Swapping Stories

Here are more than two hundred oral tales from some of Louisiana's finest storytellers. In this comprehensive volume of great range are transcriptions of narratives in many genres (ghost stories, tall tales, myths, magic tales, buried-treasure tales, and reminiscences of small-town life), from diverse voices (including Cajuns, Creoles, Native Americans, African Americans, and Louisianans of Hungarian, Italian, and Vietnamese descent), and from all regions of the state. Told in both intimate and public settings ranging from the front porch to the festival stage, these tales proclaim the great vitality and variety of Louisiana's oral narrative traditions. Given special focus are Harold Talbert, Lonnie Gray, Bel Abbey, Ben Guine, and Enola Matthews--whose wealth of imagination, memory, and artistry demonstrates the depth as well as the breadth of the storyteller's craft.

For tales told in Cajun and Creole French, Koasati, and Spanish, the editors have supplied both the original language and English translation. To the volume Maida Owens has contributed an overview of Louisiana's folk culture and a survey of folklife studies of various regions of the state. Carl Lindahl's introduction and notes discuss the various genres and styles of storytelling common in Louisiana and link them with the worldwide art of the folktale. This is a book that will have appeal both for scholars and for anyone who loves a well-told story.