Voices from Louisiana

Profiles of Contemporary Writers

Ann Brewster Dobie

• Publisher: LSU Press
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9780807168936
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Literary Biographies
• Index: Literature

Voices from Louisiana provides thoughtful, timely profiles of some of the state's most highly regarded and popular contemporary authors. Readers interested in Louisiana's rich literary tradition will appreciate these evocative essays on writers whose works emanate from the cultures and landscapes of the Gulf South. Ann Brewster Dobie explores the works of eleven well-known authors and concludes with a look at several emerging talents. These writers work in a broad range of genres, from coming-of-age stories and historical narratives that recover the voices of silenced and oppressed peoples, to crime thrillers set in New Iberia and New Orleans, to poetic invocations of the natural world and narratives capturing the realities of working-class lives. Whether native to the state or transplants, these writers produce works that reflect the vibrant culture that defines the intricate literary landscape of the Pelican State. Dobie highlights the careers of Darrell Bourque, James Lee Burke, Ernest Gaines, Tim Gautreaux, Shirley Ann Grau, Greg Guirard, William Joyce, Julie Kane, Tom Piazza, Martha Serpas, and James Wilcox. Newcomers also profiled include Wiley Cash, Ashley Mace Havird, Anne L. Simon, Katy Simpson Smith, Ashley Weaver, Steve Weddle, and Ken Wheaton.

Index

abortion, 50, 52

Academy Awards, 72, 77

Allen Parish, 130

American Academy of Religion, 105

American Association of University Professors, 105

American Boychoir, 90

American Library Association, 77

Anderson, Sherwood, xi, 81, 125, 132

Anglo culture, 128

apps, 78

Apps Magazine, 78

Ardoin, Amédé, 33, 37

Arkansas, 21, 45, 131

Armstrong, Louis, 75

Arnaudville Collective, 29

ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for Music Writing, 96

Association of Writers and Writing Programs, 105

Atchafalaya Basin, viii, 6, 60–61, 63–69

Atchafalaya Basinkeeper, 62, 64

ATLAS grant, 115

Augustine, 112, 123

Baldwin, James, 18

Barth, John, 123

Baton Rouge, LA, 29, 84, 118

Bauer, Margaret, 44

Bayou Amy, viii, 60, 69

Bayou Lafourche, 11

Bedell, Jack, 33, 37

Beethoven, 119

Bennington (VT) Writing Seminars, 101, 129

“Big Curly Madonna,” 62

Bishop, Elizabeth, 29

Blanchard, Annie, 65

Blanchard, Roy, 65

Blanco, Kathleen, 28

Bloom, Harold, 104, 108, 115

Blue Sky Studios, 77

Boethius, 123

Bonhoeffer, Dietrich, 123

Bontemps, Arna, xi

Boston University, 84

“Bots,” 72, 75

Bourque, Darrell, vii, 28–37

Brancusi, Constantine, 34

Brassieur, C. Ray, 68, 70

Brock, Van, 32

Brown v. Board of Education, 21

Bruckner, Anton, 119

Burke, James Lee, vii, 1–15

Cable, George Washington, xi, 125

caesura, 36

Café du Monde, 84

Caffery, Jeff, 66

Cajun, 17, 20, 22, 33, 41, 46–47, 62–70, 106, 128, 133

culture, 4, 6, 20, 65, 134

documentaries, viii, 67

Carver, Raymond, 132

Catholicism, 8, 17, 38, 42, 104, 120

Cash, Wiley, 125–27

Centenary College of Louisiana, 74–75, 127, 132

Chautauqua Institute, 101

Chopin, Kate, xi, 20, 125

Christie, Agatha, 125, 128, 130

Church Point, LA, 30, 33, 34

Ciuraru, Carmela, 129

civil rights, 50–51, 127

Civil Rights Act of 1968, 21

Coffman, Elizabeth, 110

Collins, Billy, 29

Corneille, 123

Cornell University, 83–84

Creole, 17, 33

culture, 20

Crone, Moira, xi

Dickey, James, 39

Dionysian, 55

Disney/Pixar, 73–74, 79

Do Some Damage, 132

Donald and Velvia Crumbley Professorship, LSU, 115

Donald Justice Poetry Prize, 86

Double Dealer, xi

Downbeat, 96

Dr. John, 98

Dreamworks, 74, 77

Dryden, John, 29, 32

Dubus, Andre, 1

Dürer, Albrecht, 34

Edgar Allan Poe Award, 3, 130

Ellison, Ralph, 16

enjambment, 112

Enochs, Lampton, 74–75, 77

Eudora Welty Chair for Southern Studies, Millsaps, 101

Farnsworth-Smith, Trish, 74–75

Fates, Three, 55

Faulkner, William, xi, 21, 61, 67, 101, 125

Faulkner Society Award for the Novel, 101

Ferrol Sams Award for Fiction, 127

Florida State University, 32

Frost, Robert, 29

Fulbright lecturer, 85

Gaines, Ernest, vii, 16–27, 126

Galliano, LA, vii, 105

Gaudet, Marcia, 17–18, 25

Gautreaux, Tim, 38–48

George Bennett Fellowship in Writing, Phillips Exeter Academy, 84

Gilchrist, Ellen, 84

Gingles, Bill, 35–37

Grand Prairie, LA, 133

Grau, Shirley Ann, vii, 49–59

Great Depression, 1

Great Society, 21

Guardians of Childhood series, 76, 81

Guggenheim Fellowsh...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Foreword
• Preface
• Fallen Beings in an Imperfect World: The Fiction of James Lee Burke
• The Fictive World of Ernest Gaines
• Darrell Bourque: Poet and Poetry Advocate
• Tim Gautreaux: Where Humor Meets Heartbreak, Always around Machinery
• Shirley Ann Grau: Maker of Myths
• Greg Guirard: A Life on Bayou Amy
• William Joyce: Guardian of Childhood
• Julie Kane: Formalist, Confessional Poet, and Playful Stylist
• Tom Piazza: A Serious Writer and More
• Martha Serpas’ Balancing Act
• James Wilcox’s Tula Springs: Serious Comedy
• The Newcomers
• Index