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Voices from the Quarters: The Fiction of Ernest J. Gaines
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 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.
“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 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.
272 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
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February 17, 2011
Mary Ellen Doyle writes an excellent overview and critique as well as a deeper understanding of the short stories and novels of Ernest Gaines. Doyle presented each work in the order Gaines wrote it which provides a fascinating study in the evolution of one of America's great writers. You can "see" Gaines grow and mature through his writing. Since Gaines primarily writes about the theme of manhood in the black community, each work shows his deeper understanding of himself and his people and what makes them who they are and what they allow to define them. You see questions and concerns develop as well as answers appear.
Doyle's book is great for anyone who likes Gaines' writing, for lit. teachers and students and for writers--we can learn so much from the masters who have gone before us.
Doyle's book is great for anyone who likes Gaines' writing, for lit. teachers and students and for writers--we can learn so much from the masters who have gone before us.
Displaying 1 of 1 review