Alfred Mercier | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Jean Justin Charles Alfred Mercier June 3, 1816 New Orleans, Louisianna |
| Died | May 12, 1894 (aged 77) New Orleans, Louisianna |
| Occupation | Novelist Doctor |
| Notable works | Étude sur la Langue Créole en Louisiane |
| Spouse |
Virginie Vezian
(m. 1849–1894) |
Alfred Mercier (June 3, 1816 - May 12, 1894) was a Creole doctor, poet, playwright, novelist, and philosopher. He spoke Greek, Latin, French, and Louisiana Creole. He wrote seven French novels and is considered a post-American Civil War author and contributor to the literature of New Orleans. His first novel was Le Fou de Palerme written in 1873. His works featured a broad range of topics including clerical celibacy, abortion, and slavery and its aftermath. Alfred corresponded with French scholars such as Eugène Rolland and folklorist Henri Gaidoz. He founded Athénée Louisianais in 1876 which was a cultural association. In 1887 he completed a play entitled Fortunia Drame en Cinq Actes (Fortunia A Five Act Drama). Alfred's half-first cousin was Creole playwright Louis Placide Canonge and his half-uncle was Jean François Canonge. His sister married French American senator Pierre Soulé and Alfred completed his biography entitled Biographie de P. Soulé, Sénateur à Washington (Biography of P. Soulé, Washington Senator) in 1848.[1][2][3][4][5]
Alfred was born in New Orleans to Jean Baptiste Mercier and Marie Helouise Mercier. His half-aunt was a Creole woman named Amelie Mercier who passed as white.[6] He left New Orleans and studied in Paris at Lycée Louis-le-Grand an institution his cousin Louis Placide Canonge also attended around the same period. Alfred spent half his life going back and forth to Paris publishing his first works and studying medicine in the city. He also traveled all over Europe several times. Around the time of the American Civil War, he supported the Confederate cause attempting to gain support from France for the South. Alfred returned to New Orleans towards the end of the 1860s where he completed the first linguistic description of Louisiana Creole entitled Étude sur la Langue Créole en Louisiane (Study on the Creole Language in Louisiana).[7][4][1][8]
- ^ a b Gipson 2019.
- ^ Cashell 2008, pp. 1–55.
- ^ Kent 1909a, p. 1748.
- ^ a b Kent 1909, p. 3629.
- ^ Fortier 1909b, p. 317.
- ^ Kein 2000, pp. 214, 216.
- ^ Mcaleb 1894, p. 373.
- ^ Fertel 2014, p. 54-55.