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Walter Lynwood Fleming Lectures in Southern History
Dixie Bohemia: A French Quarter Circle in the 1920s
In the years following World War I, the New Orleans French Quarter attracted artists and writers with its low rents, faded charm, and colorful street life. By the 1920s Jackson Square had become the center of a vibrant if short-lived bohemia. A young William Faulkner and his roommate William Spratling, an artist who taught at Tulane University, resided among the "artful and crafty ones of the French Quarter." In Dixie Bohemia John Shelton Reed introduces Faulkner's circle of friends -- ranging from the distinguished Sherwood Anderson to a gender-bending Mardi Gras costume designer -- and brings to life the people and places of New Orleans in the Jazz Age.
Reed begins with Faulkner and Spratling's self-published homage to their fellow bohemians, "Sherwood Anderson and Other Famous Creoles." The book contained 43 sketches of New Orleans artists, by Spratling, with captions and a short introduction by Faulkner. The title served as a rather obscure Sherwood was not a Creole and neither were most of the people featured. But with Reed's commentary, these profiles serve as an entry into the world of artists and writers that dined on Decatur Street, attended masked balls, and blatantly ignored the Prohibition Act. These men and women also helped to establish New Orleans institutions such as the Double Dealer literary magazine, the Arts and Crafts Club, and Le Petit Theatre. But unlike most bohemias, the one in New Orleans existed as a whites-only affair. Though some of the bohemians were relatively progressive, and many employed African American material in their own work, few of them knew or cared about what was going on across town among the city's black intellectuals and artists.
The positive developments from this French Quarter renaissance, however, attracted attention and visitors, inspiring the historic preservation and commercial revitalization that turned the area into a tourist destination. Predictably, this gentrification drove out many of the working artists and writers who had helped revive the area. As Reed points out, one resident who identified herself as an "artist" on the 1920 federal census gave her occupation in 1930 as "saleslady, real estate," reflecting the decline of an active artistic class.
A charming and insightful glimpse into an era, Dixie Bohemia describes the writers, artists, poseurs, and hangers-on in the New Orleans art scene of the 1920s and illuminates how this dazzling world faded as quickly as it began.
Reed begins with Faulkner and Spratling's self-published homage to their fellow bohemians, "Sherwood Anderson and Other Famous Creoles." The book contained 43 sketches of New Orleans artists, by Spratling, with captions and a short introduction by Faulkner. The title served as a rather obscure Sherwood was not a Creole and neither were most of the people featured. But with Reed's commentary, these profiles serve as an entry into the world of artists and writers that dined on Decatur Street, attended masked balls, and blatantly ignored the Prohibition Act. These men and women also helped to establish New Orleans institutions such as the Double Dealer literary magazine, the Arts and Crafts Club, and Le Petit Theatre. But unlike most bohemias, the one in New Orleans existed as a whites-only affair. Though some of the bohemians were relatively progressive, and many employed African American material in their own work, few of them knew or cared about what was going on across town among the city's black intellectuals and artists.
The positive developments from this French Quarter renaissance, however, attracted attention and visitors, inspiring the historic preservation and commercial revitalization that turned the area into a tourist destination. Predictably, this gentrification drove out many of the working artists and writers who had helped revive the area. As Reed points out, one resident who identified herself as an "artist" on the 1920 federal census gave her occupation in 1930 as "saleslady, real estate," reflecting the decline of an active artistic class.
A charming and insightful glimpse into an era, Dixie Bohemia describes the writers, artists, poseurs, and hangers-on in the New Orleans art scene of the 1920s and illuminates how this dazzling world faded as quickly as it began.
344 pages, Paperback
First published September 17, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
July 26, 2018
An Auspicious 1920s Vieux Carré Demimonde, a review of Dixie Bohemia
Since early childhood, I’ve had an affinity for the 1920s. I loved traditional jazz, flapper fashion, bobbed hair, and the seemingly laissez-faire lifestyle. I read nonfiction of New York, Chicago, and Paris of the era. With the exception of Chapter 2 of the wonderful book, Madame Vieux Carré by Scott S. Ellis, I had not read much of this specific era in my native New Orleans. John Shelton Reed’s Dixie Bohemia provided that much-desired closer glimpse.
The book is focused on a circle of creative characters: writers, painters, architects, actors, photographers, illustrators, tour guides, preservationists, mostly of the French Quarter, along with their hangers-on and poseurs. The majority of these “Famous Creoles” (an inside joke) were not native to New Orleans and some not even the South.
New Orleans is an obliging environment which has attracted its share of transplants wanting to reinvent themselves. Among this 20s demimonde was William Faulkner. He tried out several personas while living in the French Quarter. Along with many of his friends within the circle, he enjoyed the unique architecture, bohemian lifestyle, and the indulgences of a city with little enforcement of Prohibition. Although he only lived in New Orleans for less than sixteen months, he wrote two novels, beginning his successful literary career.
Sherwood Anderson came to New Orleans as an accomplished and distinguished writer. He is the oddity in that each in this group achieved their personal potential outside of New Orleans or after time spent here. It’s been hinted that perhaps the beauty and lifestyle was too much of a distraction to transcend, but there is no question of the inspiration it provided. There were achievements such as the literary journal, The Double Dealer, which was influential if short-lived. The Arts and Crafts Club is often credited with the legacy of “The French Quarter Renaissance.” Le Petit Théâtre du Vieux Carre continues to exist in the theater building constructed for it in 1922. Perhaps the greatest feat by this circle proved to be preservation. Grace King and Lyle Saxon (who wept at the sight of the French Opera House burning to the ground) rescued the architecture of the French Quarter from a modern movement determined to homogenize it to the rest of the country.
For this reader, Dixie Bohemia offered a delightful insight to the past and enticed an anticipation of the creative culture of New Orleans in the upcoming 2020s.
https://kristinfouquet.blogspot.com/2...
Since early childhood, I’ve had an affinity for the 1920s. I loved traditional jazz, flapper fashion, bobbed hair, and the seemingly laissez-faire lifestyle. I read nonfiction of New York, Chicago, and Paris of the era. With the exception of Chapter 2 of the wonderful book, Madame Vieux Carré by Scott S. Ellis, I had not read much of this specific era in my native New Orleans. John Shelton Reed’s Dixie Bohemia provided that much-desired closer glimpse.
The book is focused on a circle of creative characters: writers, painters, architects, actors, photographers, illustrators, tour guides, preservationists, mostly of the French Quarter, along with their hangers-on and poseurs. The majority of these “Famous Creoles” (an inside joke) were not native to New Orleans and some not even the South.
New Orleans is an obliging environment which has attracted its share of transplants wanting to reinvent themselves. Among this 20s demimonde was William Faulkner. He tried out several personas while living in the French Quarter. Along with many of his friends within the circle, he enjoyed the unique architecture, bohemian lifestyle, and the indulgences of a city with little enforcement of Prohibition. Although he only lived in New Orleans for less than sixteen months, he wrote two novels, beginning his successful literary career.
Sherwood Anderson came to New Orleans as an accomplished and distinguished writer. He is the oddity in that each in this group achieved their personal potential outside of New Orleans or after time spent here. It’s been hinted that perhaps the beauty and lifestyle was too much of a distraction to transcend, but there is no question of the inspiration it provided. There were achievements such as the literary journal, The Double Dealer, which was influential if short-lived. The Arts and Crafts Club is often credited with the legacy of “The French Quarter Renaissance.” Le Petit Théâtre du Vieux Carre continues to exist in the theater building constructed for it in 1922. Perhaps the greatest feat by this circle proved to be preservation. Grace King and Lyle Saxon (who wept at the sight of the French Opera House burning to the ground) rescued the architecture of the French Quarter from a modern movement determined to homogenize it to the rest of the country.
For this reader, Dixie Bohemia offered a delightful insight to the past and enticed an anticipation of the creative culture of New Orleans in the upcoming 2020s.
https://kristinfouquet.blogspot.com/2...
January 3, 2021
This is a delightful and balanced book, mostly a collection of miniature biographies. Reed is a fine writer and a shrewd and balanced analyzer. Combined with the pictures, he brought this interlude in the French Quarter's history to life, a time between "Little Palermo" and the rise of Bourbon Street, when the French Quarter was a kind of art colony. The circle he describes produced precious few classics, but they were not without achievement (historic preservation in particular) and were unusual enough to warrant notice. Sadly, in our hyper partisan age where everything is political, balanced books like this seem increasingly rare. But the time will come again.
April 13, 2019
Explores the environment of 1920's French Quarter of New Orleans, with biographical sketches of local notables. An often overlooked period of history of the French Quarter. Very enlightening, and very enjoyable. An excellent resource, and good starting point for further historical study (if one was so inclined).
August 6, 2020
This is a fascinating read, given you have an interest in America's most eccentric city. It is based on a limited, privately printed book released in 1926, Sherwood Anderson and Other Famous Creoles drawn by Wm. Spratling and arranged by Wm. Faulkner. It gives a brief analysis of the short-lived French Quarter Bohemia of the Jazz Age in New Orleans. The original book is a series of eclectic caricatures of a broad range of personalities ranging from artists, authors, journalists, archeologists, businessmen, dilettantes, educators, and socialites of all ages. Biographies are written of all the characters and each is fascinating in its own right. Anderson (famous at the time) and Faulkner (a young want-to-be) are the names to remember, but the rest of the cast is fascinating.
May 20, 2013
John Shelton Reed never disappoints. Here, one of the most perceptive observers of the South takes on the artistic circle of friends that formed around Sherwood Anderson, William Faulkner, and William Spratling in 1920s New Orleans.
June 19, 2017
A very interesting elucidation of the historical context of the arts in the French Quarter of New Orleans.
February 10, 2019
Must purchase for historical references 👌🏼
September 20, 2014
Reed's book evolved after he was asked to be the first Sociologist to give the Louisiana State University Fleming Lectures of Southern History and is told as a story of people and their reciprocal connection to New Orleans, the French Quarter and each other. Armed with a cast of fun characters, set in Jazz age New Orleans, Reed's Dixie is the story of a fun, fleeting and artistically bountiful time in the Crescent City.
Reed knits together the individual stories of each unique and lovingly articulated member of this memorialized social circle with humor, and an appreciation for history. His book includes a historian's favorite tools, both an index and a thick section of user-friendly notes. Though only a minority of the famous creoles ever enjoyed much notoriety, those who mixed in the social circle shaped their local world together. The community that was at the center of artistic life of the Vieux Carre in the 1920's was more than just an interesting bit of serendipity. Its members used their social activities to boost one another's art within their own positions, proving the necessity of community and fraternity in artistic scenes. Reed's sociologist credentials illustrate how this circle of drinking, dancing, artistic, architecture loving, traveling, literary bunch of quasi-misfits helped to save the Montmartre of the South and nurtured a small but unapologetically Southern contribution of art, literature and culture unique as the city itself.
Reed knits together the individual stories of each unique and lovingly articulated member of this memorialized social circle with humor, and an appreciation for history. His book includes a historian's favorite tools, both an index and a thick section of user-friendly notes. Though only a minority of the famous creoles ever enjoyed much notoriety, those who mixed in the social circle shaped their local world together. The community that was at the center of artistic life of the Vieux Carre in the 1920's was more than just an interesting bit of serendipity. Its members used their social activities to boost one another's art within their own positions, proving the necessity of community and fraternity in artistic scenes. Reed's sociologist credentials illustrate how this circle of drinking, dancing, artistic, architecture loving, traveling, literary bunch of quasi-misfits helped to save the Montmartre of the South and nurtured a small but unapologetically Southern contribution of art, literature and culture unique as the city itself.
February 28, 2013
Dixie Bohemia is a fascinating analysis of the inter-war French Quarter. Much of this book is actually "The Annotated Sherwood Anderson and Other Famous Creoles," which is interesting as a "Who's Who" of this fleeting social scene providing context for each person's inclusion in Spratling and Faulkner's original Famous Creoles gallery of caricatures. I highly suggest pairing the two for maximum voyeuristic immersion into this Bohemian interlude but Reed does include Spratling's illustrations with each entry.
"Spratling joked that Anderson was taking himself very seriously at the time because someone had recently called him the "Dean of American Literature," but Faulkner, a writer himself, was more sympathetic; he came to believe that he had truly hurt Anderson by making fun of his style at a time when the older man was beginning to recognize that he had passed his prime and had nothing left but style."
"Spratling joked that Anderson was taking himself very seriously at the time because someone had recently called him the "Dean of American Literature," but Faulkner, a writer himself, was more sympathetic; he came to believe that he had truly hurt Anderson by making fun of his style at a time when the older man was beginning to recognize that he had passed his prime and had nothing left but style."
December 15, 2012
I found this book really fascinating. It involves the history of New Orleans in the twenties, when so many artists congregated here, and went on to marvelous careers including Faulkner, William Spratling, Caroline Duriex, and many others.
If you are interested in New Orleans, in artistic communities, in how writers interact, and how communities support them, this book is for you.
One thing about New Orleans I have noticed, as a resident, is that being an artist is encouraged by people of all classes---it is not considered strange or eccentric. Artists of all kinds have come to live in New Orleans after
Katrina, and the place is having another bohemian explosion.
If you are interested in New Orleans, in artistic communities, in how writers interact, and how communities support them, this book is for you.
One thing about New Orleans I have noticed, as a resident, is that being an artist is encouraged by people of all classes---it is not considered strange or eccentric. Artists of all kinds have come to live in New Orleans after
Katrina, and the place is having another bohemian explosion.
September 24, 2016
An interesting read about the circle of writers, artists, socialites, and students whose activities, produced works, and over-the-top parties combined to give the French Quarter a bohemian feel back in the 1920s. Author Reed's voice is engaging and humorous and this book made me want to learn more about some of the larger-than-life people who were part of this Dixie Bohemia.
January 11, 2013
An encyclopedic look at a very specific American culture. Intriguing.
March 19, 2016
New Orleans has infinite layers to its history and this is just one of many that go easily and unfortunately overlooked. This collection will make even virgins to the city crave a visit.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews