Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, The
Ernest J. Gaines
Author: Gaines, Ernest J., 1933-
Miss Jane Pittman is 110 when she recalls her childhood and the arrival of both
Union and Confederate troops on the plantation where she lived.
New York: Bantam Books, 1996, c1971, x, 245 p.
W. W. Norton, 1976, 249p.
Kirkus Reviews /* Starred Review */ Five fine short stories which offer more
than momentary entertainment. "A Long Day In November" told in the
voice of a tired-out six-year-old boy, is an amusing and touching account of
how Sonny's cane-cutter father resorted at last to voodoo to win back Sonny's
mother after a tiff. "The Sky Is Gray" makes your teeth ache in sympathy
as an eight-year-old country boy and his proud mother walk the cold streets
waiting for the white city dentist to get around to his Negro patients. "Three
Men" takes you into a nineteen-year-old's cell where, after a long night,
he acknowledges that if he lets his white plantation owner spring him, he'll
be a slave. The title story is the most powerful, and (hopefully) forecasts
a novel. Its central characters are Frank and Christian Laurent. Frank a white
and dying plantation owner, Christian his messianic mulatto nephew-demented
and daring enough to demand a birthright land inheritance from his bar sinister
heritage. In "Just Like A Tree," a series of characters describe the
departure, by self-willed death, of Old Aunt Flo from the only home she ever
knew-and it has the potential to be a powerful one act play. Gaines (Catherine
Carmier, Of Love and Dust) has been acclaimed as a coming Negro novelist, but
few novelists of any complexion can handle the short story form with such compelling
ease.
(Kirkus Reviews, August 1, 1968)
Other related features:
1. Book Discussion Guide - A Lesson Before Dying
Author Web Sites:
1. About the Author : Features a biographical sketch of Gaines.
Other titles associated with this book:
Blood line
ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0393007987 : Paperback
067978165X : Paperback
Credits:
• Hennepin County Public Library
• Baker & Taylor
• Copyright 2005, VNU Business Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved
• Added to NoveList: 20010101
• TID: 028690
Catherine Carmier
Author: Gaines, Ernest J., 1933-
Catherine, a young Louisiana Black woman, is caught up in the racial tensions
between white, Black, and Cajun in the rural plantation area
North Point Press, 1981, copyright 1964, 248p.
Kirkus Reviews This curiosity withdrawn novel of involuted passion concerns
a Creole family in contemporary Louisiana. Ringed about by racial tension, although
he considers his family neither white nor Negro, Raoul stands alone as the whites
take over Negro land, working hard "trying to keep up with them."
Devoted to her father, fearing the walls of hate behind which one must share
an allegiance to white or black, his daughter Catherine cannot leave him although
she is loved by Jackson, just returned from the North. Also staining the past
is the strange death of the boy Mark, dark skinned son of Raoul's wife Della.
In a bloody fight between Jackson and Raoul, Della learns to Raoul's guilt and
in a rush of pity, supports the weakened Raoul. Representing the confusion and
bitterness implicit in the idea of "being one thing or the other,"
sister Lillian fights to leave the twilight world of the Creole; Madame Bayonne
stays with the resignation of the elderly; and Jackson's devoted aunt seeks
strength for a terrifying future. Despair, torment and frustration overhang
the scene like a static and oppressive high noon, but the mood is furthered,
unfortunately, by the uniform dreariness of the characters. Still a promising
first try.
(Kirkus Reviews, October 1, 1964)
Other related features:
1. Book Discussion Guide - A Gathering of Old Men
2. Book Discussion Guide - A Lesson Before Dying
Author Web Sites:
1. About the Author : Features a biographical sketch of Gaines.
ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0679738916 : Paperback
091186024X : Hardcover
0613064801 : Glued Binding
0786111275 : Cassette - Audio
Credits:
• Hennepin County Public Library
• Baker & Taylor
• MetaMetrics, Inc.
• Copyright 2005, VNU Business Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved
• Added to NoveList: 20010101
• TID: 028691
Gathering of old men, A
Author: Gaines, Ernest J., 1933-
The murder of a white Cajun farmer named Boutan unleashes a fury of buried hatred
and defiance, as Sheriff Mapes tries to identify the killer--a white overseer
and a group of Black farmers all claim responsibility--and prevent revenge
A. A. Knopf; distributed by Random House, 1983, 213p.
Knopf, 1978, 214p.
New York: A. A. Knopf: Distribued by Random House, Inc., 1993, 256 p.
School Library Journal Review: YA-- No breathless courtroom triumphs or dramatic reprieves alleviate the sad progress toward execution in this latest novel by the author of The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (Bantam, 1982). The condemned man is Jefferson, a poorly educated man/child whose only crimes are a dim intelligence, being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and being black in rural Louisiana in the late 1940s. To everyone, even his own defense attorney, he's an animal, too dumb to understand what is happening to him. But his godmother, Miss Emma, decides that Jefferson will die a man. To accomplish just that, she brings Grant Wiggins, the teacher at the plantation's one-room school and narrator of the novel, into the story. Emotionally blackmailed by two strong-willed old ladies, Grant reluctantly begins visiting Jefferson, committing both men to the painful task of self-discovery. As in his earlier novels, Gaines evokes a sense of reality through rich detail and believable characters in this simple, moving story. YAs who seek thought-provoking reading will enjoy this glimpse of life in the rural South just before the civil rights movement.-- Carolyn E. Gecan, Thomas Jefferson Sci-Tech, Fairfax County, VA
Publishers Weekly Review: Gaines's first novel in a decade may be his crowning achievement. In this restrained but eloquent narrative, the author of The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman again addresses some of the major issues of race and identity in our time. The story of two African American men struggling to attain manhood in a prejudiced society, the tale is set in Bayonne, La. (the fictional community Gaines has used previously) in the late 1940s. It concerns Jefferson, a mentally slow, barely literate young man, who, though an innocent bystander to a shootout between a white store owner and two black robbers, is convicted of murder, and the sophisticated, educated man who comes to his aid. When Jefferson's own attorney claims that executing him would be tantamount to killing a hog, his incensed godmother, Miss Emma, turns to teacher Grant Wiggins, pleading with him to gain access to the jailed youth and help him to face his death by electrocution with dignity. As complex a character as Faulkner's Quentin Compson, Grant feels mingled love, loyalty and hatred for the poor plantation community where he was born and raised. He longs to leave the South and is reluctant to assume the level of leadership and involvement that helping Jefferson would require. Eventually, however, the two men, vastly different in potential yet equally degraded by racism, achieve a relationship that transforms them both. Suspense rises as it becomes clear that the integrity of the entire local black community depends on Jefferson's courage. Though the conclusion is inevitable, Gaines invests the story with emotional power and universal resonance. BOMC and QPB alternates. (Apr.)
Library Journal Review: What do you tell an innocent youth who was at the wrong place at the wrong time and now faces death in the electric chair? What do you say to restore his self-esteem when his lawyer has publicly described him as a dumb animal? What do you tell a youth humiliated by a lifetime of racism so that he can face death with dignity? The task belongs to Grant Wiggins, the teacher of the Negro plantation school who narrates the story. Grant grew up on the Louisiana plantation but broke away to go to the university. He returns to help his people but struggles over ``whether I should act like the teacher that I was, or like the nigger that I was supposed to be.'' The powerful message Grant tells the youth transforms him from a ``hog'' to a hero, and the reader is not likely to forget it, either. Gaines's earlier works include A Gathering of Old Men ( LJ 9/83) and The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (Bantam, 1982). BOMC and Quality Paperback Book Club alternate selections; previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 12/92.-- Joanne Snapp, Randolph-Macon Coll . , Ashland, Va.
Kirkus Reviews /* Starred Review */ Two black men (one a teacher, the other
a death row inmate) struggle to live, and die, with dignity, in Gaines's most
powerful and moving work since The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1971).
The year is 1948. Harry Truman may have integrated the Armed Forces, but down
in the small Cajun town of Bayonne, Louisiana, where the blacks still shuffle
submissively for their white masters, little has changed since slavery. When
a white liquor- store owner is killed during a robbery attempt, along with his
two black assailants, the innocent black bystander Jefferson gets death, despite
the defense plea that "I would just as soon put a hog in the electric chair
as this." Hog. The word lingers like a foul odor and weighs as heavily
as the sentence on Jefferson and the woman who raised him, his "nannan"
(godmother) Miss Emma. She needs an image of Jefferson going to his death like
a man, and she turns to the young teacher at the plantation school for help.
Meanwhile, Grant Wiggins (the narrator) has his own problems. He loves his people
but hates himself for teaching on the white man's terms; visiting Jefferson
in jail will just mean more kowtowing, so he goes along reluctantly, prodded
by his strong-willed Tante Lou and his girlfriend Vivian. The first visits are
a disaster: Jefferson refuses to speak and will not eat his nannan's cooking,
which breaks the old lady's heart. But eventually Grant gets through to him
("a hero does for others"); Jefferson eats Miss Emma's gumbo and astonishes
himself by writing whole pages in a diary--a miracle, water from the rock. When
he walks to the chair, he is the strongest man in the courthouse. By containing
unbearably painful emotions within simple declarative sentences and everyday
speech rhythms, Gaines has written a novel that is not only never maudlin, but
approaches the spare beauty of a classic.
(Kirkus Reviews, February 15, 1993)
Features about this author or title:
1. Book Discussion Guide - A Lesson Before Dying
Other related features:
1. Awards (Best Fiction) - Adult -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> ALA
Notable Books -> 1994
2. Awards (Best Fiction) - Adult -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> BCALA
Literary Award -> Fiction Category
3. Awards (Best Fiction) - Adult -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> National
Book Critics Circle Award
4. Awards (Best Fiction) - Adult -> Best Fiction -> Literary -> Oprah's
Book Club
5. Awards (Best Fiction) - Young Adult -> Best Fiction -> Literary ->
YALSA Outstanding Books for the College Bound -> 1999
6. Book Discussion Guide - A Gathering of Old Men
7. Book Discussion Guide - Mama Day
8. Book Discussion Guide - Never Let Me Go
9. Book Discussion Guide - The Human Stain
10. Book Discussion Guide - The Secret Life of Bees
Author Web Sites:
1. About the Author : Features a biographical sketch of Gaines.
Other titles associated with this book:
Dying lesson
ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0679414770
0792717945 : Paperback - Large Print
1580812384 : Cassette - Audio
0780752880 : Glued Binding
0375702709 : Paperback
1570422230 : Cassette - Audio
0606071504 : DEMCO Turtleback
0679455612 : Hardcover
0739323679 : CD - Audio
1580812287 : CD - Audio
0792717953 : Hardcover - Large Print
1578152143 : Cassette - Audio
0785769811 : Glued Binding
0783117159
0783114559
Credits:
• Hennepin County Public Library
• Novelist/EBSCO Publishing
• Baker & Taylor
• American Historical Fiction: An Annotated Guide to Novels for Adults
and Young Adults, published by Oryx Press
• MetaMetrics, Inc.
• Booklist, published by the American Library Association
• School Library Journal, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Publishers Weekly, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Library Journal, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Copyright 2005, VNU Business Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved
• Added to NoveList: 20010101
• TID: 028694
New York,: Dial Press, [1971], 137 p.
Kirkus Reviews An affectionate and genuinely funny story, set in the black
"quarter" of a Southern sugar cane plantation around 1940 and told
by Eddie, a first grader who is mildly bemused when his mother abruptly leaves
her husband and bis father endeavors to get her back. Mama's grievance is Daddy's
preoccupation with his car, which Daddy in the end sorrowfully burns to the
ground on the advice of Madame Toussaint, a voodoo woman cast here as a sort
of shrewd and earthy Dear Abby. The brief novel is expanded from an adult short
story in Gaines' Bloodline (1968), and one wonders if it really works as a juvenile.
It's perfectly wholesome, with no problematic sex episodes or any questionable
language (unless you object to "nigger," used repeatedly by Gran'mon
about her "no good, gap-toothed, yellow" son-in-law). But the crises
and concerns are of essentially adult interest, and the action, even though
it's seen through Eddie's eyes, is filtered through an adult sensibility. Still,
for whoever does tune in, it's warming and refreshing fun.
(Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 1971)
Author Web Sites:
1. About the Author : Features a biographical sketch of Gaines.
Other Contributors:
Bolognese, Don: illustrator
ISBNs Associated with this Title:
0803749384 : Library binding - Juvenile
Credits:
• Novelist/EBSCO Publishing
• Baker & Taylor
• Copyright 2005, VNU Business Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved
• Added to NoveList: 20051120
• TID: 138528
Mozart and Leadbelly: stories and essays
Ernest J. Gaines
Author: Gaines, Ernest J., 1933-
Collects five stories, set in Louisiana, that capture the joys and sorrows of
rural Southern life, accompanied by prose works that chronicle the author's
life as a writer, and the people and places that he has encountered.
New York: Knopf, 2005, 192 p.
Publishers Weekly Review: The artist "must deal with both God and the
Devil," notes Gaines in this illuminating collection of short stories and
"talks" on literature. Born (1933) and raised on a Louisiana plantation,
Gaines (A Lesson Before Dying) attended college in California and fell in love
with the works of Chekhov, Turgenev and Joyce. When he began to write, he realized
that "the Russian steppes sounded interesting, but they were not the swamps
of Louisiana.... I wanted to smell that Louisiana earth,... sit under the shade
of one of those Louisiana oaks," and, especially, write about "the
true relationship between whites and blacks???about the people I had known."
And while Mozart and Haydn might inspire, "neither can... describe Louisiana
State Prison at Angola as Leadbelly can." In his essays, Gaines shows how
he explored his cultural influences like a jazz musician playing around a note
until he achieved an appropriate artistic form for the truths he wanted to tell.
The short stories, most published decades ago, further demonstrate that artistry.
Fans of Gaines will appreciate these intimate glimpses into his literary methods,
while readers yet to discover his art will find this a fine introduction. Author
tour. (Oct. 7) --Staff (Reviewed August 1, 2005) (Publishers Weekly, vol 252,
issue 30, p42)
Author Web Sites:
1. About the Author : Features a biographical sketch of Gaines.
ISBNs Associated with this Title:
1400044723
1400096456 : Paperback
Credits:
• Novelist/EBSCO Publishing
• Baker & Taylor
• Publishers Weekly, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Added to NoveList: 20051120
• TID: 138529
Of love and dust
Author: Gaines, Ernest J., 1933-
A Black, who seeks revenge against his oppressive white employers, is doomed
when he breaks the most honored rule of love in the South
New York: Vintage Books, 1994, copyright 1967, 281 p.