What do you think?
Rate this book
William Faulkner: American Writer: A Biography
From Publishers Weekly
It's tempting to consider these 1200 pages the ne plus ultra of Faulkner studies, not only for the book's comprehensiveness but for its depth. Karl, a noted Joseph Conrad scholar, blends into one alert, seamless and often sharply insightful narrative meticulous detail regarding Faulkner's life with probing examination of his obsession with the Civil War and its long shadow, the myth-making that was central to his creative imagination and the narrative strategies that went into novels such as As I Lay Dying and Absalom, Absalom! (``very possibly the greatest of twentieth-century American novels'') and stretched our notion of what a novel can be. We can see Faulkner's indebtedness to Conrad, Eliot and Joyce, his influence on the likes of Camus and Garcia Marquez, his concern for racial equality, his grim focus on the dark side of human nature, and how his fiction embodied all the great American themes from frontierism to Edenic dispossession and suicide. We also see Faulkner the husband, lover, alcoholic, Hollywood scriptwriter and Nobel laureate. Karl takes full measure of the man, at his peak and in his decline, and the book is a monument to the critical biographer's art. Photos. (May 1989)
It's tempting to consider these 1200 pages the ne plus ultra of Faulkner studies, not only for the book's comprehensiveness but for its depth. Karl, a noted Joseph Conrad scholar, blends into one alert, seamless and often sharply insightful narrative meticulous detail regarding Faulkner's life with probing examination of his obsession with the Civil War and its long shadow, the myth-making that was central to his creative imagination and the narrative strategies that went into novels such as As I Lay Dying and Absalom, Absalom! (``very possibly the greatest of twentieth-century American novels'') and stretched our notion of what a novel can be. We can see Faulkner's indebtedness to Conrad, Eliot and Joyce, his influence on the likes of Camus and Garcia Marquez, his concern for racial equality, his grim focus on the dark side of human nature, and how his fiction embodied all the great American themes from frontierism to Edenic dispossession and suicide. We also see Faulkner the husband, lover, alcoholic, Hollywood scriptwriter and Nobel laureate. Karl takes full measure of the man, at his peak and in his decline, and the book is a monument to the critical biographer's art. Photos. (May 1989)
- GenresBiography
1131 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 1989
3 people are currently reading
84 people want to read
About the author
Frederick R. Karl
64 books7 followersAlong with his biographies, Frederick Karl wrote several volumes of literary criticism, among them American Fictions: 1940-1980. He also was general editor and volume co-editor of the Collected Letters of Joseph Conrad, five volumes of which have appeared. He taught at City College of New York, Columbia, and NYU. Karl died in 2004.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 12, 2012
This book is so heavy, my wrists hurt after a half hour...
April 7, 2023
I don't give up on books very much but this one, over long, rambling, and without any clear direction, defeated me. I'll look for another biography of Faulkner!
March 22, 2014
Heavy read, but good.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews