The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman.

GAINES, Ernest J.

Item Number: 4691

New York: The Dial Press, 1971.

First edition. Octavo, original boards. Lengthily inscribed by the author in the year of publication by the author, “To Rod and Ginny- I heard about you from my sister, Lois. Hope you like “Miss June” Ernie Gaines May 17,1971 San Francisco.” Fine in a near fine dust jacket with a few small closed tears.

"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).