SOURCE: Stephens, Robert O. “Genealogy of a Southern Family Saga.” In The Family Saga in the South: Generations and Destinies, pp. 14-39. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1995.
In the following essay, Stephens probes the literary precursors of George Washington Cable's novel The Grandissimes and discusses the work as the first fully-realized family saga in Southern literature.