Louisiana Sojourns: Travelers' Tales and Literary Journeys

Front Cover
Frank de Caro
LSU Press, May 1, 2005 - History - 608 pages
A sweeping collection of observations and episodes penned by visitors to Louisiana from the sixteenth century to the 1990s, Louisiana Sojourns is—much like the state itself—a wonder to behold in its sum, and in its particulars, full of surprise and delight. The seventy-six pieces that Frank A. de Caro has selected give readers a vivid sense of how Louisiana's unique blend of Old World, South, the exotic, and quintessential America has exerted a pull and hold on travelers. Included are writings by well-known figures such as Mark Twain, Teddy Roosevelt, Kate Chopin, John Steinbeck, Frederick Law Olmsted, Walker Percy, William Faulkner, Simone de Beauvoir, Henry Miller, John James Audubon, Calvin Trillin, Zora Neale Hurston, A. J. Liebling, William Least Heat Moon, and Frederick Turner. Dozens of other wayfarers are represented as well.
 

Contents

THE RIVER
11
Flood
38
ShowBoat
46
The Invisible Corridor
54
Travel Update
61
NEW ORLEANS
69
Real Jazz
97
In the Quarter
104
Frederick Law Olmsted
280
The Fais Do Do at Mamou
293
William Least Heat Moon
300
Manner in Which the Survey Was Made
337
Nothing But a Little Pissant
350
Travel Update
366
Moss Pickers of the Lafourche Interior
381
Cruising the Marshes and Coast
399

Between Trains
110
Travel Update
118
PLANTATION REALMS
129
Magnolia Plantation
147
Travel Update
175
The Runaway
189
The Cheerleaders
207
Free People of Color
226
THE WAR
241
Sailing to Chênière Caminada
412
AND THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT
419
On the Road with John James Audubon
448
Travel Update
464
A Cockfight
500
THE WORLD OF THE SPIRITS
525
Index
567
Copyright

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

About the author (2005)

Frank A. de Caro was a professor emeritus of English at Louisiana State University, where he taught for thirty-four years. A former president of the Louisiana Folklore Society and the first chairman of the Louisiana Folklife Commission, he was the author or editor of several books, including Re-Situating Folklore: Folk Contexts and Twentieth-Century Literature and Art, coauthored by Rosan Augusta Jordan. He lived in New Orleans.

Bibliographic information