The Art of Local Color in George W. Cable's The Grandissimes

Abstract

C EORGE WASHINGTON CABLE S most widely known and probably W. best novel, The Grandissimes (i88o), has long been rescued from the label of mere local color. It is usually considered a significant document of early Southern realism, praised for its honesty in treating racial themes and Louisiana Creole society. Certainly, The Grandissimes is strong in its social realism, but rescuing the novel from the implied limitations of local color may be to mistake not only The Grandissimes' essential character, but also its essential strength. To be sure, the local colorist would often emphasize regional delineation over other aspects of his work such as plot or depth of characterization, and certainly those other aspects would often tend to be conventional or sentimental.1 It is this latter element, the element of romance, that most often disturbs the critic looking for realism in The Grandissimes, that is most often seen to vitiate the stronger elements of social criticism. But, Cable's local color in The Grandissimes is special, at the very least by virtue of the region he was delineating. That is, New Orleans and its environs were inescapably exotic to some degree and Cable developed his locale with full attention to its color, that is, to atmosphere. However, it has not often been recognized how thoroughly and artfully functional that atmosphere is in the work.2 In particular Cable creates a sense of mystery or ambiguity that is integrated but dramatically and significantly deepened in the use of the natural environment, and a close examination of these aspects