The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman. by Gaines, Ernest J - 1971

New York: The Dial Press, 1971. First edition of this classic novel, which depicts the struggles of African Americans as seen through the eyes of the narrator, a woman named Jane Pittman. Octavo, original boards. Lengthily signed by the author on the title page, "We ain't giving up" I said "We done gone this far" Ernest J. Gaines." Fine in a near fine dust jacket with a few small closed tears. Jacket design by Mike McGiver. This is a novel in the guise of the tape-recorded recollections of a black woman who has lived 110 years, who has been both a slave and a witness to the black militancy of the 1960's. In this woman Ernest Gaines has created a legendary figure, a woman equipped to stand beside William Faulkner's Dilsey in The Sound And The Fury." Miss Jane Pittman, like Dilsey, has 'endured,' has seen almost everything and foretold the rest. Gaines' novel brings to mind other great works The Odyssey for the way his heroine's travels manage to summarize the American history of her race, and Huckleberry Finn for the clarity of her voice, for her rare capacity to sort through the mess of years and things to find the one true story in it all"(Geoffrey Wolff).