European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 20, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Poge 20 the stars and stripes May 1977 Ernest Gaines Dow Home writer Miles up South by anuk1a Noel associated press Hes about Miles up South but for author Ernest its close enough to renew memories and love for the old South that once was his Home and now is the heart o his Gaines is the Cit dwelling writer of tales of the Rural South that was a Way of life for generations of Blacks and i think i can understand something about the interpretation of things around our from an uneducated arsons Point of because Ive heard it Over and Over and he said in an interview in san 1 dont have to go to the South to hear i can hear it Here on the Street i can hear it in the in wherever 1 Gaines worked for nearly 20 years writing about the South before his autobiography of miss Jane became a widely acclaimed television movie with an audience of 85 million for the film was an introduction to but for those acquainted with his it was a Reaf Irma Tum of the skills of the 44yearold Black Man full of Pride and stubborn Gaines was raised on a Plantation in near Baton he has been in the san Francisco Bay area for 28 years and now lives in an eight room Bachelor apartment in the heart of san Francisco Fillmore a predominantly Black neighbor but Gaines writing remains Down All of his published work three novels and a collection of Short stories is placed in a Southern author Gaines i wish i could Only write about Louisiana for the rest of my i must write about things i think i know most about i must write about things i care most be 1 wish i could Only write about Louisiana for the rest of my the world he knew in sixth House Down on that Louisiana Plantation fills Gaines the aunt who raised him inspired the Folk autobiography of miss a chronicle of Black experience seen through the life of a 100yearold Black the television version of the a two hour film starring Cicely was first shown in january 1974 and rerun the following of love and Gaines second exam Ines the Blac while sexual tension in Southern his other published works Are Catherine car his first and an anthology of Gaines writes intimately of the Cane and Cotton life of the Bayou know How the people i know when someone when a child is at a when theres trouble How people gather and his Stepfather moved the family nine boys and three girls to when Gaines was urged to hang out in rather than in the he began Reading established the White writers who wrote about Black charac ters were not writing about the people i not my kind of he it was then that i tried to 1 was not so much trying to Tell the rest of the world about my people As much As 1 was trying to Tell to record to say it was gain i delights in the image of himself Ai a Man apart and refuses to be lumped into a school of Black he wrote miss Jane Over a Zilyear period in the midst of the turbulent aloof from the movement of younger writers toward More militant even if the House was exploding around i was going to write miss Jane he 1 always had Faith in what i was writing t said if 1 have to lose everything doing i would just have to lose he lists Ernest Hemingway and William Faulkner As among his favorite the difference be tween Faulkner and he is that 1 ate in miss Janes and Faulkner would have had her cooking in miss Jane is feeding me he the Book has been translated into japanese and russian and is in its 14th printing since the to Gaines thinks the movie was a Good abbreviation of his 246page its just like recording the Bible in two hours on youve got to leave some thing wild the Success of miss he says he is Able to buy better food and better and when he makes his annual pilgrimage to in invited to the big we sit and have a Little a Little he moved five months ago from a three room Arment that was Home for 13 years to a bigger ice a Block each morning at 9 Oclock he gins walking Down his apartments Long Hall to a Large desk overlooking the cites he has been working for five years on his latest which he says is giving me the Book tentatively is in my fathers but he says he will never have material if anyone stopped buying miss i might have to dig ditches maybe two years from i find people very forgive if you inadvertently drive your car through their picture catch their neck in an elevator or go on a scout Jamboree and Loose one of their there real Good sports about but if there is one human being for which there is not one ounce of compas its for the Driver who Parks in two you can Tell a lot about us Man or woman who sees two parking spots and pulls his car squarely in the Middle of without Ever netting Hes the Type who eats All of his cake and leaves the icing until last so that everyone around him will feel he comes in by Ermo at wits end last at Church and then makes is people move Over to the Center so he can have the seat on the he leaves the Price tags on his Christmas and goes to a con Cert with a bad he sits next to at your favorite musical for which youve just paid a and hums the he holds his kid up in front of everyone at the to so he can see the animals and no one else he borrows a Pound of butter from you for a Cook out and returns he saves seats for eight people at the world series he  pay for a flu shot unless he could get it his Mother begs him not to visit her at the in crying to talk my congressman into having these driven so we keep track of know where they and Bow Many there Are of because then Are no physical to set them apart from your Ordinary in fact i had lunch with one the other Day and didst even realize it until we went to the parking lot Lor his the lot was crowded and his Little sports number was entered squarely Between the lines of two he looked a Little embarrassed about it and its my you Park next to another car and you get your doors beat May you get sideswiped by a Drunken i do you blame me he said defend i mean Why should i take a Chance on getting my doors scratched dont Tell it to 1 explain it to that woman who has been circling around this parking lot for to minutes trying to find an empty As i told my if you cant get these Drivers to at least have them Wear a Bracelet of some kind like the a methodist or blood Type this one would simply i a parking whats the Point of All that he asked lets just say in Case of hed want us to save the doors