Mozart and Leadbelly: Stories and Essays Book

This is a great book for anyone who is a fan of Ernest Gaines. There are essays explaining how and why he wrote "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman" and "A Lesson Before Dying", some auto biographical information, 5 of his early short stories, including the first one he had published, and an interview with him on his feelings about art and music. Great book for fans of his.

This is the life story of Ernest J. Gaines and inspiration used in his writing. His story starts with his family history and growing up in Louisiana on a plantation in Pointe Coupee Parish, a community which helped shape his characters for stories. He built his current house on land of the same plantation where he was born and spent his early life. He also built a church near the cemetery grounds on the plantation. Little details enriched his lifestory such as chewing cane (sugar cane), cracking pecans, and rocking chairs on porches (when you read it in context, you'll understand). Gaines's writings grew out of a particular community and a particular place. This title refers to how people can equally draw inspiration from "ancestors" and "relatives". In Gaines's writing "ancestors" were used for examples of techniqe, form, beauty and artistic excellence - like Mozart, Mussovgsky & Turgenev. "Relatives" were used for examples of mastery of language, such as poetic blues lyrics and the blues culture of his youth - like Big Bill Broonzy, Lightnin Hopkins & Bessie Smith. His writings also showed the influences of Chekhov, Tolstoy, Pushkin, Gogol and Turgenev, since he considered certain experiences in life to be universal, just expressed differentlly depending on the culture in which it is expressed. "Their peasants were not caricatures or clowns. They did not make fun of them. They were people - they were good, they were bad. They could be as brutal as any man, they could be as kind. The American, writers in general, the Southern writer in particular, never saw peasantry, especially black peasantry, in this way; blacks were either caricatures of human beings or they were problems. They needed to be saved or they were saviors. They were either children or they were seers. But they were very seldom what the average being was." - Gaines
"These writers, who so poorly described blacks, did well with the odor of grass and trees after a summer rain; they were especially adept at describing the sweet odor in the clothes of men coming in from the fields; you could see, better than if you were actually there, the red dust in Georgia or the black mud of Mississippi." - Gaines
In most stories at that time, when a black person was mentioned, she was a mammy or he was a Tom;
"When a black woman character was young, she was either a potential mammy or a n****r wench, and if he was young, he was a potential Tom, a good n*****; or he was not a potential Tom, a bad n*****." - Gaines

I thought the inspiration was very insightful and it was interesting to read the backstory for his characters and the details that one might overlook when first reading his novels will make you want to read them again. I liked the real story of his life more than the short stories included in this collection. Actually I would give 4.75 stars - just didn't know how.