A Gathering of Old Men

A Gathering of Old Men

Author: Ernest J. Gaines

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2012-10-31

Total Pages: 226

ISBN-13: 0307830381

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A powerful depiction of racial tensions arising over the death of a Cajun farmer at the hands of a black man--set on a Louisiana sugarcane plantation in the 1970s. The Village Voice called A Gathering of Old Men “the best-written novel on Southern race relations in over a decade.”


Book Synopsis A Gathering of Old Men by : Ernest J. Gaines

Download or read book A Gathering of Old Men written by Ernest J. Gaines and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2012-10-31 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A powerful depiction of racial tensions arising over the death of a Cajun farmer at the hands of a black man--set on a Louisiana sugarcane plantation in the 1970s. The Village Voice called A Gathering of Old Men “the best-written novel on Southern race relations in over a decade.”


A Lesson Before Dying

A Lesson Before Dying

Author: Ernest J. Gaines

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2004-01-20

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 1400077702

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NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER • A deep and compassionate novel about a young man who returns to 1940s Cajun country to visit a Black youth on death row for a crime he didn't commit. Together they come to understand the heroism of resisting. "An instant classic." —Chicago Tribune A “majestic, moving novel...an instant classic, a book that will be read, discussed and taught beyond the rest of our lives" (Chicago Tribune), from the critically acclaimed author of A Gathering of Old Men and The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman. "A Lesson Before Dying reconfirms Ernest J. Gaines's position as an important American writer." —Boston Globe "Enormously moving.... Gaines unerringly evokes the place and time about which he writes." —Los Angeles Times “A quietly moving novel [that] takes us back to a place we've been before to impart a lesson for living.” —San Francisco Chronicle


Book Synopsis A Lesson Before Dying by : Ernest J. Gaines

Download or read book A Lesson Before Dying written by Ernest J. Gaines and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2004-01-20 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER • A deep and compassionate novel about a young man who returns to 1940s Cajun country to visit a Black youth on death row for a crime he didn't commit. Together they come to understand the heroism of resisting. "An instant classic." —Chicago Tribune A “majestic, moving novel...an instant classic, a book that will be read, discussed and taught beyond the rest of our lives" (Chicago Tribune), from the critically acclaimed author of A Gathering of Old Men and The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman. "A Lesson Before Dying reconfirms Ernest J. Gaines's position as an important American writer." —Boston Globe "Enormously moving.... Gaines unerringly evokes the place and time about which he writes." —Los Angeles Times “A quietly moving novel [that] takes us back to a place we've been before to impart a lesson for living.” —San Francisco Chronicle


The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman

The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman

Author: Ernest J. Gaines

Publisher: Bantam

Published: 2012-10-24

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 030783025X

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“Grand, robust, a rich and big novel.”—Alice Walker, The New York Times Book Review “In [Jane Pittman], Ernest Gaines has created a legendary figure. . . . Gaines’s novel brings to mind other great works: The Odyssey, for the way his heroine’s travels manage to summarize the American history of her race, and Huckleberry Finn, for the clarity of [Pittman’s] voice, for her rare capacity to sort through the mess of years and things to find the one true story of it all.”—Newsweek Miss Jane Pittman. She is one of the most unforgettable heroines in American fiction, a woman whose life has come to symbolize the struggle for freedom, dignity, and justice. Ernest J. Gaines’s now-classic novel—written as an autobiography—spans one hundred years of Miss Jane’s remarkable life, from her childhood as a slave on a Louisiana plantation to the Civil Rights era of the 1960s. It is a story of courage and survival, history, bigotry, and hope—as seen through the eyes of a woman who lived through it all. A historical tour de force, a triumph of fiction, Miss Jane’s eloquent narrative brings to life an important story of race in America—and stands as a landmark work for our time.


Book Synopsis The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman by : Ernest J. Gaines

Download or read book The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman written by Ernest J. Gaines and published by Bantam. This book was released on 2012-10-24 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Grand, robust, a rich and big novel.”—Alice Walker, The New York Times Book Review “In [Jane Pittman], Ernest Gaines has created a legendary figure. . . . Gaines’s novel brings to mind other great works: The Odyssey, for the way his heroine’s travels manage to summarize the American history of her race, and Huckleberry Finn, for the clarity of [Pittman’s] voice, for her rare capacity to sort through the mess of years and things to find the one true story of it all.”—Newsweek Miss Jane Pittman. She is one of the most unforgettable heroines in American fiction, a woman whose life has come to symbolize the struggle for freedom, dignity, and justice. Ernest J. Gaines’s now-classic novel—written as an autobiography—spans one hundred years of Miss Jane’s remarkable life, from her childhood as a slave on a Louisiana plantation to the Civil Rights era of the 1960s. It is a story of courage and survival, history, bigotry, and hope—as seen through the eyes of a woman who lived through it all. A historical tour de force, a triumph of fiction, Miss Jane’s eloquent narrative brings to life an important story of race in America—and stands as a landmark work for our time.


Catherine Carmier

Catherine Carmier

Author: Ernest J. Gaines

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2012-10-31

Total Pages: 258

ISBN-13: 0307830349

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A compelling debut love story set in a deceptively bucolic Louisiana countryside, where blacks, Cajuns, and whites maintain an uneasy coexistence--by the award-winning author of A Lesson Before Dying and The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman. After living in San Francisco for ten years, Jackson returns home to his benefactor, Aunt Charlotte. Surrounded by family and old friends, he discovers that his bonds to them have been irreparably rent by his absence. In the midst of his alienation from those around him, he falls in love with Catherine Carmier, setting the stage for conflicts and confrontations which are complex, tortuous, and universal in their implications.


Book Synopsis Catherine Carmier by : Ernest J. Gaines

Download or read book Catherine Carmier written by Ernest J. Gaines and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2012-10-31 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A compelling debut love story set in a deceptively bucolic Louisiana countryside, where blacks, Cajuns, and whites maintain an uneasy coexistence--by the award-winning author of A Lesson Before Dying and The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman. After living in San Francisco for ten years, Jackson returns home to his benefactor, Aunt Charlotte. Surrounded by family and old friends, he discovers that his bonds to them have been irreparably rent by his absence. In the midst of his alienation from those around him, he falls in love with Catherine Carmier, setting the stage for conflicts and confrontations which are complex, tortuous, and universal in their implications.


Of Love and Dust

Of Love and Dust

Author: Ernest J. Gaines

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2012-10-24

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 0307830357

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This is the story of Marcus: bonded out of jail where he has been awaiting trial for murder, he is sent to the Hebert plantation to work in the fields. There he encounters conflict with the overseer, Sidney Bonbon, and a tale of revenge, lust and power plays out between Marcus, Bonbon, BonBon's mistress Pauline, and BonBon's wife Louise.


Book Synopsis Of Love and Dust by : Ernest J. Gaines

Download or read book Of Love and Dust written by Ernest J. Gaines and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2012-10-24 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the story of Marcus: bonded out of jail where he has been awaiting trial for murder, he is sent to the Hebert plantation to work in the fields. There he encounters conflict with the overseer, Sidney Bonbon, and a tale of revenge, lust and power plays out between Marcus, Bonbon, BonBon's mistress Pauline, and BonBon's wife Louise.


The Sky is Gray

The Sky is Gray

Author: Ernest J. Gaines

Publisher:

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 32

ISBN-13:

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A poor African American boy and his mother experience both discrimination and kindness during a trip to town to see the dentist.


Book Synopsis The Sky is Gray by : Ernest J. Gaines

Download or read book The Sky is Gray written by Ernest J. Gaines and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A poor African American boy and his mother experience both discrimination and kindness during a trip to town to see the dentist.


Voices from the Quarters

Voices from the Quarters

Author: Mary Ellen Doyle

Publisher: LSU Press

Published: 2003-08-01

Total Pages: 276

ISBN-13: 9780807129104

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A Choice Outstanding Academic Title “Who will write about the way my people talk, the way my people sing?” Mary Ellen Doyle gathers and makes audible the voices arising from all of Ernest J. Gaines’s fiction to date—the indelible characters who inhabit the author’s lifelong inspirational territory: the bayous, cane fields, and plantation homes of Louisiana’s Pointe Coupee Parish. Beginning with the author’s upbringing and influences on River Lake plantation—amid the pecan trees and live oaks, the big house and the tenant quarters — this penetrating study offers close readings of Gaines’s uncollected short fiction, the early collection Bloodline, and all of his novels, including The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman and the acclaimed A Lesson Before Dying. Highlighting Gaines’s skill at translating oral tales into meaningful fictional forms, Doyle advances an original theory of first-person narration (“camcorder”) and traces its use throughout his work. Gaines’s unwavering focus on the utterances of “his people” continually strengthens his artistic development—the voices of the early stories fusing with those of the later novels—until Gaines earns a unique magisterial “voice,” an implied author who is black but speaks to universals. Using critical methods as eclectic as the book’s intended audience, and drawing from on-site research and interviews with Gaines’s relatives and friends, Doyle offers a variety of perspectives on Gaines’s fiction and its world that resonates so powerfully. Those who recognize Gaines as one of the finest southern writers of the last forty years will find here an accessible instrument to hear his voices more clearly than ever.


Book Synopsis Voices from the Quarters by : Mary Ellen Doyle

Download or read book Voices from the Quarters written by Mary Ellen Doyle and published by LSU Press. This book was released on 2003-08-01 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Choice Outstanding Academic Title “Who will write about the way my people talk, the way my people sing?” Mary Ellen Doyle gathers and makes audible the voices arising from all of Ernest J. Gaines’s fiction to date—the indelible characters who inhabit the author’s lifelong inspirational territory: the bayous, cane fields, and plantation homes of Louisiana’s Pointe Coupee Parish. Beginning with the author’s upbringing and influences on River Lake plantation—amid the pecan trees and live oaks, the big house and the tenant quarters — this penetrating study offers close readings of Gaines’s uncollected short fiction, the early collection Bloodline, and all of his novels, including The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman and the acclaimed A Lesson Before Dying. Highlighting Gaines’s skill at translating oral tales into meaningful fictional forms, Doyle advances an original theory of first-person narration (“camcorder”) and traces its use throughout his work. Gaines’s unwavering focus on the utterances of “his people” continually strengthens his artistic development—the voices of the early stories fusing with those of the later novels—until Gaines earns a unique magisterial “voice,” an implied author who is black but speaks to universals. Using critical methods as eclectic as the book’s intended audience, and drawing from on-site research and interviews with Gaines’s relatives and friends, Doyle offers a variety of perspectives on Gaines’s fiction and its world that resonates so powerfully. Those who recognize Gaines as one of the finest southern writers of the last forty years will find here an accessible instrument to hear his voices more clearly than ever.


Navigating the Fiction of Ernest J. Gaines

Navigating the Fiction of Ernest J. Gaines

Author: Keith Clark

Publisher: LSU Press

Published: 2020-03-18

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 080717338X

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One of the South’s most revered writers, Ernest J. Gaines attracts both popular and academic audiences. Gaines’s unique literary style, depiction of the African American experience, and celebration of the rural South’s oral tradition have brought him critical praise and numerous accolades, including a MacArthur Fellowship, a National Humanities Medal, and a National Book Critics Circle Award for his novel A Lesson before Dying. In this welcome guide to Gaines’s fiction, Keith Clark offers insightful analyses of his novels and short stories. Clark’s close readings elucidate Gaines’s more acclaimed works—including The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman and A Gathering of Old Men—while also introducing lesser-known but masterfully crafted pieces, such as the story “Three Men” and the civil rights novel In My Father’s House. Gaines’s most recent work, The Tragedy of Brady Sims, receives here one of its first critical examinations. Clark shows how the themes of Gaines’s literary oeuvre, produced over the past fifty years, dovetail with issues reverberating in twenty-first-century America: race and the criminal justice system; black masculinity; the environment; the enduring impact of slavery; black southern women’s voices; and blacks’ and whites’ interpretation of history. In addition to textual discussions, the book includes an interview Clark conducted with Gaines at the writer’s home in New Roads, Louisiana, in 2014, further illuminating the inner workings and personality of this eminent literary artist.


Book Synopsis Navigating the Fiction of Ernest J. Gaines by : Keith Clark

Download or read book Navigating the Fiction of Ernest J. Gaines written by Keith Clark and published by LSU Press. This book was released on 2020-03-18 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the South’s most revered writers, Ernest J. Gaines attracts both popular and academic audiences. Gaines’s unique literary style, depiction of the African American experience, and celebration of the rural South’s oral tradition have brought him critical praise and numerous accolades, including a MacArthur Fellowship, a National Humanities Medal, and a National Book Critics Circle Award for his novel A Lesson before Dying. In this welcome guide to Gaines’s fiction, Keith Clark offers insightful analyses of his novels and short stories. Clark’s close readings elucidate Gaines’s more acclaimed works—including The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman and A Gathering of Old Men—while also introducing lesser-known but masterfully crafted pieces, such as the story “Three Men” and the civil rights novel In My Father’s House. Gaines’s most recent work, The Tragedy of Brady Sims, receives here one of its first critical examinations. Clark shows how the themes of Gaines’s literary oeuvre, produced over the past fifty years, dovetail with issues reverberating in twenty-first-century America: race and the criminal justice system; black masculinity; the environment; the enduring impact of slavery; black southern women’s voices; and blacks’ and whites’ interpretation of history. In addition to textual discussions, the book includes an interview Clark conducted with Gaines at the writer’s home in New Roads, Louisiana, in 2014, further illuminating the inner workings and personality of this eminent literary artist.


Ernest J. Gaines

Ernest J. Gaines

Author: Karen Carmean

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 1998-07-28

Total Pages: 184

ISBN-13: 0313317259

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Drawing on his rich Louisiana past, Ernest J. Gaines creates a fictional world representative of the human experience. His work explores the complex racial relationships—so much a part of Southern history and culture—and the unwritten and unspoken conventions of caste and class. Often structured around journeys of discovery, Gaines' works affirm the integrity of the individual and the unequivocal place in American life for Americans of African descent. This study offers a clear, accessible reading of Gaines' fiction. It analyzes in turn all of Gaines' novels as well as his collection of short stories. A complete bibliography of Gaines' fiction, as well as selected reviews and criticism, completes the study. Following a biographical chapter on Gaines' life, an overview of his fiction explores his work in light of his literary heritage and use of genre. Each of the following chapters examines an individual novel: Catherine Carmier (1964), Of Love and Dust (1967), The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1971), In My Father's House (1978), A Gathering of Old Men (1983), A Lesson Before Dying (1994), and a collection of short stories, Bloodline (1968). The discussion of each work includes sections on plot and character development, thematic issues, and an alternative critical approach from which to read the novel. Carmean shows how each of Gaines' novels focuses on themes of personal value and place and affirms the need for recognizing the value of the individual, regardless of race. This study will help readers to understand the compelling issue of human relationships raised by Gaines and to see why he is one of America's finest writers.


Book Synopsis Ernest J. Gaines by : Karen Carmean

Download or read book Ernest J. Gaines written by Karen Carmean and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 1998-07-28 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on his rich Louisiana past, Ernest J. Gaines creates a fictional world representative of the human experience. His work explores the complex racial relationships—so much a part of Southern history and culture—and the unwritten and unspoken conventions of caste and class. Often structured around journeys of discovery, Gaines' works affirm the integrity of the individual and the unequivocal place in American life for Americans of African descent. This study offers a clear, accessible reading of Gaines' fiction. It analyzes in turn all of Gaines' novels as well as his collection of short stories. A complete bibliography of Gaines' fiction, as well as selected reviews and criticism, completes the study. Following a biographical chapter on Gaines' life, an overview of his fiction explores his work in light of his literary heritage and use of genre. Each of the following chapters examines an individual novel: Catherine Carmier (1964), Of Love and Dust (1967), The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1971), In My Father's House (1978), A Gathering of Old Men (1983), A Lesson Before Dying (1994), and a collection of short stories, Bloodline (1968). The discussion of each work includes sections on plot and character development, thematic issues, and an alternative critical approach from which to read the novel. Carmean shows how each of Gaines' novels focuses on themes of personal value and place and affirms the need for recognizing the value of the individual, regardless of race. This study will help readers to understand the compelling issue of human relationships raised by Gaines and to see why he is one of America's finest writers.


Porch Talk with Ernest Gaines

Porch Talk with Ernest Gaines

Author: Marcia Gaudet

Publisher: LSU Press

Published: 1999-03-01

Total Pages: 172

ISBN-13: 9780807126080

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Ernest J. Gaines, the author of many acclaimed works of fiction, including The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman and A Gathering of Old Men, was born in 1933 in the small south Louisiana town of Oscar. In his childhood the center of his world was the old slave quarters on the River Lake Plantation, where five generations of his family lived. All of Gaines’s books have been set in this general area of Louisiana, and though none of his work is strictly autobiographical, his writing bears the distinctive stamp of the rural folk culture amid which he was raised. Marcia Gaudet and Carl Wooton’s Porch Talk with Ernest Gaines is a collection of interviews conducted on the porch of Gaines’s home in Lafayette, Louisiana, where he is writer-in-residence at the University of Southwestern Louisiana. Gaines talks about a variety of topics, including the influence of other writers—among them Faulkner, Hemingway, and Mark Twain—on his style and the importance of oral tradition and folk culture to his writing. He discusses the major themes of his work, such as survival with dignity and the search for manhood, and he describes the relationships among the black, Creole, and Cajun communities of south Louisiana and how they have been portrayed in his fiction. Gaines also comments on the craft of writing, his role as a teacher, the film versions of some of his books, his relationships with his agent and editors, and his work in progress. This is the first book-length work on Gaines to be published. It will be of importance to scholars and students of American literature, particularly southern and Afro-American literature, because it gives the reader valuable insights into Gaines’s life and writing. The format and conversational tone of the book will also appeal to the audience drawn to Gaines’s fiction.


Book Synopsis Porch Talk with Ernest Gaines by : Marcia Gaudet

Download or read book Porch Talk with Ernest Gaines written by Marcia Gaudet and published by LSU Press. This book was released on 1999-03-01 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ernest J. Gaines, the author of many acclaimed works of fiction, including The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman and A Gathering of Old Men, was born in 1933 in the small south Louisiana town of Oscar. In his childhood the center of his world was the old slave quarters on the River Lake Plantation, where five generations of his family lived. All of Gaines’s books have been set in this general area of Louisiana, and though none of his work is strictly autobiographical, his writing bears the distinctive stamp of the rural folk culture amid which he was raised. Marcia Gaudet and Carl Wooton’s Porch Talk with Ernest Gaines is a collection of interviews conducted on the porch of Gaines’s home in Lafayette, Louisiana, where he is writer-in-residence at the University of Southwestern Louisiana. Gaines talks about a variety of topics, including the influence of other writers—among them Faulkner, Hemingway, and Mark Twain—on his style and the importance of oral tradition and folk culture to his writing. He discusses the major themes of his work, such as survival with dignity and the search for manhood, and he describes the relationships among the black, Creole, and Cajun communities of south Louisiana and how they have been portrayed in his fiction. Gaines also comments on the craft of writing, his role as a teacher, the film versions of some of his books, his relationships with his agent and editors, and his work in progress. This is the first book-length work on Gaines to be published. It will be of importance to scholars and students of American literature, particularly southern and Afro-American literature, because it gives the reader valuable insights into Gaines’s life and writing. The format and conversational tone of the book will also appeal to the audience drawn to Gaines’s fiction.