SOURCE: Gaines, Ernest J., and Wolfgang Lepschy. “A MELUS Interview: Ernest J. Gaines.” MELUS 24, no. 1 (spring 1999): 197-208.

In the following interview, originally conducted on October 22, 1996, Gaines discusses the European reaction to his works, his literary influences, the evolution of his art, the social progress of the African American community, and his personal heroes.

The following conversation with the writer was conducted on October 22, 1996. The conversation took place at the University of Bonn (Germany) prior to Ernest Gaines's public reading from A Lesson before Dying.

[Lepschy]: You've been in Europe now since February. What are your impressions about Europe, especially France? How do people react to your works?

[Gaines]: I have been to France before. I was there in '92, and I spent some time in Angers as well as in Paris. I came back in '94 when A Lesson before Dying was published in France, and I had...