Suzanne Disheroon-Green - Böcker

Kate Chopin has emerged as one of the most significant American writers of the nineteenth century. Though her works typically reflect the language and customs of the Louisiana of her memories, they also make universal comments about women, men, and human relationships. Best known as the author of The Awakening (1899), she also wrote nearly a hundred short stories, essays, poems, reviews, and a play. While the contemporary response to her works was sometimes negative, much recent critical debate concerns her lasting place in the American literary canon, with some scholars placing The Awakening on the same level as Melville's Moby-Dick.The last thirty years have witnessed heightened interest in Chopin's works. This bibliography provides a comprehensive survey of critical work on Chopin published between 1976 and 1998, with some coverage of 1999. Included are annotated entries for books, articles, dissertations, biographical studies, and bibliographical works. Extensive indexes offer easy access to the entries. In addition, the volume includes a biographical sketch, a review of trends in Chopin scholarship, and a textual history.

The works of Louisiana authors differ from the works of other Southern writers in significant ways. Strong French, Spanish, Native American, and African American traditions shaped Louisiana culture, and Louisiana writers reflect that cultural diversity in their works. So too, historical and religious influences caused Louisiana to develop in a distinct way, and these influences have similarly affected Louisiana writers. The narrative styles employed by these writers generally differ from the styles of other Southern authors. While contemporary Louisiana writers have contributed a substantial body of work to Southern literature, their writings have not received adequate scholarly attention. This book provides a critical introduction to Louisiana literature and gives special attention to how Louisiana literature and culture depart from the rest of the South.The volume is the first collection of scholarly studies focusing on Louisiana writers from the 1930s to the present. Drawing together discussions of 15 of Louisiana's current premier fiction writers, the collection is organized into three broad sections. The first examines Louisiana narratives and folk traditions; the second, influences of religious traditions on Louisiana writers, including Protestantism, Catholicism, and Paganism; and the third, the construction of gender and race in Louisiana culture. Included are discussions of such writers as Ernest J. Gaines, Anne Rice, James Lee Burke, Moira Crone, John Dufresne, Michael Lee West, Rebecca Wells, and Robert Olin Butler.