As a New Orleans resident, I have the feeling that we are being flooded once again—not now by treacherous waters like those unloosed by the levee breaks that followed on the heels of Hurricane Katrina. This time it is by books about the city, especially in the wake of Katrina (and its sequel, Rita). New Orleans has become a very hot topic for authors since late last year, and, as is often the case under such circumstances, their books are rushed through their respective presses in order to get on the booksellers’ shelves as soon as possible. This little book seems to be yet another example of that phenomenon.
Blues for Katrina was put together by a committee of distinguished scholars, but it is not a scholarly book. There is no statement, for example, about the division of labor that went into the compilation. Nor is there any scholarly apparatus such as notes, index or a bibliography. “Forgive us,” they write, “as academics driven by the urgency of recent events to produce this book in record time, we felt that we wanted the liberating force of the moment.” “What’s the ‘urgency‘?“ I would ask. Since the quality of the text ranges from almost chatty to uneven scholarly detail, it is difficult to discern who the intended audience is. The “educated layman” perhaps? Or, more likely, a book by educated Yankees for educated Yankees? If the latter, maybe that does justify the haste. There have already been a number of books by New Orleanians with not dissimilar messages.
What is the message here? While several interesting issues and questions are raised, the dominant theme is the centrality of Mardi Gras (Carnival) to life in New Orleans. The authors recognize it as the most powerful symbol of the “Creole” city’s life and, given the ravages of Katrina and Rita, they ask if the celebration and city can survive. They note the heated debate that took place locally prior to Carnival 2006 and conclude, “Our sense is that there will be Mardi Gras—and that even if limited in scale by scarcity of the citizenry or issues of decorum, it will artistically encapsulate this bizarre cultural moment in a manner that embraces both the concerns for appropriateness and need for the pleasure of the music and parades, feasting, and fleshy excess it embodies for the public that can assemble.” Their prediction was obviously correct. Yet they are still angered by the “confederacy of failures” that preceded this year’s Mardi Gras/Carnival season.
“Ours is an outrage of the moment over the devastation initiated by natural disaster and compounded by the failure of the government at every level to prepare for an occurrence that had been foretold since the building of this city in an unstable coastal environment. We are angry in the face of a hurricane whose intensity blew away many of our dreamscapes, and even angrier because human intervention could have prevented it in a way most natural disasters cannot be. And now, we daily witness the indignities issuing from those who run our national lives, as they ask, ‘What’s left to reconstruct? Let’s just start all over.’” Most New Orleanians feel the very same way.
The core of the book is an account of Mardi Gras/Carnival—its origins, its history, and its symbolism. While, at times, the narrative devolves into a virtual laundry list of ethnographic analogies, it serves as a useful introduction to the city, its people, and problems for the non-New Orleanian. The account is the product of a committee of largely outsiders (Nick Spitzer, though not a native, would be the exception) and should be particularly informative to outsiders. I certainly found little to take exception to.
The ultimate question, as the authors put it, of course is, “What will become of New Orleans and Mardi Gras?” They note, correctly, “The United States needs the Crescent City for many economic reasons, but also as a symbol of cultural freedoms, worked out in pain and pleasure and expressed in a shared but distinctive series of ways among peoples from Europe, Africa, and Native America who have called themselves New Orleanians for almost three centuries.”
And they conclude, “Unlike the Phoenix, New Orleans will rise from mud, not ashes, after a trial by water and un-benign political neglect, not by fire. The future of an authentic Land of Dreams is in the hopes and will of the people who have always made it the Creole heart of America’s soul.”
I think most New Orleanians would agree with that too.
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[Review length: 756 words • Review posted on May 17, 2006]