SOURCE: Shelton, Frank W. “In My Father's House: Ernest Gaines after Jane Pittman.” Southern Review 17, no. 2 (spring 1981): 340-45.

In the following essay, Shelton explores the change in emphasis concerning the issue of African American progress in In My Father's House, contrasting the novel's setting, characters, and themes with those of The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman.

Ernest J. Gaines's most recent novel, In My Father's House, published in 1978, was not widely reviewed. The notices that did appear were respectful but a bit gingerly and unenthusiastic in tone, as if the reviewers did not quite know how to respond to the book. The relative neglect of the work, in comparison to the more compelling Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, is understandable. But it is unfortunate in view of the fact that In My Father's House is an important work, showing significant development in Gaines's art and thought, especially in...