The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes (1907–21).
VOLUME XVIII. Later National Literature, Part III.
§ 30. The Novel
The novel owed its prosperity between 1845 and the Civil War chiefly to popular magazines like La Revue Louisianaise, Les Veillées Louisianaises, La Violette, and L’Echo National, whose feuilletons are now an interesting mine. In this period there was a demand for historical tales and stories of Louisiana life; as witness the following titles, announced by La Revue Louisianaise: Histoire de toutes des rues de la Nouvelle-Orléans, par un Vieux Magistrat; Une Famille Créole; Or et Fange, mystères of New Orleans. Garreau’s Louisiana, the source of Canonge’s France et Espagne, appeared in Les Veillées Louisianaises in 1845. It is long and formless, though the style is clear and the history fairly faithful. Garreau was virtually the first novelist to attempt a re-creation of colonial Louisiana.