Reviews for Old Creole Days

The average rating for Old Creole Days based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-10-05 00:00:00 Jeff Bray In Life on the Mississippi, Mark Twain writes of children's disappointment at Joel Chandler Harris (the author of the Uncle Remus stories) being a white man. That reminded me that when I first learned of Cable, however long ago that was, I thought he must've been African-American or a Creole of color. Even reading this in the 21st century, it's unfortunately easy to see why Cable was basically run out of town (though that came later with his more overt support of racial equality and opposition to Jim Crow). These stories, despite some extravagant plots, reflect the absurdity of racial laws and the ridiculousness of the values of antebellum Creole society. One of Cable's strengths is his descriptions of the houses and neighborhoods of New Orleans. As far as the dialect goes, I struggled with only one story, "Café des Exilés." I enjoyed the dark fairy-tale quality of "Belles Demoiselles." I wondered if "Jean-ah Poquelin" was an influence on Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier." Rereading this has reinforced to me how nothing much ever seems to change. From "Posson Jone": The lowest seats were full of trappers, smugglers, Canadian voyageurs, drinking and singing; Américains, too'more's the shame'from the upper rivers'who will not keep their seats'who ply the bottle, and who will get home by-and-by and tell how wicked Sodom is…

Review # 2 was written on 2020-09-01 00:00:00 Billy Burton The author is among several mentioned in ABROAD WITH THE JIMMIES by Lilian Bell.