When The Grandissimes was first published in 1880, the book was criticized for its portrayal of forbidden love and the clash of cultures during the Reconstruction. Since then, the novel has been considered a masterful critique of racial and social inequality that resonates with readers even today. Cable's work has been compared to that of writers as varied as Balzac, John Kennedy Toole, and Henry James.
About the Author
One of the greatest and most celebrated southern writers of his day, George Washington Cable (1844-1925) helped lead the local colorist movement of the late 1800s with his pioneering use of dialect and his skill with the short story form. A southern reformist, Cable wrote faithful portrayals of Creoles and their culture that depict the Creole way of life during the transitory post-Civil War period. This novel is the first realistic portrayal of the clash of Creole culture with the new Americans. It is perhaps his greatest work.
About the Foreword Author
Kenneth Holditch is a Research Professor Emeritus at the University of New Orleans, where he has taught for thirty-two years. He is the founding editor of The Tennessee Williams Journal and has published numerous short stories, articles, and critical essays. He is a founder of the Tennessee Williams Festivals in New Orleans and in Clarksdale, Mississippi, and is also a founding member of the Pirate’s Alley Faulkner Society. He is currently at work on a biography of John Kennedy Toole.
THE GRANDISSIMES
By George Washington Cable
Foreword By Kenneth Holditch
FICTION / Classics
528 pp. 4 1/4 x 7 Illus.
ISBN: 9781565549012 pb original