His return to Louisiana in 1981 was a victory for both USL and Louisiana. Asked if he writes solely for himself, Gaines says he writes to be published, . . . He recalls a time when a Stanford professor asked him a similar question. If forced to choose a target audience, Gaines says, I would say that I write for the black youth of the South, because I d like him to realize his life is worth literature. Just as I have used the average people in my work, what I might do is reach that youth and let him realize that his life makes up my literature and literature in the world.
All writers write about the average man.
That s the only thing worth writing about. And each story affords him a new opportunity to resurrect the ghosts of the plantation. I cannot imagine writing about anything but that, he says. I ve tried. Nothing has been to my satisfaction as the things I write about Louisiana.