Dec 27, 2009

Desiree's Baby | Style

Setting and Local Color
At the time of publication of Bayou Folk, which reprinted ‘‘Désirée's Baby,’’ Chopin was primarily seen as a local colorist. This designation was partially due to the fact that Chopin wrote about the Cajuns and Creoles of Louisiana. This world, members of which had distinct cultural traits, was relatively unknown to northerners and even other southerners. The Cajuns were descendants of French settlers in Acadia, Canada. They had been driven from Canada in the 1600s, and came to settle in Louisiana, where their name—Acadians—was...