Living with war: The siege of New Orleans through the "Journal of Julia Legrand"

• Autores: Cristóbal Clemente Rodrigálvarez
• Localización: Taking stock to look ahead: celebrating forty years of English studies in Spain / coord. por María Ferrández San Miguel, Claus Peter Neumann, 2018, ISBN 978-84-16723-51-5, págs. 45-50
• Idioma: inglés
• Enlaces
  • Texto Completo Libro  1    2 (pdf) 
• Resumen

  • Most of the voices used in the remembrance of the American Civil War are those of the women who had to defend their towns and farms. This is especially the case in the Confederate States, where the influence of the Southern women crystallized into a lasting trope: the Heroine of Dixie.

    Using this figure as referent, I will focus on the case of Julia LeGrand and her chronicle of the siege of New Orleans. LeGrand had all the elements of an archetypical Southern belle, but through her writings we observe that she did possess a sharp mind and a literary sense. She displays a critical awareness that spared neither side. From social commentary to a reflection on the roles of genders or the politics of power, LeGrand’s diary showcases a type of literature where grandiose historic events cohabit with the vividness of routine.