While undoubtedly best known for his writings on Japan where he spent the last fourteen years of his life, Patricio Lafcadio Tessima Carlos Hearn (1850-1904) produced a varied body of work during his time in the American hemisphere, particularly when he was working as a journalist in Louisiana. His writings for publications such as

and

helped form the popular image of the city of New Orleans as an exotic place with a distinct culture more akin to that of the Caribbean than the rest of North America.

Much less well known is his travelogue Two Years in the French West Indies. This book was the result of Hearn’s two-year stay on the Caribbean island of Martinique where he was sent as a correspondent for Harper’s in 1887. Two Years in the French

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Citation: Otto, Melanie. "Two Years in the French West Indies". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 June 2011 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=33478, accessed 25 November 2024.]

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