The best introduction to Louisiana literature available.

The Center for Louisiana Studies announces publication of The Short Story in Louisiana, 1880-1990. compiled and edited by Mary Dell Fletcher. Much of Louisiana's way of life of the past century is revealed in this work's component short stories. The short story as a literary form was just coming into its own a hundred years ago, and although its very "shortness" precludes its giving us sweeping historical changes, as the novel often does, it can, by recording brief glimpses of life in a particular time and place, give us segments of history. These fictional tales collectively create a mosaic of life from plantation days to modern times, as seen by Louisiana's best writers.

The best American fiction has always had a strong regional flavor. From Nathaniel Hawthorne in the East to Mark Twain in the West to William Faulkner in the South, life has been interpreted in terms of the writer's particular culture. Louisiana's local color writers similarly have reflected varied facets of the state's polyglot culture. Their writings thus take on particular importance not only for their contribution to American and Louisiana literature, but also for the insight that they provide into the lives of minorities and other groups traditionally overlooked by historical literature.

This work's historical value, however, in no way compromises its literary worth. The selection of stories builds on Mary Dell Fletcher's first collection, entitled A Century of the Short Story in Louisiana, 1880-1980. The second edition includes many of the same stories, but it broadens the work's scope by including five new stories by noted authors Kate Chopin, Andre Dubus, Martha Lacy Hall, David Madden, and Charles Tenney Jackson. Kate Chopin's "The Awakening," which has gained international literary attention over the past two decades, is perhaps the most notable addition to the collection. Martha Lacy Hall's "Apple-Green Triumph" and Charles Tenney Jackson's "The Man Who Cursed the Lilies" were both awarded the prestigious 0. Henry Prize. These outstanding works are complemented by biographical sketches of the authors and by the editor's critical analyses of individual short stories. Taken together, all of these components make The Short Story in Louisiana, 1880-1990 the best introduction to Louisiana literature.

Learn more about Louisiana the entertaining, but informative way. Order a copy of The Short Story in Louisiana today!

CONTENTS

LOCAL COLORISTS (1880-1930)

CREOLES

George Washington Cable (1844-1925)
Belles Demoiselles Plantation (1874)

Grace King (1852-1932)
La Grande Demoiselle (1892)

Kate Chopin (1851-1904)
The Awakening (1902)

ACADIANS

Kate Chopin (1851-1904)
A Night in Acadie (1896)

Charles Tenney Jackson (1874- )
The Man Who Cursed the Lilies (1921)

NEGROES

Ruth McEnery Stuart (1852-1917)
Christmas Gifts (1893)

Lyie Saxon (1891-1946)

Cane River (1926)

Roark Bradford (1896-1948)
Green Pastures (1929)

MULATTOES

George Washington Cable (1844-1925)
Tite Poulette (1874)

Ada Jack Carver (1890-1972)
The Old One (1926)

POST LOCAL COLORISTS (1930-1980)

Arna Bontemps (1902-1973)
A Summer Tragedy (1933)

Elma Godchaux (1893-1941)
The Horn That Called Bambine (1936)

James Aswell (1906-1955)
The Shadow of Evil (1949)

Truman Capote (1924-1984)
A Christmas Memory (1956)

Junius Edwards (1929- )
Liars Don't Qualify (1961)

Shirley Ann Grau (1929- )

The Way of a Man (1963)

Ernest Gaines (1933- )
Just Like a Tree (1968)

John H. Wildman (1911-1992)
A House in Arabia (1977)

John William Corrington (1932-1988)
Every Act Whatever of Man (1978)

Ellen Gilchrist (1935- )
Rich (1981)

ANOTHER DECADE (1980-1990)

David Madden (1933- )
The New Orleans of Possibilities (1982)

Andre Dubus (1936- )
Sorrowful Mysteries (1983)

Martha Lacy Hall (1923- )
The Apple-Green Triumph (1990)

SHORT FICTION FOR FURTHER READING

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