Audubon on Louisiana

The force and frequency of John James Audubon's references to Louisiana in his writings are striking. Many of Audubon's most memorable texts are devoted to the years he spent in Louisiana, and to the birds he found and painted there. Author Ben Forkner contends that without Louisiana there would be no John James Audubon as we know him today and no Birds of America. Audubon on Louisiana contains what the author considers Audubon's essential writings on Louisiana, demonstrating the crucial role of the state in his life, including the fiction of Louisiana as his birthplace forged on his passport. Arranged chronologically, the selections begin in 1810 as Audubon first sets foot in the old Louisiana Territory and continue as he moves into southern Louisiana ten years later, eventually bringing his wife, Lucy, down to join him. The discoveries he makes there as he struggles to fill his portfolio with new watercolors completely transform his art, and his life.
Forkner's introduction and substantial narrative provide a concise, new, original biography of Audubon's life in the Pelican State, a life that happens to coincide with and bear witness to the emergence of modern Louisiana. Pivotal to this new biography is what Forkner terms the Louisiana Journal, Audubon's private journal of 1820-21. The rawness of Audubon's English at the time has often kept the general reader from fully appreciating the Journal's qualities, namely because it has never been presented in the context of its conception, with a detailed explanation to guide the reader from beginning to end. The long headnote to the Journal does just that (for the first time in Audubon studies) and makes this vital document far more accessible. The result is a fascinating self-portrait in the master's own voice.