Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.
Lafacadio Hearn left Cincinnati for New Orleans in 1877, where he remained for almost a decade. Whilst there he penned Gombo Zhebes, which is a collection of 352 Creole proverbs selected from 6 different dialects. Included are selections from the Creole of French Guyana, the Creole of Haiti, the Creole of New Orleans, the Creole of Martinique, the Creole of Mauritius, and the Creole of Trinidad. The proverbs are translated into French and into English. This early work by Hearn was first published in 1885 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introductory biography.
Excerpt from Gombo Zhebes: Little Dictionary of Creole Proverbs, Selected From Six Creole DialectsNevertheless all which I have utilized exhibit the peculiarities of the vernacular sufficiently to justify their presence.While some of these proverbs are witty enough to call a smile to the most serious lips, many others must, no doubt, seem vapid. Enigmatic, or even meaningless. But a large majority of negro sayings depend altogether upon application for their color or their effectiveness; they possess a chameleon power of changing hue according to the manner in which they are placed. (see for examples: Prov. 161, 251, or Every saying of this kind is susceptible of numerous applications; and the art of applying one proverb to many different situations is one in which the negro has no rival - not even among the Arabs them selves, whose use of such folklore has been so admirably illustrated by Carlo Landberg.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
