by Michael D. Wynne
Probably no Louisiana author has ever better represented Louisiana in their time than that of Lyle Chambers Saxon (1891-1946). Likely born out of wedlock in Washington state, Saxon is probably best associated with the French Quarter in New Orleans as well as of Melrose Plantation in Natchitoches, both locations, including Baton Rouge, Saxon famously resided at during his writing years. His books, including “Old Louisiana, Fabulous New Orleans,” “Lafitte the Pirate,” “Father Mississippi,” “Children of Strangers,” and “Gumbo Ya-Ya,” are all still being published today, probably a record, nearly a century after they were written. Gumbo Ya-Ya (1945) is considered by some critics of the late 20th century as the most important and most representative Louisiana book of the 20th century. It includes major artwork by the renown artists, Roland Gordon Duvernet and Caroline Wogan Durieux.
As important as Saxon’s literary works are, his other accomplishments may be more instrumental towards the preservation of Louisiana’s illustrious history. Saxon almost single handily began the historic salvation of the New Orleans French Quarter during a time that it had fallen into neglect and disrepair and was threatened with being completed demolished. He also brought to the French Quarter some of the greatest 20th century American writers in the 1920s, then making the French Quarter an oasis for America’s literary culture. Saxon, along with his dear friend, Miss Cammie Henry, also helped preserve and promote Melrose Plantation in the Louisiana arts’ community. Yucca House at Melrose is where Saxon did some of his best writing, including that of “Children of Strangers,” Saxon’s only novel and a novel about the Cane River people.
Saxon was also state director of the Louisiana Writers’ Project which produced the monumental “Louisiana State Guide” (1941), a book that is still used amazingly today about our history. The section on Rapides Parish has always been a wonderful well-used reference in this columnist’s research.
But Saxon surprisingly never earned a collegiate degree, let alone a literary one, though he tried. Saxon attended Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge from 1907 to 1912, but was unable to receive his Bachelor of Arts degree. Three important biographies have offered documentation and evidence on why he was unable to complete his degree requirements. In Chance Harvey’s, “The Life and Selected Letters of Lyle Saxon,” Pelican Publishing Company (2003), she says: “… Although Saxon appears in cap and gown among the graduating class pictured in the 1912 Gumbo (yearbook), his transcript in Records and Registration at L.S.U. confirms (Helen) Gilkison’s assertion that he did not graduate (L.S.U.). In later years, Saxon would include in his resumes his college education at L.S.U. These resumes do not state that he earned a degree; instead, they imply that he did with such phrases as “L.S.U., class of 1912” or “educated at Louisiana State University, class of 1912.” … “Harvey also says that Saxon did not complete his degree due to both the illness and the death of his mother as well as a lack of finances to pay for college …”
In Helen Gilkerson’s own 1930 thesis on Saxon’s literary work, she says in part, “…Upon completing preparatory work there (high school), he matriculated at Louisiana State University in 1908 and studied there until 1912 … At the end of four years, he lacked about three hours’ work on his bachelo’s degree, but he did not continue at school…”
Lyle Saxon deserves better, in that an honorary degree to honor his body of work would be a nice “tip of the hat” to such a great author. Senator Huey Long, a controversial character from Louisiana history, who left high school before earning his
high school diploma of his own volition in order to seek fame and fortune, received his own honorary high school diploma in 1993 granted by the Louisiana State Board of Education. So why can’t Saxon be honored likewise by one of our Louisiana pillars of education also?
