayarré -- The martyr patriots, or Louisiana in 1769: an historical tragedy in five acts / Thomas Wharton Collens -- [Works by] The poets of Les Canelles: Armand Lanusse ; Michel St. Pierre ; Mirtil-Ferdinand Liotau ; Camille Thierry ; Victor Séjour -- The wild lily and the passionate flower ; To nature, my mother / Adrien Rouquette ("Chahta-Ima") -- Miss Calinda's marriage ; The banquet / Charles Alfred Mercier -- Daggerdraw Bowieknife, Esq. ; A night at the Terpsichore Ball, by "You Know Who" ; Miss Dusky Grisette ; The Mississippi at midnight / Walt Whitman -- Creed ; Down the bayou ; Her horoscope ; At set of sun / Mary Ashley Townsend ("Xariffa") -- Le tombeau blanc / John Dimitry -- The royal funeral ; Hagar / Eliza Poitevent Nicholson ("Pearl Rivers") -- Bastien: a X-mas in the great salt marshes of Louisiana / Sallie Rhett Roman -- 'Tite poulette ; The freedman's case in equity / George Washington Cable -- The Widder Johnsing / Ruth McEnery Stuart -- Chita: a memory of Last Island / Lafcadio Hearn -- At the 'Cadian Ball ; The storm / Kate Chopin -- La grande demoiselle ; The little convent girl / Grace King -- At La Glorieuse / Mollie Evelyn Moore (M.E.M.) Davis -- The marriage of Compare Lapin / Alcée Fortier -- Response to L.H. ; Phantom of the West: to Lafcadio Hearn ; O France ; Nocturne / Leona Queyrouze -- Whistling Dick's Christmas stocking / O. Henry -- The goodness of Saint Rocque / Alice Dunbar Nelson -- A meeting South / Sherwood Anderson -- ...And she wore diamond earrings / Frances Parkinson Keyes -- The centaur plays croquet / Lyle Saxon -- Chains / Elma Godchaux -- The cobbler ; The kid learns ; Out of Nazareth / William Faulkner -- A New Orleans childhood, the house on Decatur Street / Hamilton Basso -- A love song ; Seventeen seventy-seven ; The father's prayer ; The crab fisherman's lament ; The trapper's war / Los Isleños Décimas -- No place for you, my love / Eudora Welty -- Vieux Carre / Tennessee Williams -- A tree of night / Truman Capote -- Miss Yellow Eyes / Shirley Ann Grau -- Ritual murder / Tom Dent -- Moon fragment ; Thirteen ways of being looked at by a possum ; How I got in ; Flowing on the bench / Everette Maddox -- Calling / Richard Ford -- My name is Andrei Codrescu ; Our gang ; New Orleans art for Wall Street / Andrei Codrescu -- The freeze / Valerie Martin -- A work of art / John Biguenet -- There is a river in New Orleans / Moira Crone -- Climbing Monkey Hill / Fatima Shaik.
Summary:
N.O. Lit: 200 Years of New Orleans Literature is, quite simply, the most comprehensive collection of the literature of New Orleans ever. Designed as an introduction for scholars and a pleasure for everyone, this volume will set the standard for years to come. Dixon has gathered some of the most prominent writers long associated with New Orleans, like Lafcadio Hearn, Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote, and Eudora Welty, but perhaps more fascinating are the ones we can discover for the first time, like the writers of Les Cenelles, French Creoles of color who published the first anthology of African American literature in 1845, or Los Islenos, descendents of the 17th-century Spanish immigrants from the Canary Islands, still a close-knit community today. From the first play ever performed in New Orleans in 1809, through Tom Dent?s compelling 1967 drama of violence in the streets, Ritual Murder, this collection traces the city's history through its authors. Louisianians, and particularly New Orleanians, do tend to go on and on about the literary heritage of this deepest South of Deep South pieces of turf. And it is with justification, of course. In the past, however, books about said literary heritage have been piecemeal and have tended to concentrate on one author or one era of our history. It's with great pleasure that I recommend to readers therefore, the new and excellent book by Nancy Dixon, N.O. Lit: 200 Years of New Orleans Literature. Nancy has presented pieces of this book in the past at the Faulkner Society's annual Words & Music festival and in her presentations she's always made her subject matter not only informative but accessible, entertaining. She's done the same thing with the book, starting with the oldest known play written and produced in New Orleans, Paul LeBlanc de Villeneufve's The Festival of the Young Corn, or The Heroism of Poucha-Houmma dated 1809. She relates themes of that play to the pervasive violence in New Orleans today, giving the play contemporary relevance. She leads us on through the 19th and 20th centuries and winds up with Fatima Shaik's story of desegration in the 20th Century. It's 500-plus pages of great stuff and when you see it all together like this, it's impressive and will no doubt enforce our tendency to go on and on about our literary heritage.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.