Ernest J(ames) Gaines Biography

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Dictionary of Literary Biography on Ernest J(ames) Gaines

Ernest J. Gaines novelist and short story writer, was born to Manuel and Adrienne J. (Colar) Gaines on 15 January 1933 in the bayou country near Oscar, Louisiana, which lies about twenty-five miles northwest of Baton Rouge in Pointe Coupee parish. His father was employed on a local plantation as a laborer, and Ernest too worked in the fields until he moved away when he was fifteen. A culturally varied and complex region comprised of white, black, Cajun, and Creole communities, the bayou country has proved a rich resource for Gaines. As he says of his work, "though the places in my stories and novels are imaginary ones, they are based pretty much on the place where I grew up and the surrounding areas where I worked, went to school and travelled as a child." Though his entire adult life has been spent elsewhere, Gaines continues to maintain contact with the region of his birth and its people through regular visits.

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