Explicit in the canon of Ernest J. Gaines's work is a delicate intertwining of history with universal themes of personal integrity, human dignity, and self-respect. Through simple dialogue and sparse physical descriptions, his work offers homage to ordinary black citizens who not only deserve respect in their everyday lives but also crave it as a matter of order and sensibilities. As a son of the South, Gaines's obsession with the speech, cultural traditions, and mores specific to the Point Coupee Plantation in Oscar, Louisiana, is notable in each of his eight works of fiction. When Gaines left the plantation in 1948, at age 15, to join his mother and stepfather in Vallejo, California, he had, by that time, become so enamored with the rural land and its people that he was unable to remove himself psychologically from the region. He maintains that his physical body went to California, but his soul and emotions remained in Louisiana: "I left, but I didn't leave. Something kept holding me back, holding me back here [the Point Coupee Plantation]" (Personal Interview). During his formative years on the plantation, Gaines learned the importance of an undesecrated environment, and still, to this day, advocates the joys of southern life untouched by modern industrialization and development. A fierce believer in the unadorned countryside of his upbringing, he writes in Mozart and Leadbelly about his early search for literary works reflective of his rural background; he wanted to "smell that Louisiana earth, feel that Louisiana sun, sit under the shade of one of those Louisiana oaks, [and] search for pecans in that Louisiana grass in one of those Louisiana yards next to one of those Louisiana bayous, not far from a Louisiana river" (9). Not abandoning his desire to return to his southern roots, he and his wife, Dianne, returned to Oscar, Louisiana, in 2004. Gaines's experiences on the plantation shaped him, and the memories did not dissolve because of his relocation to the West Coast. On the Louisiana plantation of his birth there were people, he says, "who knew my grandparents' grandparents ... so something about the [plantation] just kept me here ... and I know that it was because I still felt connected to everything here" (Personal Interview). While his literary work captures the African-American cultural and storytelling traditions of the rural South, his interest remains grounded in the specific region of his birth: the quarters of the Point Coupee Plantation. It is no secret that much of his strength and fortitude are ancestral, and it is equally no secret that he gives homage to the people who came before him. The Point Coupee Plantation is the place where his power comes from and that allows him to tell the riveting narratives that readers have all come to enjoy: the stories of Miss Jane, Jefferson, Madam Toussaint, Catherine Carmier, Reverend Ambrose, and a host of other characters from his eight works of fiction. While the names of the characters are the author's invention, their tales are quite reality-based, for readers have all encountered a Snookum, a Mary Louise, a Copper Laurent, a Tante Lou, and a Miss Merle. If readers elect to forget that such people exist in our lives, it is because we sometimes do not wish to be reminded of where we come from, how we got there, or what took the bus so long to get to the next station. Gaines does none of this conscientious, deliberate forgetting, however. He embraces his ancestry proudly, wearing it like a banner across his heart. His letter "A" is prominent, representing the pride and strength of his ancestry, not a heritage of derision or despair. Gaines's readers experience the power of memoir, history and remembrance of his life and experiences on the Point Coupee Plantation. Catherine Carmier (1964) depicts the racial antagonism between Creoles and blacks and serves as the thematic precursor for Of Love and Dust (1967). Bloodline (1968), his only collection of short stories, shows his attachment to the land and his strong sense of allegiance to the region. …

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简介：欧内斯特·J·盖恩斯著作的新批评

欧内斯特·J·盖恩斯的著作中明确指出了历史与个人正直，人的尊严和自尊的普遍主题之间的微妙交织。通过简单的对话和稀疏的身体描写，他的作品向普通的黑人公民致敬，他们不仅在日常生活中应受到尊重，而且出于秩序和敏感性而渴望得到尊重。盖恩斯是南方的儿子，他对演讲，文化传统以及路易斯安那州奥斯卡的Point Coupee种植园特有的习俗的痴迷，在他的八本小说中都值得注意。1948年，盖恩斯（Gaines）15岁那年离开种植园，在加利福尼亚州的瓦列霍（Vallejo）与母亲和继父一起生活时，他对乡村土地及其人民着迷，以至于无法从心理上摆脱自己。地区。他坚持认为自己的身体已经去了加利福尼亚，但是他的灵魂和情感仍然留在路易斯安那州：“我离开了，但我没有离开。有什么东西使我退缩，使我退缩到这里（Point Coupee Plantation）”（个人访谈）。盖恩斯（Gaines）在种植园的成长期中，了解了一个不受亵渎的环境的重要性，但直到今天，他仍然倡导不受现代工业化和发展影响的南方生活的欢乐。他在未受过教育的乡村中是一个狂热的信徒，他在莫扎特和利德贝利写了关于他早期寻找反映他的乡村背景的文学作品的信。他想“嗅到路易斯安那州的大地，感受路易斯安那州的阳光，坐在路易斯安那州橡树之一的阴影下，他的兴趣始终停留在他出生的特定区域：Point Coupee种植园的四分之一区域。他的大部分力量和毅力是祖传的，这已经不是什么秘密了；他向在他之前的人们表示敬意，这也不是秘密。Point Coupee Plantation是他力量的发源地，使他能够讲述所有读者都喜欢的铆钉叙事：简小姐，杰斐逊夫人，图桑夫人，凯瑟琳·卡米尔，牧师安布罗斯和许多他的八部小说中的其他角色。字符的名称是作者的发明，而它们的故事却是基于现实的，因为读者都遇到过斯诺克（Snookum），玛丽·路易斯（Mary Louise），铜洛朗（Copper Laurent），坦特·娄（Tante Lou）和梅尔小姐（Miss Merle）。如果读者选择忘记这些人存在于我们的生活中，这是因为有时我们不希望我们想起我们来自哪里，怎么到达那里，或者花了很长时间才到达下一个车站的原因。然而，盖因斯却没有做过这种认真而刻意的遗忘。他自豪地拥抱自己的祖先，像横幅上的旗帜一样穿在他的心上。他的字母“ A”突出，代表了他祖先的骄傲和力量，而不是嘲笑或绝望的传承。盖恩斯的读者可以在Point Coupee Plantation体验回忆录，历史以及对他的生活和经历的记忆。凯瑟琳·卡米尔（Catherine Carmier，1964）描述了克里奥尔人和黑人之间的种族对抗，并作为《爱与尘》（1967）的主题前身。《血缘》（1968）是他唯一的短篇小说集，显示了他对土地的依恋和对这一地区的强烈忠诚。… 我们怎么到达那里，或者花了很长时间公交车才到达下一个车站。然而，盖因斯却没有做过这种认真而刻意的遗忘。他自豪地拥抱自己的祖先，像横幅上的旗帜一样穿在他的心上。他的字母“ A”突出，代表了他祖先的骄傲和力量，而不是嘲笑或绝望的传承。盖恩斯的读者可以在Point Coupee Plantation体验回忆录，历史以及对他的生活和经历的记忆。凯瑟琳·卡米尔（Catherine Carmier，1964）描述了克里奥尔人和黑人之间的种族对抗，并作为《爱与尘》（1967）的主题前身。《血缘》（1968）是他唯一的短篇小说集，显示了他对土地的依恋和对这一地区的强烈忠诚。… 我们怎么到达那里，或者花了很长时间公交车才到达下一个车站。然而，盖因斯却没有做过这种认真而刻意的遗忘。他自豪地拥抱自己的祖先，像横幅上的旗帜一样穿在他的心上。他的字母“ A”突出，代表了他祖先的骄傲和力量，而不是嘲笑或绝望的传承。盖恩斯的读者可以在Point Coupee Plantation体验回忆录，历史以及对他的生活和经历的记忆。凯瑟琳·卡米尔（Catherine Carmier，1964）描述了克里奥尔人和黑人之间的种族对抗，并作为《爱与尘》（1967）的主题前身。《血缘》（1968）是他唯一的短篇小说集，显示了他对土地的依恋和对这一地区的强烈忠诚。… 然而，盖因斯却没有做过这种认真而刻意的遗忘。他自豪地拥抱自己的祖先，像横幅上的旗帜一样穿在他的心上。他的字母“ A”突出，代表了他祖先的骄傲和力量，而不是嘲笑或绝望的传承。盖恩斯的读者可以在Point Coupee Plantation体验回忆录，历史以及对他的生活和经历的记忆。凯瑟琳·卡米尔（Catherine Carmier，1964）描述了克里奥尔人和黑人之间的种族对抗，并作为《爱与尘》（1967）的主题前身。《血缘》（1968）是他唯一的短篇小说集，显示了他对土地的依恋和对这一地区的强烈忠诚。… 然而，盖因斯却没有做过这种认真而刻意的遗忘。他自豪地拥抱自己的祖先，像横幅上的旗帜一样穿在他的心上。他的字母“ A”突出，代表了他祖先的骄傲和力量，而不是嘲笑或绝望的传承。盖恩斯的读者可以在Point Coupee Plantation体验回忆录，历史以及对他的生活和经历的记忆。凯瑟琳·卡米尔（Catherine Carmier，1964）描述了克里奥尔人和黑人之间的种族对抗，并作为《爱与尘》（1967）的主题前身。《血缘》（1968）是他唯一的短篇小说集，显示了他对土地的依恋和对这一地区的强烈忠诚。… 突出，代表了他祖先的骄傲和力量，而不是嘲弄或绝望的传承。盖恩斯的读者可以在Point Coupee Plantation体验回忆录，历史以及对他的生活和经历的记忆。凯瑟琳·卡米尔（Catherine Carmier，1964）描述了克里奥尔人和黑人之间的种族对抗，并作为《爱与尘》（1967）的主题前身。《血缘》（1968）是他唯一的短篇小说集，显示了他对土地的依恋和对这一地区的强烈忠诚。… 突出，代表了他祖先的骄傲和力量，而不是嘲弄或绝望的传承。盖恩斯的读者可以在Point Coupee Plantation体验回忆录，历史以及对他的生活和经历的记忆。凯瑟琳·卡米尔（Catherine Carmier，1964）描述了克里奥尔人和黑人之间的种族对抗，并作为《爱与尘》（1967）的主题前身。《血缘》（1968）是他唯一的短篇小说集，显示了他对土地的依恋和对这一地区的强烈忠诚。… 凯瑟琳·卡米尔（Catherine Carmier，1964）描述了克里奥尔人和黑人之间的种族对抗，并作为《爱与尘》（1967）的主题前身。《血缘》（1968）是他唯一的短篇小说集，显示了他对土地的依恋和对这一地区的强烈忠诚。… 凯瑟琳·卡米尔（Catherine Carmier，1964）描述了克里奥尔人和黑人之间的种族对抗，并作为《爱与尘》（1967）的主题前身。《血缘》（1968）是他唯一的短篇小说集，显示了他对土地的依恋和对这一地区的强烈忠诚。…