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Many Americas
Ernest J(ames) Gaines (1933- )
A Lesson Before Dying
Background
- Born in 1933 in Oscar, Louisiana [some sources cite River Lake Plantation, near New
Roads, Pointe Coupee Parish, LA, the Bayonne of his fiction].
- One of twelve children; moved with his family to California at age 15 in order to get an
education (1940s Louisiana law prohibited Blacks from attending high school or entering
public libraries).
- Attended Vallejo Junior College, San Francisco State University (B.A., 1957), and
Stanford University (1958-59).
- Served in the U.S. Army, 1953-55.
- Married to Dianne Saulnety Gaines, an lawyer who served as Assistant Dade County
Attorney from 1980-1996.
Career
- Has served as writer-in-residence and/or professor at several universities, including
Denison University, Stanford University, and Whittier College; since 1981, has been
Professor of English and writer-in residence at University of Southwestern Lousiiana,
Lafayette.
- Received the National Book Critics Circle, Southern Writers' Conference, Louisiana
Library, John Dos Passos, and Amistad awards for his most recent novel, A Lesson
Before Dying.
- Subject of the film Louisiana Stories: Ernest Gaines; an excellent film version
of A Lesson Before Dying premiered on HBO in 1998-99.
- A past selection of Oprah's Book Club.
Major Writings
Catherine Carmier (1964)
Of Love and Dust (1967)
Bloodline (short stories) (1997)
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1971)
In My Father's House (1978)
A Gathering of Old Men (1983)
A Lesson Before Dying (1993)
Interviews
- Conversations with Ernest Gaines. Ed. by John Lowe, University Press of
Mississippi (Jackson), 1995.
- Interview
discussing film version of A Lesson Before Dying
Critical Sources and Reviews
- Biographical and critical information in the following Gale publications:
Contemporary Authors, New Revision Series, Volumes 6 and 24, Contemporary
Black Biography, Volume 7, and Contemporary Literary Criticism, Volumes 3,
11, 18, and 86. Gale Literary Database (Contemporary Authors Online)
can be accessed online through a subscribing library at www.galenet.com. (All
volumes above contain portrait.)
- Other print sources for biographical and critical information:
Ernest Gaines,
Valerie-Melissa Babb, Twayne, 1991.
Wrestling Angels Into Song: The Fictions of Ernest J. Gaines
and James Alan
McPherson, by Hermann
Beavers. Philadelphia, 1995.
Ernest
J. Gaines: A Critical Companion, by Karen Carmean. Greenwood, 1998.
Contemporary
Southern Writers. Edited by Roger Matuz. Detroit, 1999.
- Other review sources:
African American Review, fall 1994; February 1998.
Chronicle of Higher Education, May 11, 1994.
Washington Post Book World, March 28, 1993; May 23, 1993.
Writer, May 1999.
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Retired Discussion Series
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