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| Format | Dissertation |
|---|---|
| Creator | Klotz, Sarah Elizabeth |
| Title | Black, White and Yellow Fever: The Impact of Contagion on Race and Embodiment in Ludwig von Reizenstein’s The Mysteries of New Orleans |
| Dissertation Note (type -- academic institution) | M.A. Thesis (English) -- University of California, Davis |
| Date | 2010 |
| Extent of Work | 40 pages |
| View Online | |
| Abstract | "In the summer of 1853, New Orleans fell under the shade of yellow Fever. To describe these as hard times would have seemed a tragic understatement to antebellum residents of the Crescent City. Cemeteries over flowed with bodies, cisterns overflowed with water, and city officials reacted to the putrid atmosphere by firing canons and setting tar ablaze. As cool weather finally released the city from the epidemic in November, literature began to proliferate as doctors and laymen alike tried to explain why 11,000 people had died. Within this context, Baron Ludwig von Reizenstein wrote his novel The Mysteries of New Orleans. At over fivehundred pages, his text treats themes ranging from slavery, to lesbianism, to the Haitian Revolution. Von Reizenstein brings these disparate elements together through the specter of contagion. Infection thus comes to characterize race relations throughout the novel." |
| Call Number | Digital file |
| MKI Terms | German Americans -- Louisiana/ New Orleans (La.)/ Slavery/ Fiction, German-American/ Reizenstein, Ludwig von, 1826-1885 |