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This
novel is based on a true story of the celebrated painter Edgar Degas’
illustrious visit to New Orleans in 1872. The novel takes place in the
home of the Degas family at 2306 Esplanade Avenue , a two-story house
in which 18 members of the Degas family live and eke out a mediocre
bankrupt existence after the Civil War. Edgar Degas arrives to salvage
his brother’s cotton business and to reclaim his family life in the
maternal city of his mother. What he confronts is the scandal of what
has happened to his three cousins (Didi, Mathilde, and Estelle), the
continued racism that has blemished his family (ostracizing his black
cousin Norbert), the bankruptcy of his uncle (Michel Musson), the
bigamous affair of his brother with his next-door neighbor (America)
in his own house, and the rekindling of a passionate illicit affair.
The story exposes the scandalous encounter between Edgar Degas and his
brother, a scandal that kept them from speaking for ten years and led
Degas to return to Paris with a new direction in his work, soon after
known as Impressionism. |
Portrait of Estelle
Musson Degas |
