Postcolonial Writing in Louisiana: Surpassing the Role of French Traditionalism in Alfred Mercier's Lhabitation Saint-Ybars

by Cashell, Mary Florence

This thesis explores the roles of French patriarchal ideologies of the Enlightenment and exoticism in Alfred Merciers novel, Lhabitation Saint-Ybars. His novel portrays the antebellum Creole plantation as a hierarchy of strict gender roles similar to those that Enlightenment philosophy espoused. I use the family in Bernardin de Saint-Pierres classic, Paul et Virginie, as one example of such a hierarchy. There are also, however, several instances where Mercier departs from the paternalistic norm. I interpret Merciers moving away from this model to be a declaration of a unique Louisianian identity.