Inventing New Orleans : Writings of Lafcadio Hearn

Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904) haunted the French Quarter to cover such events as the death of Marie Laveau, the Voodoo Queen. His descriptions of the seamy side of New Orleans, tainted with voodoo, debauchery, and mystery, made a lasting impression on America. Denizens of the Crescent City and devotees who flock there for escapades and pleasures will recognize the prevailing image of New Orleans as originally imparted by Hearn's tales of corruption, of decay and benign frivolity, and of endless partying. With his writing, he virtually invented the national perception of New Orleans as a kind of alternative reality to the United States as a whole.