Marie de Berniere
A Tale of the Crescent City, Etc., Etc., Etc.
William Gilmore Simms
introduction by W. Matthew J. Simmons
Paperback
978-1-61117-616-2
Published: Feb 26 2016
The inclusion of this book in the Open Carolina collection is made possible by the generous funding of
Marie De Berniere: A Tale of the Crescent City, Etc., Etc., Etc. is a collection of William Gilmore Simms's stories published in 1853. In addition to the title story, the collection includes "The Maroon" and "Maize in Milk." Each story was published serially prior to the collection and gradually expanded from its serial version into novella form.
"Marie de Berniere" can be classified as both a story of local New Orleans "manners" and a "moral imaginative" tale, while "The Maroon: A Lengend of the Caribees" is a more artistic literary romance that centers on Simms's knowledge of Spain. Its main character, Lopez de Levya, is portrayed in explicit love scenes that would have been shocking at the time of its publication. The third novella included in Marie De Berniere, "Maize in Milk. A Christmas Story of the South," provides a fictional account of the customs and traditions of Christmas in the Old South.
