A Gathering of Old Men

After Mozart and Leadbelly A Gathering of Old Men is the second book by Earnest J Gaines and in a way I was surprised not to be enthralled. Maybe my expectations were too high, but something just wasn't right about this book. Gaines talks about the South, he talks about race, he mocks religion (or the priest in any case), on the face of it I would have to love the book. Yet, nothing ever remains as simple as it seems.

Gathering of Old Men tells the story of a group of old, black men who have suffered indignation and abuse by white people all their lives and finally decide to make a stand and defend one of theirs suspected of the murder of a white man. Gaines tells the story by switching from one character to another, providing varied view points while not becoming incomprehensible or impossible to follow. The problem of the book lies simply in the fact that it is too simple. It's message is too straight forward, the characters develop no depth (with the possible exception of one important non-main one) and the reader always feels longing for some more food for thought. The cover of the book is adorned with a very nice folk art picture of three old black men with guns. I liked that picture. I like folk art, but I guess as far as literature is concerned I like things a bit less obvious and straight forward.

Mozart and Leadbelly

Bought this by accident (I had never heard of the author, Ernest J. Gaines) because of the title only and it was well worth it too. The book is split in three parts, the first consists of essays describing his (Gaines') upbringing and how it influenced his writing, the second short stories, and the third is a transcribed interview. Gaines hails from the Deep South, Louisiana to be precise, and that is where he draws his writing material and inspiration as well. The whole thing isn't all that long, but his essays, the material that he draws on (with references to Lighnin' Hopkins for example, I did find it weird that a self-proclaimed country-blues fanatic mainly referred to jazz artists as sources of inspiration, but then maybe that was due to the intended readership), in combination with his short stories really made me want to read more by him.

As old as the Faulkner comparison is, as relevant is it when talking about Southern writers, and seemingly every promising Southerner has been compared at some point (it seems similar to the NBA searching for a new Jordan in every young star (starting with Grant Hill to now LeBron James)), the interesting twist in this case of course is that Gaines is black and thus has an inherent different outlook on the South. No, I don't think he has come even close to dethroning the great Faulkner for me, but I will read more by him if I find the time, that's for sure.