Le Mulâtre
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"Le Mulâtre" ("The Mulatto") is a short story by Victor Séjour, a free person of color and Creole of color born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. It was written in French, Séjour's first language, and published in the Paris abolitionist journal Revue des Colonies in 1837. It is the earliest extant work of fiction by an African-American author. It was noted as such when it was first translated in English, appearing in the first edition of the Norton Anthology of African American Literature in 1997.[1]
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Before the importance of French literature by writers of color from New Orleans was recognized, histories of African-American fiction had conventionally begun with "The Heroic Slave" by Frederick Douglass in 1852,[2] and "The Two Offers" by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper in 1859 had been considered the first African-American short story.[3] French-language literature flourished from the late 18th and into the early 20th century in Louisiana, and the francophone literary community among people of color was intellectually rich and sophisticated. This reality was obscured by the identification of American literature with writing in English.[4] The literary dynamism of New Orleans prepared Séjour to have a successful career as a dramatist in Paris. He emigrated there at the age of 19 for his education and to escape racial restrictions in the U.S.[5]
"The Mulatto" has been described as "a gothic revenge tale revolving around the psychological conflicts of a mulatto searching for the identity of his father."[6] It is one of the earliest works of fiction driven by the psychological trauma of American slavery.[7]