La Réception de The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman : Du consensus à la polémique, du best-seller au « classique »

Abstract

This article focuses on AJP as a book rather than as a text and considers the outstanding travel of Gaines’novel through the years. How did his work manage to reconcile mainstream critics, African-American intellectuals and the general public? This study explores the articles that celebrated the publication of AJP in 1971, as well as the sharp debate that followed the airing of its C.B.S. adaptation in 1974. Ultimately we suggest that popular success, critical acclaim and entrance into the canon were allowed by an innovative and trendsetting writing backed up by exceptional market opportunities.