Transcriptions

Contributors made the following transcriptions from the manuscript and typescript drafts housed at the Ernest J. Gaines Center. Gaines described his composition process as starting with handwritten drafts. Then he would type a draft quickly, without concern for typos or other errors. He worked from those typescript drafts to make corrections and further revisions. The archival series containing material related to A Lesson Before Dying includes partial manuscript drafts of the novel along with multiple typescript drafts. In addition to drafts Gaines made, the collection includes later versions typed by copyeditors and galley proofs set by the publisher, Knopf. Most of the transcriptions that follow represent early drafts. The early drafts illuminate Gaines's writing process as well as revealing key aspects of the novel as it took shape. Here we get to see how Gaines developed the plot, characters, dialog, and narrative voice to make A Lesson Before Dying as we know it.

Digital facsimiles of the archival documents are accessible at the top of each transcription section. Click on the resource citation to see a thumbnail image of the facsimile, then click on the thumbnail to go to a larger version of the image file that will allow you to zoom in or out for a better view. Gaines's handwriting can be difficult to decipher in places. Contributors used the typescripts as a reference point to gauge the content of some passages in the manuscript drafts. Readers are encouraged to do the same, both to get a clearer sense of the manuscript drafts as well as a clearer sense of how Gaines revised between drafts. In places you will see [undecipherable] as a placeholder where contributors felt they could not make a credible transcription. Note, too, that different contributors handled edits in different ways. Some represented text Gaines struck out, others did not. Some transcribed text handwritten into the margins of typescripts, others did not. These were decisions each contributor made at their own discretion. We welcome feedback and corrections from readers.