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Novels 1930-1935: As I Lay Dying / Sanctuary / Light in August / Pylon
Between 1930 and 1935, William Faulkner came into full possession of the genius and creativity that made him one of America’s finest writers of the twentieth century. The four novels in this Library of America collection display an astonishing range of characters and treatments in his Depression-era fiction.
As I Lay Dying (1930) is a combination of comedy, horror, and compassion, a narrative woven from the inarticulate desires of a peasant family in conflict. It presents the conscious, unconscious, and sometimes hallucinatory impressions of the husband, daughter, and four sons of Addie Bundren, the long-suffering matriarch of her rural Mississippi clan, as the family marches her body through fire and flood to its grave in town.
Sanctuary (1931) is a novel of sex and social class, of collapsed gentility and amoral justice, that moves from the back roads of Mississippi and the fleshpots of Memphis to the courthouse of Jefferson and the appalling spectacle of popular vengeance. With its fascinating portraits of Popeye, a sadistic gangster and rapist, and Temple Drake, a debutante with an affinity for evil, it offers a horrific and sometimes comically macabre vision of modern life.
Light in August (1932) incorporates Faulkner’s religious vision of the hopeful stubbornness of ordinary life. The guileless Lena Grove, in search of the father of her unborn child; the disgraced minister Gail Hightower, who dreams of Confederate cavalry charges; Byron Bunch, who thought working Saturdays would keep a man out of trouble, and the desperate, enigmatic Joe Christmas, consumed by his mixed ancestry—all find their lives entangled in the inexorable succession of love, birth, and death.
Pylon (1935), a tale of barnstorming aviators in the carnival atmosphere of an air show in a southern city, examines the bonds of desire and loyalty among three men and a woman, all characters without a past. Dramatizing what, in accepting his Nobel Prize, Faulkner called “the human heart in conflict with itself,” it illustrates how he became one of the great humanists of twentieth-century literature.
The Library of America edition of Faulkner’s work publishes, for the first time, new, corrected texts of these four works. Manuscripts, typescripts, galleys, and published editions have been collated to produce versions that are free of the changes introduced by the original editors and that are faithful to Faulkner’s intentions.
As I Lay Dying (1930) is a combination of comedy, horror, and compassion, a narrative woven from the inarticulate desires of a peasant family in conflict. It presents the conscious, unconscious, and sometimes hallucinatory impressions of the husband, daughter, and four sons of Addie Bundren, the long-suffering matriarch of her rural Mississippi clan, as the family marches her body through fire and flood to its grave in town.
Sanctuary (1931) is a novel of sex and social class, of collapsed gentility and amoral justice, that moves from the back roads of Mississippi and the fleshpots of Memphis to the courthouse of Jefferson and the appalling spectacle of popular vengeance. With its fascinating portraits of Popeye, a sadistic gangster and rapist, and Temple Drake, a debutante with an affinity for evil, it offers a horrific and sometimes comically macabre vision of modern life.
Light in August (1932) incorporates Faulkner’s religious vision of the hopeful stubbornness of ordinary life. The guileless Lena Grove, in search of the father of her unborn child; the disgraced minister Gail Hightower, who dreams of Confederate cavalry charges; Byron Bunch, who thought working Saturdays would keep a man out of trouble, and the desperate, enigmatic Joe Christmas, consumed by his mixed ancestry—all find their lives entangled in the inexorable succession of love, birth, and death.
Pylon (1935), a tale of barnstorming aviators in the carnival atmosphere of an air show in a southern city, examines the bonds of desire and loyalty among three men and a woman, all characters without a past. Dramatizing what, in accepting his Nobel Prize, Faulkner called “the human heart in conflict with itself,” it illustrates how he became one of the great humanists of twentieth-century literature.
The Library of America edition of Faulkner’s work publishes, for the first time, new, corrected texts of these four works. Manuscripts, typescripts, galleys, and published editions have been collated to produce versions that are free of the changes introduced by the original editors and that are faithful to Faulkner’s intentions.
1056 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1985
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937 people want to read
About the author
William Faulkner
1,353 books10.7k followersWilliam Cuthbert Faulkner was an American writer. He is best known for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi, a stand-in for Lafayette County where he spent most of his life. A Nobel laureate, Faulkner is one of the most celebrated writers of American literature and often is considered the greatest writer of Southern literature.
Faulkner was born in New Albany, Mississippi, and raised in Oxford, Mississippi. During World War I, he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force, but did not serve in combat. Returning to Oxford, he attended the University of Mississippi for three semesters before dropping out. He moved to New Orleans, where he wrote his first novel Soldiers' Pay (1925). He went back to Oxford and wrote Sartoris (1927), his first work set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County. In 1929, he published The Sound and the Fury. The following year, he wrote As I Lay Dying. Later that decade, he wrote Light in August, Absalom, Absalom! and The Wild Palms. He also worked as a screenwriter, contributing to Howard Hawks's To Have and Have Not and The Big Sleep, adapted from Raymond Chandler's novel. The former film, adapted from Ernest Hemingway's novel, is the only film with contributions by two Nobel laureates.
Faulkner's reputation grew following publication of Malcolm Cowley's The Portable Faulkner, and he was awarded the 1949 Nobel Prize in Literature for "his powerful and unique contribution to the modern American novel." He is the only Mississippi-born Nobel laureate. Two of his works, A Fable (1954) and The Reivers (1962), won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Faulkner died from a heart attack on July 6, 1962, following a fall from his horse the month before. Ralph Ellison called him "the greatest artist the South has produced".
Faulkner was born in New Albany, Mississippi, and raised in Oxford, Mississippi. During World War I, he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force, but did not serve in combat. Returning to Oxford, he attended the University of Mississippi for three semesters before dropping out. He moved to New Orleans, where he wrote his first novel Soldiers' Pay (1925). He went back to Oxford and wrote Sartoris (1927), his first work set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County. In 1929, he published The Sound and the Fury. The following year, he wrote As I Lay Dying. Later that decade, he wrote Light in August, Absalom, Absalom! and The Wild Palms. He also worked as a screenwriter, contributing to Howard Hawks's To Have and Have Not and The Big Sleep, adapted from Raymond Chandler's novel. The former film, adapted from Ernest Hemingway's novel, is the only film with contributions by two Nobel laureates.
Faulkner's reputation grew following publication of Malcolm Cowley's The Portable Faulkner, and he was awarded the 1949 Nobel Prize in Literature for "his powerful and unique contribution to the modern American novel." He is the only Mississippi-born Nobel laureate. Two of his works, A Fable (1954) and The Reivers (1962), won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Faulkner died from a heart attack on July 6, 1962, following a fall from his horse the month before. Ralph Ellison called him "the greatest artist the South has produced".
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
January 14, 2023
Have Read
Sanctuary
As I Lay Dying
Light in August
Sanctuary
As I Lay Dying
Light in August
May 30, 2019
As someone who started in the deep end of the pool (with The Sound and The Fury) I have held off reading more by this author for a long time, although I always intended to. And I certainly was not intending to plow through all four novels in this volume at once, but that is just what I ended up doing (because once you get acclimated to the dialogue and settings, you want to keep going so you do not lose your momentum). I found these novels be much more accessible, even though, with Faulkner there will always be the disorienting sensation of wondering what in the world is happening? When that happens you need to suck it up and be patient, as all will become clear. And since I am reviewing this edition, I will review all four here but mark each title as read so I can get credit for my “Reading Challenge.”
As I Lay Dying
This was probably the most challenging of the four because of the multiple narrators. The story centers on the Bundren family, who make the Joads in Grapes of Wrath look like professional organizers and career coaches. The novel opens on the day that the matriarch of the clan takes her dying breath. Her husband promises that they would carry her remains all the way to a neighboring county to be buried “with her kin,” despite others telling him to just bury her locally.
Needless to say, several roadblocks ensue including a 100 year flood which washes out all of the bridges on the way. The circuitous route they have to take leads to more delays like having to ford a rapidly running river which nearly overturned the wagon containing the casket (and having to to retrieve their valuable belongings from the river). It’s also hot muggy July weather in Mississippi and body begins to smell and everywhere they go people raise a hue and cry. The family, who start with practically nothing end up borrowing and spending money they don’t have in order to continue this seemingly useless journey. I would say this is a case for why we should not allow the wishes of dead people to upend our lives. Weirdly -- after all I have described -- the novel ends abruptly on a rather humorous note.
Sanctuary
Unlike its predecessor, this has a more straightforward third person narration style (apparently the author himself hated it and wrote it “to make money.”). It must have seemed commercial at the time, because there was actually a Pre-Code Hollywood movie called The Story of Temple Drake based on it. Though the plot seems to differ, the screenplay was also written by Faulkner. Set in the same mythical county as the last novel, it revolves around an idealistic lawyer’s chance encounter with bootleggers and a scary looking gangster named Popeye.
His story gets tangled up with theirs when, unbeknownst to him, his widowed sister’s caddish boyfriend, Gowan Stevens, leaves her and instead takes Temple Drake to a dance at U. Miss Oxford (a rather odious type, he constantly brags about how he learned to drink “the best liquor” from the FFV’s at the University of Virginia where he went to college).
Though a somewhat wild flapper, Temple is soon out of her league when, the next day, Gowan, who had continued his drinking spree with some “townies” after the dance, just misses the train to the football game they were to attend the following day. Temple, who spots him pulling up just as the train is leaving, jumps off and, rides off in Gowan’s car (which is a "no no" for unchaperoned women at the college). However, instead of going straight to the game, he decides to detour to Lee Goodwin, the Bootlegger’s, place for more booze. After a minor accident involving a tree purposely placed across the path to the the bootlegger’s lair in order to thwart police, the pair are unable to drive away. Despite Goodwin’s and Popeye’s strict rules against letting the customers get drunk on the premises, Gowan stays and parties with the bootlegger’s helpers. (And despite Godwin’s wife warning Temple that she better leave before dark).
The whole thing ends in a trial in which Godwin, the wrong man, is accused of murder. The man’s wife and Temple Drake are the only ones who saw what really happened, but Temple is MIA (Gowan, slept through the whole thing and left town). As Benbow, the lawyer, becomes more enmeshed in the case, his morally upright sister is scandalized by her brother’s association with such lowlifes. The irony is, the sister is clueless that Stevens, the beau who jilted her, is the cause of the entire mess her brother is in.
Although the story is a little convoluted, I enjoyed this one for the local color and a gangster’s funeral that reminded me of the Hells Angels funeral in The Wild Angels. I wonder if they put that scene in the movie?
A Light In August
The longest novel in the set, I think I enjoyed this one the most. The story is an obvious parallel to the Birth of Christ. A young woman, almost nine months pregnant, travels from Alabama to Mississippi on foot, searching for the father of her child. It’s obvious he meant to abandon her even though she naively insists that he probably sent for her after he found a job, and she never got the letter.
After finally tracking down his place of employment to a planing mill in Jefferson, she is disappointed yet again, when she discovers only a colleague named Byron Bunch. However, he is smitten and chivalrously, decides to help a damsel in distress. Because there is no room at the inn, he finds her a cottage (the one recently vacated by the deadbeat dad, whose real name is Lucas Burch), in which to give birth without a bunch of gawkers nearby. He selflessly does all this despite all the spurious gossip of the townspeople. However, he neglects to mention the whereabouts of the real father, Lucas Burch, who is known locally by another name.
While this one also ends in a murder trial, the story goes through a lot of digressions as we get the backstory of other characters whose connection to one another remains mysterious until the end. For instance, Lucas Burch sold bootleg liquor with an aloof character named “Christmas” who began life -- what he knew of it -- at an orphanage in Memphis. The other major characters are an elderly minister named Hightower, who spent most of his life as a pariah after his wife scandalized the town; while Joanna Burden, a middle-aged spinster, is also a recluse in her family's stately home because her family were known to have been abolitionists and were murdered for speaking in favor of voting rights for blacks during Reconstruction.
The most interesting aspect of the novel for me was it’s depiction of the 1930s and how big a shadow, not just “The Great War,” but the Civil War, still cast over the lives of almost everyone even if they were too young to remember it. It all comes together to form a disturbing mosaic.
Pylon
This novel focuses on air show pilots whose milieu seems one step above that of professional dance marathon contestants. The action takes place in New Orleans during Mardis Gras which happens to coincide with the dedication of a new airport which features racing and stunts for several days. Supposedly this was made into a film called The Tarnished Angels, starring Rock Hudson, which I would like to see for the Mardi Gras footage. They would have had to tame the story a lot though, because the novel is pretty frank about a threesome involving a parachute jumper, a pilot named Roger Shumann, and the latter’s wife, Laverne, who does not know which of the men is the father of her child.
Into this entourage stumbles an alcoholic reporter -- who is described throughout the novel as resembling the Grim Reaper -- and who is besotted by the wife and in awe of the heroic feats of the airmen; although, being perpetually broke and being forced to borrow money constantly, a pilot’s life was clearly not as glamorous as it would later become (as depicted in films like Catch Me If You Can). Although Shumann won a small amount of money in the first race despite flying a jalopy, the group have their eye on the $2000 prize on Saturday. To have that sum of money would alleviate all their immediate difficulties.
However, being unable to collect even the small prize from the race committee until the next day, and with no place to stay; the reporter puts them up at his place. This leads to a rather comical series of events on Thursday evening and Friday morning. The reporter (believing he is fired after a drunken rant to his editor) and Jiggs, the mechanic whose job it is to keep the plane in running order, drink way too much absinthe. The reporter leaves his apartment at 5:00 am to get a cup of coffee, forgets the key and passes out on the doorstep; which in turn leads to the entire group getting locked out. Unable to rouse the reporter, they have no choice but to continue on to the airport to work on the plane. However, no matter what the outcome on Friday, the group know they need to procure a better aircraft if they hope to win the $2,000. They spend the rest of the day doing just that with the reporter's help.
While I won’t spoil the ending, the whole plot seemed absolutely ludicrous. However the notes say that a big air show really did coincide with Mardi Gras in 1933 (which must have been insane). Not only that, the author himself took flying lessons during the war and frequented these circles, which makes me think a lot of this stuff must be true.
As I Lay Dying
This was probably the most challenging of the four because of the multiple narrators. The story centers on the Bundren family, who make the Joads in Grapes of Wrath look like professional organizers and career coaches. The novel opens on the day that the matriarch of the clan takes her dying breath. Her husband promises that they would carry her remains all the way to a neighboring county to be buried “with her kin,” despite others telling him to just bury her locally.
Needless to say, several roadblocks ensue including a 100 year flood which washes out all of the bridges on the way. The circuitous route they have to take leads to more delays like having to ford a rapidly running river which nearly overturned the wagon containing the casket (and having to to retrieve their valuable belongings from the river). It’s also hot muggy July weather in Mississippi and body begins to smell and everywhere they go people raise a hue and cry. The family, who start with practically nothing end up borrowing and spending money they don’t have in order to continue this seemingly useless journey. I would say this is a case for why we should not allow the wishes of dead people to upend our lives. Weirdly -- after all I have described -- the novel ends abruptly on a rather humorous note.
Sanctuary
Unlike its predecessor, this has a more straightforward third person narration style (apparently the author himself hated it and wrote it “to make money.”). It must have seemed commercial at the time, because there was actually a Pre-Code Hollywood movie called The Story of Temple Drake based on it. Though the plot seems to differ, the screenplay was also written by Faulkner. Set in the same mythical county as the last novel, it revolves around an idealistic lawyer’s chance encounter with bootleggers and a scary looking gangster named Popeye.
His story gets tangled up with theirs when, unbeknownst to him, his widowed sister’s caddish boyfriend, Gowan Stevens, leaves her and instead takes Temple Drake to a dance at U. Miss Oxford (a rather odious type, he constantly brags about how he learned to drink “the best liquor” from the FFV’s at the University of Virginia where he went to college).
Though a somewhat wild flapper, Temple is soon out of her league when, the next day, Gowan, who had continued his drinking spree with some “townies” after the dance, just misses the train to the football game they were to attend the following day. Temple, who spots him pulling up just as the train is leaving, jumps off and, rides off in Gowan’s car (which is a "no no" for unchaperoned women at the college). However, instead of going straight to the game, he decides to detour to Lee Goodwin, the Bootlegger’s, place for more booze. After a minor accident involving a tree purposely placed across the path to the the bootlegger’s lair in order to thwart police, the pair are unable to drive away. Despite Goodwin’s and Popeye’s strict rules against letting the customers get drunk on the premises, Gowan stays and parties with the bootlegger’s helpers. (And despite Godwin’s wife warning Temple that she better leave before dark).
The whole thing ends in a trial in which Godwin, the wrong man, is accused of murder. The man’s wife and Temple Drake are the only ones who saw what really happened, but Temple is MIA (Gowan, slept through the whole thing and left town). As Benbow, the lawyer, becomes more enmeshed in the case, his morally upright sister is scandalized by her brother’s association with such lowlifes. The irony is, the sister is clueless that Stevens, the beau who jilted her, is the cause of the entire mess her brother is in.
Although the story is a little convoluted, I enjoyed this one for the local color and a gangster’s funeral that reminded me of the Hells Angels funeral in The Wild Angels. I wonder if they put that scene in the movie?
A Light In August
The longest novel in the set, I think I enjoyed this one the most. The story is an obvious parallel to the Birth of Christ. A young woman, almost nine months pregnant, travels from Alabama to Mississippi on foot, searching for the father of her child. It’s obvious he meant to abandon her even though she naively insists that he probably sent for her after he found a job, and she never got the letter.
After finally tracking down his place of employment to a planing mill in Jefferson, she is disappointed yet again, when she discovers only a colleague named Byron Bunch. However, he is smitten and chivalrously, decides to help a damsel in distress. Because there is no room at the inn, he finds her a cottage (the one recently vacated by the deadbeat dad, whose real name is Lucas Burch), in which to give birth without a bunch of gawkers nearby. He selflessly does all this despite all the spurious gossip of the townspeople. However, he neglects to mention the whereabouts of the real father, Lucas Burch, who is known locally by another name.
While this one also ends in a murder trial, the story goes through a lot of digressions as we get the backstory of other characters whose connection to one another remains mysterious until the end. For instance, Lucas Burch sold bootleg liquor with an aloof character named “Christmas” who began life -- what he knew of it -- at an orphanage in Memphis. The other major characters are an elderly minister named Hightower, who spent most of his life as a pariah after his wife scandalized the town; while Joanna Burden, a middle-aged spinster, is also a recluse in her family's stately home because her family were known to have been abolitionists and were murdered for speaking in favor of voting rights for blacks during Reconstruction.
The most interesting aspect of the novel for me was it’s depiction of the 1930s and how big a shadow, not just “The Great War,” but the Civil War, still cast over the lives of almost everyone even if they were too young to remember it. It all comes together to form a disturbing mosaic.
Pylon
This novel focuses on air show pilots whose milieu seems one step above that of professional dance marathon contestants. The action takes place in New Orleans during Mardis Gras which happens to coincide with the dedication of a new airport which features racing and stunts for several days. Supposedly this was made into a film called The Tarnished Angels, starring Rock Hudson, which I would like to see for the Mardi Gras footage. They would have had to tame the story a lot though, because the novel is pretty frank about a threesome involving a parachute jumper, a pilot named Roger Shumann, and the latter’s wife, Laverne, who does not know which of the men is the father of her child.
Into this entourage stumbles an alcoholic reporter -- who is described throughout the novel as resembling the Grim Reaper -- and who is besotted by the wife and in awe of the heroic feats of the airmen; although, being perpetually broke and being forced to borrow money constantly, a pilot’s life was clearly not as glamorous as it would later become (as depicted in films like Catch Me If You Can). Although Shumann won a small amount of money in the first race despite flying a jalopy, the group have their eye on the $2000 prize on Saturday. To have that sum of money would alleviate all their immediate difficulties.
However, being unable to collect even the small prize from the race committee until the next day, and with no place to stay; the reporter puts them up at his place. This leads to a rather comical series of events on Thursday evening and Friday morning. The reporter (believing he is fired after a drunken rant to his editor) and Jiggs, the mechanic whose job it is to keep the plane in running order, drink way too much absinthe. The reporter leaves his apartment at 5:00 am to get a cup of coffee, forgets the key and passes out on the doorstep; which in turn leads to the entire group getting locked out. Unable to rouse the reporter, they have no choice but to continue on to the airport to work on the plane. However, no matter what the outcome on Friday, the group know they need to procure a better aircraft if they hope to win the $2,000. They spend the rest of the day doing just that with the reporter's help.
While I won’t spoil the ending, the whole plot seemed absolutely ludicrous. However the notes say that a big air show really did coincide with Mardi Gras in 1933 (which must have been insane). Not only that, the author himself took flying lessons during the war and frequented these circles, which makes me think a lot of this stuff must be true.
April 23, 2011
Sometimes it's the book and sometimes it's the reader. So this time I'm taking the hit, because for some reason I just couldn't focus on Pylon. I know it had interesting and complex characters. I know it had an artful and subtle narrative style. And the story itself was compelling. So why couldn't I sit down and lose myself in it? I don't know. I do know i found it distracting that Faulkner decided to set the novel in New Orleans, but then decided to replace all the place-names with New-Orleans-sounding alternatives. Why not just say Canal Street? Why not just say Arnaud's? Because he wanted to cast aspersions on the airport and the movers and shakers of NOLA without getting sued? I don't know...
[note - no review of As I Lay Dying, Sanctuary and Light in August here, because I read them elsewhere - if you care...]
[note - no review of As I Lay Dying, Sanctuary and Light in August here, because I read them elsewhere - if you care...]
June 8, 2023
This was my least favorite Faulkner work. The writing was of course excellent, but the subject matter was horrible and was dealt with in a cavalier manner. I know it was realistic for the characters in the book, but I found it too disturbing.
September 20, 2010
Im just reading Sanctuary, already read As I Lay Dying and Light in August, my library didn't have Sanctuary on its own
November 24, 2019
El segundo tomo de esta colección publicada por la Library of America incluye tres novelas publicadas entre 1930 y 1935:
Mientras agonizo (1930; 4/5) me gustó mucho. La narración, aunque dramática, posee una capa de ironía y humor negro que la hace muy entretenida. Supongo que la técnica de tener diferentes narradores para cada capítulo, cada uno de ellos relatando desde su punto de vista en un flujo continuo de consciencia, debió haber sido muy original cuando se publicó la novela, aunque aquí hay mayor equilibrio entre la experimentación y la narración; a diferencia de El Sonido y la Furia, que es más compleja, ésta novela me pareció más accesible y divertida.
Santuario (1929, publicada en 1931; 3/5) es mucho más sórdida y controvertida. A diferencia de otras obras del autor, ésta parece un bestseller, porque es muy accesible y trata un tema de suspenso. La ambientación es oscura, y sórdida, desesperanzada. Hay escenas con mucha fuerza, descritas con la maestría que caracteriza al autor. No me gustó tanto como otras novelas, es demasiado violenta para mi gusto, pero comparte la fuerza narrativa normal de FAULKNER.
Luz de Agosto (1932; 4/5) es, junto con “Mientras Agonizo” y “El Sonido y la Furia”, la novela que más me ha gustado hasta el momento. Narrada de forma impecable, los hilos conductores son la historia de Lena Grove, una joven que busca al hombre que la embarazó y que le prometió matrimonio, y la historia de Joe Christmas, un atormentado mestizo que vive las contradicciones de una sociedad esclavista y segregacionista que es incapaz de reconciliarse con un personaje mulato como Christmas. En medio de estas dos historias se hilan muchas otras que complementan el relato de forma que uno se mantiene atento a los diferentes hilos narrativos. Una reseña minuciosa que recomiendo mucho es la de Fernando, que pueden leer aquí.
Pilón (1935; 3/5) me pareció un poco aburrida; no entendí muy bien por qué tanto drama por el triángulo amoroso que se presenta en la novela. El reportero de un periódico local, fracasado y sin ilusiones, se siente atraído por la sensualidad y energía desbordada de los acróbatas aéreos, intenta comprender dicho triángulo y, por alguna razón que no me queda clara, trata desesperadamente de ayudar a los dos hombres, Roger y Jack, la mujer de ambos, Laverne, el hijo y a un mecánico llamado Jiggs. El extraño título de la novela hace referencia a los dos altos postes o “pilones” entre los cuales un grupo de pilotos realizan sus acrobacias aéreas y sus carreras.
...
February 5, 2021
I read this (As I Lay Dying, not the others) for Book Club- I can't say that I liked it. The humor was too subtle and the characters were not at all sympathetic. The cruelty to animals was the worst part. I guess I am a Yankee through and through. It read like a play, and I did manage it in two sittings, which is unusual for me. I wish I could hear it as an audiobook.
December 31, 2023
Faulkner is by no means a bad writer. His prose is definitely better than Hemingway. This selection of stories was worth reading, and there were good points in each of them that made me reconsider how I would rate this. What really drags this down are certain choices that make the text at times incoherent or drag the pace way down. Southern gothic just isn’t my thing.
August 17, 2025
This is five stars if it’s just Light In August, which is one of the most remarkable books ever written. But Sanctuary is only ok, and Pylon is good but not excellent. Still, Faulker is always worth reading.
unfinished
November 14, 2022Completed:
As I Lay Dying (1930)
Light In August (1932)
Skipped:
Sanctuary (1931) [On Hold]
Did Not Read:
Pylon (1935)
As I Lay Dying (1930)
Light In August (1932)
Skipped:
Sanctuary (1931) [On Hold]
Did Not Read:
Pylon (1935)
January 2, 2016
I've purchased the Library of America Faulkner Novels 1930-1935 and picked up the volume to read over the holidays.
I finished "As I Lay Dying" and came to agree with Peabody (p. 162) "God Almighty, why didn't Anse carry you to the nearest sawmill and stick your leg in the saw? That would have cured it. Then you all could have stuck his head into the saw and cured a whole family...". This journey aroused admiration, anger, disgust, pity, humour, shock - not an easy and light read by any stretch. I am unfamiliar with some of the dialect and appreciated the glossary attached, yet found myself re-reading passages to determine the meaning, not always successfully, I might add. I am moved by the resilience of the family members to cope with hardship and tragedy, and find the perspectives of the onlookers add much to the perceptions I had developed myself of the individual members.
Can someone enlighten me on Faulkner's fascination with stream of consciousness writing??
When all is said and done, I could not put it down as I was driven to know the outcome of this odyssey. Anse's stubborn adherence to principles above all else points to the folly we humans encounter when we focus on the tree and overlook the surrounding forest.
Next comes "Sanctuary", which was a quick read and very challenging, given the treatment of Temple Drake among others. I must admit that I found her character unappealing, but certainly undeserving of the story line. I am not trying to be naive here, but at my point in life this is a very hard read as the mother of a university age daughter.
Gowan - self serving, cowardly; Narcissa - aptly named; Miss Jenny - my favourite character, loved her dry sense of humour and her shrewd evaluation of character; Popeye - one knows there must be circumstances contributing to his development but waiting until the end of the novel is difficult; Goodwin and Ruby - I found myself empathizing with them, but doesn't that baby ever get fed??? And then there's Horace...
I agree in general with Faulkner's evaluation of this novel as certainly written to cater to the masses who like sensationalism, sex, crime and violence and this sells to this day. However, there are parts of the novel that rise above every horrific detail that Faulkner packs in the story. Ruby's reluctant protection of Temple comes to mind, and the loyalty of Miss Reba's servant, Minnie. I'm sure there are others that don't immediately come to mind.
"Light in August" was deeply painful for the most part for me to read. Slavery and all its ancestral and descendant legacy is excavated and examined in unrelenting detail. While the treatment of African Americans is difficult enough, the legacy of this "peculiar institution" on the white slave holders is the most revealing of all. The damage seems to occur on a cellular level, and is rooted - to my mind - in the intense fear of retaliation of the slaves and in miscegenation. Black women had no choice, and it seems from this novel that white women in the antebellum and post Civil War South had no choice either in how their identity, autonomy and self-determination were subjugated to the interpretation of white males. This fear exists around the factually unsubstantiated heritage of Joe Christmas, and the relentless rejection of his own paternal grandfather who typically uses his own interpretation of Christian doctrine to justify his persecution. Then there is the scene where Joe enters the African American church and terrorizes them in turn. To my mind, the castration of Joe is inevitable in this narrative.
Not being either American or Southern - slavery in Canada certainly existed far longer than it should have and we have our own share of racism most recently in our country's treatment of Aboriginal people - I feel like a bystander watching much of this scarring legacy play out. The deeper tragedy here is that opposing sides share blood and kinship ties that many times are abandoned in the face of societal mores that are fierce and entrenched. It takes a particular degree of moral courage - witness the Burden family story - to withstand the pressure and defy these mores. This is a reason but not an excuse.
Finally, there is "Pylon", certainly different in theme, although there are some dark moments. One may say that people at least engage in what brings passion to them, in one case giving up their life. One may argue that motivation is questionable, but this is human nature. I seemed to gravitate to the report's story line more than anything else; even benevolent intentions can have troublesome consequences.
My appetite is whetted now for more Faulkner.
I finished "As I Lay Dying" and came to agree with Peabody (p. 162) "God Almighty, why didn't Anse carry you to the nearest sawmill and stick your leg in the saw? That would have cured it. Then you all could have stuck his head into the saw and cured a whole family...". This journey aroused admiration, anger, disgust, pity, humour, shock - not an easy and light read by any stretch. I am unfamiliar with some of the dialect and appreciated the glossary attached, yet found myself re-reading passages to determine the meaning, not always successfully, I might add. I am moved by the resilience of the family members to cope with hardship and tragedy, and find the perspectives of the onlookers add much to the perceptions I had developed myself of the individual members.
Can someone enlighten me on Faulkner's fascination with stream of consciousness writing??
When all is said and done, I could not put it down as I was driven to know the outcome of this odyssey. Anse's stubborn adherence to principles above all else points to the folly we humans encounter when we focus on the tree and overlook the surrounding forest.
Next comes "Sanctuary", which was a quick read and very challenging, given the treatment of Temple Drake among others. I must admit that I found her character unappealing, but certainly undeserving of the story line. I am not trying to be naive here, but at my point in life this is a very hard read as the mother of a university age daughter.
Gowan - self serving, cowardly; Narcissa - aptly named; Miss Jenny - my favourite character, loved her dry sense of humour and her shrewd evaluation of character; Popeye - one knows there must be circumstances contributing to his development but waiting until the end of the novel is difficult; Goodwin and Ruby - I found myself empathizing with them, but doesn't that baby ever get fed??? And then there's Horace...
I agree in general with Faulkner's evaluation of this novel as certainly written to cater to the masses who like sensationalism, sex, crime and violence and this sells to this day. However, there are parts of the novel that rise above every horrific detail that Faulkner packs in the story. Ruby's reluctant protection of Temple comes to mind, and the loyalty of Miss Reba's servant, Minnie. I'm sure there are others that don't immediately come to mind.
"Light in August" was deeply painful for the most part for me to read. Slavery and all its ancestral and descendant legacy is excavated and examined in unrelenting detail. While the treatment of African Americans is difficult enough, the legacy of this "peculiar institution" on the white slave holders is the most revealing of all. The damage seems to occur on a cellular level, and is rooted - to my mind - in the intense fear of retaliation of the slaves and in miscegenation. Black women had no choice, and it seems from this novel that white women in the antebellum and post Civil War South had no choice either in how their identity, autonomy and self-determination were subjugated to the interpretation of white males. This fear exists around the factually unsubstantiated heritage of Joe Christmas, and the relentless rejection of his own paternal grandfather who typically uses his own interpretation of Christian doctrine to justify his persecution. Then there is the scene where Joe enters the African American church and terrorizes them in turn. To my mind, the castration of Joe is inevitable in this narrative.
Not being either American or Southern - slavery in Canada certainly existed far longer than it should have and we have our own share of racism most recently in our country's treatment of Aboriginal people - I feel like a bystander watching much of this scarring legacy play out. The deeper tragedy here is that opposing sides share blood and kinship ties that many times are abandoned in the face of societal mores that are fierce and entrenched. It takes a particular degree of moral courage - witness the Burden family story - to withstand the pressure and defy these mores. This is a reason but not an excuse.
Finally, there is "Pylon", certainly different in theme, although there are some dark moments. One may say that people at least engage in what brings passion to them, in one case giving up their life. One may argue that motivation is questionable, but this is human nature. I seemed to gravitate to the report's story line more than anything else; even benevolent intentions can have troublesome consequences.
My appetite is whetted now for more Faulkner.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 13, 2017
This second collection of Faulkner's novels is utterly fantastic, finding the author coming into full grasp of his literary powers. From the perspective shifting brilliance of As I Lay Dying to the stupendous characterization of Pylon, all four of these novels are essential reading.
September 22, 2022
Love this book. Started to write a real review and realized, when touching upon its language, that "Light in August" is simply way beyond anything that could be assigned for reading today. It's a shame, because this is a tour de force on so many levels, but I suspect "Light in August" will hardly be in print in 2030, if America's intellectual atmosphere continues on its current path.
What a fabulous book, though! Like all Faulkner books, the storyline is incredibly complicated; while decades of time elapse the "actual events," so to speak, take just a few days. But unlike some Faulkner books you can stay with this one, even on a first reading. It has an accessibility Faulkner's other giant books do not.
There is the early, famous sentence where Faulkner describes the landscape ruined by spent timber operations, but there are dozens and dozens of other glittering, polished jewels of writing strewn throughout "Light in August." It's like reading in a diamond mine, that way, one where the miners hit one lucrative vein after another. Here's an example, coming when we meet Rev. Hightower and his nightly ritual of waiting for the ghosts of his Confederate past to come storming down the street. Hightower is looking out his window - "Then it [a sign he painted long ago] is just a familiar low oblong shape without any significance at all, low at the street end of the shadow lawn; it too might have grown up out of the tragic and inescapable earth along with the low spreading maples and the shrubs, without help or hindrance from him. He no longer even looks at it, as he does not actually see the trees beneath and through which he watches the street, waiting for nightfall, the moment of night. The house, the study, is dark behind him, and he is waiting for that instant when all light has failed out of the sky and it would be night save for that faint light which daygranaried leaf and grass blade reluctant suspire, making still a little light on earth though night itself has come."
I also like this bit, after Hightower has delivered Lena's baby (his second delivery) and the spark of what Faulkner would call his life and pride and maybe even joy have returned to him: "He goes to the study. He moves like a man with a purpose now, who for twentyfive years has done nothing at all between the time to wake and the time to sleep again. Neither is the book which he now chooses the Tennyson: this time also he chooses food for a man. It is "Henry IV"...."
Impossible to recommend this novel too highly; though, again, for some modern readers the language will prove too much.
What a fabulous book, though! Like all Faulkner books, the storyline is incredibly complicated; while decades of time elapse the "actual events," so to speak, take just a few days. But unlike some Faulkner books you can stay with this one, even on a first reading. It has an accessibility Faulkner's other giant books do not.
There is the early, famous sentence where Faulkner describes the landscape ruined by spent timber operations, but there are dozens and dozens of other glittering, polished jewels of writing strewn throughout "Light in August." It's like reading in a diamond mine, that way, one where the miners hit one lucrative vein after another. Here's an example, coming when we meet Rev. Hightower and his nightly ritual of waiting for the ghosts of his Confederate past to come storming down the street. Hightower is looking out his window - "Then it [a sign he painted long ago] is just a familiar low oblong shape without any significance at all, low at the street end of the shadow lawn; it too might have grown up out of the tragic and inescapable earth along with the low spreading maples and the shrubs, without help or hindrance from him. He no longer even looks at it, as he does not actually see the trees beneath and through which he watches the street, waiting for nightfall, the moment of night. The house, the study, is dark behind him, and he is waiting for that instant when all light has failed out of the sky and it would be night save for that faint light which daygranaried leaf and grass blade reluctant suspire, making still a little light on earth though night itself has come."
I also like this bit, after Hightower has delivered Lena's baby (his second delivery) and the spark of what Faulkner would call his life and pride and maybe even joy have returned to him: "He goes to the study. He moves like a man with a purpose now, who for twentyfive years has done nothing at all between the time to wake and the time to sleep again. Neither is the book which he now chooses the Tennyson: this time also he chooses food for a man. It is "Henry IV"...."
Impossible to recommend this novel too highly; though, again, for some modern readers the language will prove too much.
September 1, 2021
I Blush to confess I haven’t read Pylon, but I have the other three. As I Lay Dying, Sanctuary, and Light In August are Faulkner at the top of his game. If those novels don’t work for you, then Faulkner doesn’t work for you.
My personal favorite out of the three being Light In August and its inimitable Joe Christmas.
My personal favorite out of the three being Light In August and its inimitable Joe Christmas.
December 5, 2010
I didn't see a way to indicate just one (or two, or three) of the four novels in this volume. I read "As I Lay Dying" on this checkout, so this appreciation pertains to that title.
Wow! If there's a writer of prose who can produce more poetic language, I would like to know about her/him. Faulkner's words can be dense to the point of difficulty, but when he "nails it," I am at times left shaking my head in admiration. A brief example: "As though the clotting which is you had dissolved into the myriad original motion, and seeing and hearing in themselves blind and deaf; fury in itself quiet with stagnation. Squatting, Dewey Dell's wet dress shapes for the dead eyes of three blind men those mammalian ludicrosities which are the horizons and the valleys of the earth."
I suppose I would take a gentle exception to the reviewer who described this as a funny novel, in that it describes a journey that is fraught with struggle. I am hard-pressed to see how I could describe it as funny without setting myself above the Bundrens somehow, which a story like this makes me ever-less-inclined to do.
Wow! If there's a writer of prose who can produce more poetic language, I would like to know about her/him. Faulkner's words can be dense to the point of difficulty, but when he "nails it," I am at times left shaking my head in admiration. A brief example: "As though the clotting which is you had dissolved into the myriad original motion, and seeing and hearing in themselves blind and deaf; fury in itself quiet with stagnation. Squatting, Dewey Dell's wet dress shapes for the dead eyes of three blind men those mammalian ludicrosities which are the horizons and the valleys of the earth."
I suppose I would take a gentle exception to the reviewer who described this as a funny novel, in that it describes a journey that is fraught with struggle. I am hard-pressed to see how I could describe it as funny without setting myself above the Bundrens somehow, which a story like this makes me ever-less-inclined to do.
May 23, 2021
As I Lay Dying.
Light In August.
Sanctuary,
Pylon
Light In August.
Sanctuary,
Pylon
April 8, 2008
Faulkner is a brilliant writer and is very important to American literature. I read "As I Lay Dying" and found it quite a challenge. It is difficult to get past the dialect, and the fact that fifteen different characters narrate the story. Plus, the events are not always chronological, nor do they always make sense. This book is supposed to be funny - the smell of the corpse the family doesn't seem to be bothered by, Anse's (the father) excuse for not working - that he sweats too much, and the new set of teeth that he is so set on getting. It is hard to catch these humorous moments because of the difficulty of the text.
April 2, 2013
just finished as i lay dying.[july 17,'12] read several years back; reread was even better. just started light in aug. have to intersperse w/others so it'll be a slow go.moving along w light in aug,,mar 10. Finished the other day. What a story teller he was. desvergnes was in ox w photo at museum. brief visit w wife but no opportunity to say hello to him. missed opportunity i'm sure i'll regret.
Compelling like no other of his I've read. Of this volume I lack Pylon. Am looking for something to read w pat for our vaca to folly.
Compelling like no other of his I've read. Of this volume I lack Pylon. Am looking for something to read w pat for our vaca to folly.
March 17, 2011
Ummm. Well I finished it, that is saying something. I only read As I Lay Dying not this whole book.
I kind of liked it but it was hard to read, like homework. It was sometimes hard to follow and most importantly it was very very sad. They style of every chapter in a different voice was challenging for me, I almost had to write out a family tree to keep track of who was who. The vernacular was tricky to follow as well. Kind of like reading poetry or Shakespeare. I am glad I read it.
I kind of liked it but it was hard to read, like homework. It was sometimes hard to follow and most importantly it was very very sad. They style of every chapter in a different voice was challenging for me, I almost had to write out a family tree to keep track of who was who. The vernacular was tricky to follow as well. Kind of like reading poetry or Shakespeare. I am glad I read it.
July 2, 2013
More a review of Library of America's "packaging." We seem to have a lot of Faulkner, and the one off paper backs and even a big hardback collection by another publisher just look like shit next to this version (not like they're in any kind of order on the shelves). At some point we'll probably throw out the duplicates, but it's Faulkner. Big ups for the built in bookmark - very functional!!! And proceeds go to the NEA.
March 11, 2014
I just finished rereading "As I Lay Dying" after watching James Franco's film treatment. The depths of this cursed family is unmatched in literature I've read. It is a journey through Hell with no breath of redemption possible.
June 27, 2012
Great collection. Pylon, one of Faulkner's least popular novels, is one of the weirder books I've ever read. But it's still Faulkner, and still brilliant and compelling. And unlike the writing of anyone else.
July 5, 2015
Now that I've read all this Faulkner, for some reason I now have a greater appreciation for Herman Melville as well. My favorite novel of these four is Light in August. I would highly recommend it.
May 26, 2015
Sanctuary: These books by Faulkner make me feel like I need to go back to the start as soon as I've finished. The first trip through, I am learning the characters, the surroundings and quirks of the locale. Only when I have taken in the plot can I concentrate on style and meaning.
March 5, 2025
Great collection of early Faulkner novels. As I Lay Dying and Light in August are deservedly classics, while Sanctuary is well written but pretty average genre fiction and Pylon is one of his weakest efforts.
February 28, 2008
Um, Faulkner is not my cup of tea thus far... I really didn't like the plot, characters, or time the story was set in.
Read
December 24, 2008As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner (1992)
Read
May 7, 2009Raw
July 20, 2010
Incredible reading experience. I took so much out of reading Faulkner's major novels chronologically. The more I think about it, As I Lay Dying is without a doubt my favorite Faulkner novel.
November 27, 2010
Hard to read.
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