Customer Reviews

New Orleans Stories: Great Writers on the City

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

John Miller has edited a number of anthologies that concern a particular city or region. I've read San Francisco and Cape Cod Stories, and the New Orleans tales are the best so far. The New Orleans stories begin with an explorer's log from 1699 and continue into the 1980s. Unlike the Cape Cod offering, New Orleans Stories doesn't focus too long on any one era or group. The offerings include not only fiction and essays, but journal entries, a selection from "A Streetcar Named Desire," and a list of folk remedies.

The book provides a survey of "Southern" writers, without focusing too long on any one entry. Obviously, with this type of book, you will enjoy some entries enough that you will look for other books by that author; other selections will not impress you. Thus, while this book does its job well, it is hard for me to give it a five-star rating (which I reserve for my absolute favorite books).

This collection captures the unique character of New Orleans. The voodoo theme crops up a little too often, but its hard to go to New Orleans and not see voodoo themes frequently. If you are one of those people who like to read about the places you vacation, this is an excellent choice.

Andrei Codrescu has long lent his voice to the polyphonous and magnificent chorus of New Orleans writers. In this collection, he captures the mystique, the grandeur, the decay, the beauty & vibrance and the seamy underside of this exquisite city by tying together some of New Orleans' most famous voices in a string of testimonies to its heritage and unique character. Mark Twain and Louis Armstrong give their impressions of life in New Orleans; Anne Rice and John Kennedy Toole evoke fictional characters that could only thrive in this singular city; and historical accounts of its early days give a panoramic view painted in complementary tones. With a dash of voodoo and a heavy helping of the unexplained, this collection really delivers the essence of New Orleans to those already under her spell and those who have yet to be seduced.

While not as surprising as it might be, this collection does a pretty good job putting together a general picture of what literature from the Big Easy is about.

I have read most of the full works highlighted in this anthology and thought that the little tastes were like getting a bite of a Muffaletta and nothing more. For someone who has not ever read New Orleans writers this is nice place to start but it isn't for someone who wants a bigger taste of the city through its literature.