Synopsis
ABSALOM, ABSALOM! is often considered to be Faulkner's greatest book, and one of his most compelling explorations of race, gender, and the burdens of the past. The plot revolves around the character of Thomas Sutpen, son of poor whites in Faulkner's fictional Yoknapatawpha County. Densely written and notoriously "difficult," the novel explores the question of why Sutpen's son, Henry, killed Charles Bon, his friend and classmate, and the suitor of his sister, Judith. The action shifts from the early 19th century, when this event took place, to the "present" (1909-1910), when Quentin Compson, a student at Harvard, becomes obsessed with discovering the truth about his ancestor Sutpen--and hence about his family's past--and the relevance of that truth to the present. Originally published as a series of short stories in the Saturday Evening Post, THE UNVANQUISHED is one of Faulkner's most conventionally written novels, and one of his most underrated. Set during the Civil War, it tells the story of Bayard Sartoris, his black friend Ringo, and Bayard's strong, determined grandmother, Rosa Millard. In THE HAMLET, the ruthless Flem Snopes rises from poverty to power in Frenchman's Bend with the help of a powerful local landowner, Will Varner. When Varner's daughter, Eula, becomes pregnant by another man, Flem marries her--beginning the dynasty that will continue through two more novels.
GO DOWN, MOSES is a cycle of seven interrelated episodes (including the much-anthologized story, "The Bear") examining the complex, changing relationships among the descendents of the McCaslin family in Faulkner's mythical Yoknapatawpha County. The novel recounts the early days of Lucius Quintus Carothers McCaslin, and continues through the lives of his many descendants, both black and white, in a noteworthy exploration of race and miscegenation, and of the impact of the South's vanishing wilderness on the rural population. Lucas Beauchamp of GO DOWN, MOSES reappears in INTRUDER IN THE DUST. Beauchamp has been accused of murdering a white man, Vinson Gowrie. To save Lucas from lynching, it is up to Chick Mallison, with the help of an old woman and a small boy, to find the real murderer. Faulkner's novel was made into an acclaimed motion picture in 1949. REQUIEM FOR A NUN is a sequel to the earlier SANCTUARY, and continues the story of Temple Drake eight years later. Now married to Gowan Stevens, Temple tries to save the life of a nurse who is accused of murdering Temple and Gowan's child. Most of the novel is presented in the form of a play. Each act begins with an essay giving the background of the events and a history of the mythical Yoknapatawpha County, as well as a consideration of the ways in which the past affects the present--Faulkner's perennial theme. Winner of both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award in 1955, A FABLE is an allegorical novel about a French corporal--meant to be seen as a Christ figure--during World War I. In perhaps his most ambitious work, Faulkner abandoned Yoknapatawpha County, and set A FABLE largely in the trenches of France. He spent more than ten years writing this complex novel and considered it to be his masterpiece.
| Details | | Publication Date: | 1990-05-01 | | Series: | Library of America, 48 | | Editor: | Joseph Blotner, Noel Polk |
| Size | | Height: | 8.3 in | | Width: | 5.3 in | | Thickness: | 1.5 in | | Weight: | 25.6 oz |
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