Gaines, Ernest J. (Vol. 3) - Gaines, Ernest J. 1933–

Gaines, Ernest J. 1933–

Gaines is a black novelist and short story writer whose fictive world is the rural Louisiana where he was raised. His characters are humble blacks with a strong attachment to the land, and he has a keen ear for their dialogue. Despite the apparent simplicity of his framework, he is a complex and painstaking writer. He is best-known for The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman. (See also Contemporary Authors, Vols. 9-12, rev. ed.)

Ernest J. Gaines has not received anything like the attention he deserves, for he may just be the best black writer in America. He is so good, in fact, that he makes the category seem meaningless, though one of his principal subjects has been slavery—past and present.

Born on a Louisiana plantation 38 years ago, Gaines is first and last a country-boy writer. He sets down a story as if he were planting, spreading the roots deep, wide and firm. His stories grow organically, at...

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