Page 31 - ARUBA TODAY

A31
PEOPLE & ARTS Thursday 7 November 2019
Acclaimed novelist Ernest Gaines

dies at 86

By CHEVEL JOHNSON
REBECCA SANTANA
Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Nov-
elist Ernest J. Gaines, whose
poor childhood on a small
Louisiana plantation germi-
nated stories of black strug-
gles that grew into universal
tales of grace and beauty,
has died. He was 86.
The Baton Rouge Area
Foundation, which sponsors
a literary award in Gaines'
honor, confirmed he died
Tuesday in his sleep of car- This April 12, 1977 file photo shows author Ernest Gaines who This cover image released by River House Artists/Columbia
diac arrest at his home in wrote "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman," in his San Nashville shows “What You See is What You Get,” by Luke
Oscar, Louisiana. Francisco home. Combs.
"Ernest Gaines was a Loui- Associated Press Associated Press
siana treasure," foundation to libraries, he found the A large, gentlemanly man
president and CEO John life surrounding him rich with a certain bohemian No sophomore slump for
Davies said in a statement. enough to recollect in story air — braces and berets
"He will be remembered after story through exact were favorite attire — and country singer Luke Combs
for his powerful prose that and vivid detail. a stately manner, Gaines
placed the reader directly In "A Lesson Before Dying," was devoted to friends By KRISTIN M. HALL
into the story of the old for example, the central and family. When he mar- Associated Press
South, as only he could de- figure is the teacher at the ried in 1993 at age 60, Luke Combs, “What You See Is What You Get” (River
scribe it. We have lost a gi- plantation school outside he celebrated in Lafay- House Artists/Columbia Nashville)
ant and a friend." town. ette, New Orleans, Miami, Not many artists break out on their first record, but
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Ed- Through the teacher, and San Francisco, so the Luke Combs did it without much fanfare, dropping
wards said in a statement whose profession Gaines gatherings could include an album two years ago that has spent 50 weeks
that Gaines "used his im- elevates to a calling, the his intimates. Dianne Saul- on top of Billboard’s country chart and tied the all-
mense vision and literary novelist explores the con- ney Gaines is an assistant time record set by another country sensation, Sha-
talents to tell the stories of sistent themes of his work: district attorney for Dade nia Twain.
African Americans in the sacrifice and duty, the ob- County, Florida. The couple Combs has fed his rabid fan base with a deluxe re-
South. We are all blessed ligation to others, the quali- divided their time among release of his debut album and a four-song EP before
that Ernest left words and ties of loving, the nature of various abodes but spent putting out this sophomore record. As the title track
stories that will continue to courage. the MacArthur money on suggests, “What You See Is What You Get,” Combs
inspire many generations Gaines found that using a year in France and other is speaking directly to a working class crowd with an
to come." his storytelling gifts meant travels. average Joe attitude about his own life, even as he
"A Lesson Before Dying," more than militant civil Gaines spent the fall teach- has become country music’s next big star.
published in 1993, was an rights action. "When Bull ing creative writing at the He has a creative flourish with vowel harmony in
acclaimed classic. Gaines Connor would sic the dogs, then-University of South- “Lovin’ On You,” stringing together similar sounding
was awarded a "genius I thought, 'Hell, write a bet- western Louisiana in Lafay- words in a syncopated style that’s a little like rap-
grant" that year by the Ma- ter paragraph.' ette (now University of Loui- ping, but slower. “I like a two-door old Ford, wood
cArthur Foundation, receiv- "In 1968, when I was writing siana at Lafayette) since board back porch, three chords and the truth,” with
ing $335,000. 'The Autobiography of Miss 1983. It's only about an an emphasis on the “or” sound.
Both "The Autobiography of Jane Pittman,' my friends hour's drive from his child- He twirls around words in his North Carolina drawl,
Miss Jane Pittman" (1971) said, 'Why write about a hood home. like “Long neck, ice cold beer never broke my
and "A Gathering of Old 110-year-old lady when all He could not write and heart,” with his larger than life vocals matched with
Men" (1984) became hon- of this is going on now?' teach at the same time. a stomping drum rhythm that sounds unique among
ored television movies. And I said, 'I think she's go- He needed five or six hours so much smoothness of mainstream country melo-
The author of eight books, ing to have something to each day devoted to writ- dies.
Gaines was born on a plan- say about it.'" ing and "I can't write a cou- Combs, at the top of a new class of neo-traditional-
tation in Pointe Coupee What Gaines' characters ple of days and skip two or ists in country music, has clearly learned a lot about
Parish. His first writing expe- said about it achieved a three days." writing solid honky tonk boogies from studying the
rience was writing letters power and timelessness "A Lesson Before Dying" catalog of Brooks & Dunn, who appear as featured
for illiterate workers who that made him a distinctive took seven years. guests on his song “1, 2 Many.”
asked him to embellish their voice in American litera- "I work five days a week, But Combs really sounds akin to a top-notch vocal-
news to far-off relatives. ture. Much of the appeal just like a regular job. I get ist like Chris Stapleton when he gets pensive, slows
Bayonne, the setting for of his books is their seeming up in the morning, do a little it down and lets his fully emotive vocal range take
Gaines' fiction, was actu- simplicity and straightfor- exercise, eat a little break- center stage. Two slower standouts on the 17-song
ally New Roads, Louisiana, ward story line. "I can never fast. I'm at my desk by nine set are “Dear Today,” a demo-tape reminder to
which Gaines left for Cali- write big novels," he always in the morning, work until himself to not take his time for granted, and “Even
fornia when he was 15. maintained. But the ques- three with a little break for Though I’m Leaving,” a classic father-son story song
Although books were de- tions he explored were the lunch," he said. about saying goodbye.
nied him throughout his eternal ones great writers His literary influences were Combs should be less worried about a sophomore
childhood because of confront: what it means to eclectic. Since he got a slump than making more room for all those platinum
Louisiana's strict segrega- be human, what a human late start as a reader, he plaques.q
tion, which extended even lives and dies for. read with a vengeance.q