Gaines, Ernest J. (Vol. 11) - Introduction

Gaines, Ernest J. 1933–

Gaines is a black American novelist and short story writer. His fiction deals with the victimization of the poor, uneducated black, often in settings drawn from Gaines's native southern Louisiana. Character portrayal in Gaines is realistic and convincing, and has been compared to Faulkner's. The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman is his best known work. (See also CLC, Vol. 3, and Contemporary Authors, Vols. 9-12, rev. ed.)