Ernest J. Gaines

Lillie Brown (Florida A& M University)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.4: American (US) Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary, 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Christopher Hugh Gair (University of Glasgow), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Kerry Myler (Newman University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Dates

Born 15 Jan 1933
Activity 1956-ongoing

Places

Born in United States
Active in United States

Activities

Primary

Novelist
Story-writer

Resources

The intersections of history and culture with universal themes of self-respect, human dignity, and personal integrity are signature motifs in the novels of Ernest J. Gaines. His work offera unvarnished dialogue and sparse physical descriptions, homage to ordinary black citizens who not only deserve respect in their everyday lives but crave it as a matter of order and sensibility. As a son of the South, Gaines’ obsession with the speech, cultural traditions, and mores specific to the Point Coupee Plantation in Oscar, Louisiana, is notable in each of his seven works of fiction. When Gaines left the plantation in 1948 to join his mother and stepfather in Vallejo, California, he had become so enamored with the land and its people that he w…

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2594 words

Citation: Brown, Lillie. "Ernest J. Gaines". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 08 June 2011 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=12095, accessed 25 November 2024.]

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