ENCHANTED WITH THE CITY OF THE SOUTH – NEW ORLEANS IN LAFCADIO HEARN’S LITERARY NONFICTION

Joanna Przeszlakowska-Wasilewska

Katedra Filologii Angielskiej Uniwersytet Warmińsko-Mazurski w Olsztynie


Abstract

This paper is devoted to the New Orleans stage in the writings of the nineteenth-century American literary journalist, Lafcadio Hearn. The major focus is on the writer’s fascination with the city’s unique Southern character which was skillfully grasped and conveyed by Hearn during the decade of his residence in New Orleans. The articles published in the Cincinnati Commercial and the Daily City Item are discussed in terms of the author’s sensual and emotional approach towards what he considered as
the greatest assets of New Orleans: its tropicality, the Creole element, the climate, and the women. Special attention is paid to Hearn’s sensitivity to feminine beauty as
the crucial determinant of the city image he managed to describe for future generations.


Keywords:

American literary non-fiction, close reading, New Orleans, city image, South


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Published
2018-06-01

Cited by

Przeszlakowska-Wasilewska, J. (2018). ENCHANTED WITH THE CITY OF THE SOUTH – NEW ORLEANS IN LAFCADIO HEARN’S LITERARY NONFICTION. Acta Neophilologica, 1(XX), 65–79. https://doi.org/10.31648/an.2687

Joanna Przeszlakowska-Wasilewska 
Katedra Filologii Angielskiej Uniwersytet Warmińsko-Mazurski w Olsztynie