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The Portable Faulkner
In prose of biblical grandeur and feverish intensity, William Faulkner reconstructed the history of the American South as a tragic legend of courage and cruelty, gallantry and greed, futile nobility and obscene crimes. No single volume better conveys the scope of Faulkner's vision than The Portable Faulkner.
Edited by Malcolm Cowley
Contents:
The Old People
The Unvanquished
The Last Wilderness
The Peasants
The End of an Order
Mississippi Flood
Modern Times
The Undying Past
Edited by Malcolm Cowley
Contents:
The Old People
The Unvanquished
The Last Wilderness
The Peasants
The End of an Order
Mississippi Flood
Modern Times
The Undying Past
650 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1946
45 people are currently reading
1439 people want to read
About the author
William Faulkner
1,433 books10.8k 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 50 reviews
August 9, 2008
If you're curious about the powers of William Faulkner but you're intimidated by his long, loopy sentences and dense structures (which is totally understandable) then THIS IS THE BOOK FOR YOU.
Cowley's introduction (eloquent, informative) was praised as "splendid" by Faulkner himself.
The selections are generous, form a larger social narrative, are representative of his work in a larger context but can be read as separate peices all their own. Short stories, excerpts from novels, even a detailed character sketch for every character of "Sound...Fury" which are written by Faulkner specifically for this volume. Those alone are illuminating, georgeously spelled out, moving, and true.
You can't go wrong with this pick.
May 17, 2025
This book will continue to be part of my reading. It is an invaluable companion piece to his novels and helps you to understand the complexity of Faulkner
February 17, 2012
I think I've read most of the stuff in here, probably not all. But the rating and review are specifically for The Bear, which I read years ago, and a second time (at least) much more recently.
The Bear is a terrific long short story (novella, if you will) which is very representative of Faulkner's writing in many ways: the setting, the language, the stream of consciousness style in certain places, the references to the history of his mythical Mississippi county. Even though I'm sure I got more out of the story in my 60s than I did in my 20s, the fourth part of the story is dense with so much of the Faulkner mythos that it would require (from someone like me) careful study, which I didn't do, to get a clear picture of the relationships of the characters, or even how they were related to the protagonist, or even whether the protagonist in the earlier parts actually appeared in the fourth part.
I'm sure this description will really turn off a few people, which is okay; Faulkner is probably not your author.
The Bear is a terrific long short story (novella, if you will) which is very representative of Faulkner's writing in many ways: the setting, the language, the stream of consciousness style in certain places, the references to the history of his mythical Mississippi county. Even though I'm sure I got more out of the story in my 60s than I did in my 20s, the fourth part of the story is dense with so much of the Faulkner mythos that it would require (from someone like me) careful study, which I didn't do, to get a clear picture of the relationships of the characters, or even how they were related to the protagonist, or even whether the protagonist in the earlier parts actually appeared in the fourth part.
I'm sure this description will really turn off a few people, which is okay; Faulkner is probably not your author.
November 11, 2019
This volume, composed of short stories and full episodes from the novels by fan and critic Malcolm Cowley, was apparently more helpful to Faulkner's broader reception than any of his own individual novels. This put Faulkner on the map with the normal reading public, which means that all Faulkner criticism stems from Cowley's excellent notes in this book.
This is a very good book.
This is a very good book.
January 21, 2014
Unlike most of the Viking Portables, which are just an anthology of a particular author or group's work, the Portable Faulkner actually serves a useful purpose. As you probably know, most of Faulkner's work takes place in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi, and this volume collects stories and novel excerpts that give you a sense of the county's history, and arranges them chronologically (by the order in which they took place, not by the order in which Faulkner wrote them). If (like me) you've only read his most famous novels, you don't really get a sense the interconnectedness of his work and just how detailed and rich his fictional world is. The specifics of the history and the important figures are spread kind of haphazardly through his oeuvre, and having it organized here in a clear and understandable (words you'd rarely use to describe Faulkner) way is very useful.
The other plus is that some of the material is really good. It's got excerpts from some of his best novels (The Sound and the Fury and Light In August) and some excellent stories. And then there's the rest of Faulkner's work.
Re-reading this helped me realize two things: That Faulkner was a writer who had a peak (the aforementioned two novels plus As I Lay Dying) and the rest of his work ranged from pretty good to questionable, and that he has a couple of fundamental problems as a writer. He was inspired by Joyce to adopt the stream of consciousness and other modernist techniques, but I'm suspicious that he learned all the wrong lessons. If you read Ulysses (and you should!), eventually you'll realize that it's an incredibly carefully written book. Even the sections where it seems like characters are just rambling on in vernacular were actually written with an almost OCD level of attention to detail. Everything has significance and (internal) meaning. The problem is, I feel like Faulkner took that break from standard narration as license to write these never-ending sentences that seem like they were written in one furious spurt with no attempt at editing. These endless streams of declarative statements and thick Southern slang that aren't even really that aesthetically enjoyable; instead it seems like he thinks he's got to get it all out there because he's talking about some serious and important shit, man, like he's writing this way to give it some artificial sense of urgency* (see also: McCarthy, Cormac) and too often it descends into word vomit (see part four of The Bear or basically all of Absalom, Absalom!). And so many of the stories feel like they're constantly trying to hit you over the head with The Big Idea or the Super Meaningful Observation, which lose some of their power when he does it basically non-stop.
But other times, especially when he reins himself in or he's employing a legitimately interesting narrative device, he can be pretty fantastic. I also love minutia, and so I really respect the amount of thought and planning that went into Yoknapatawpha County. So anyway, this book is essentially all of Faulkner in a microcosm; the good and the bad. It's very useful as an overview of his fictional world, and probably a good read for those who want to get more seriously into him. The rest of us should stick with The Sound and the Fury, As I Lay Dying and Light In August.
*word suggested by a friend
The other plus is that some of the material is really good. It's got excerpts from some of his best novels (The Sound and the Fury and Light In August) and some excellent stories. And then there's the rest of Faulkner's work.
Re-reading this helped me realize two things: That Faulkner was a writer who had a peak (the aforementioned two novels plus As I Lay Dying) and the rest of his work ranged from pretty good to questionable, and that he has a couple of fundamental problems as a writer. He was inspired by Joyce to adopt the stream of consciousness and other modernist techniques, but I'm suspicious that he learned all the wrong lessons. If you read Ulysses (and you should!), eventually you'll realize that it's an incredibly carefully written book. Even the sections where it seems like characters are just rambling on in vernacular were actually written with an almost OCD level of attention to detail. Everything has significance and (internal) meaning. The problem is, I feel like Faulkner took that break from standard narration as license to write these never-ending sentences that seem like they were written in one furious spurt with no attempt at editing. These endless streams of declarative statements and thick Southern slang that aren't even really that aesthetically enjoyable; instead it seems like he thinks he's got to get it all out there because he's talking about some serious and important shit, man, like he's writing this way to give it some artificial sense of urgency* (see also: McCarthy, Cormac) and too often it descends into word vomit (see part four of The Bear or basically all of Absalom, Absalom!). And so many of the stories feel like they're constantly trying to hit you over the head with The Big Idea or the Super Meaningful Observation, which lose some of their power when he does it basically non-stop.
But other times, especially when he reins himself in or he's employing a legitimately interesting narrative device, he can be pretty fantastic. I also love minutia, and so I really respect the amount of thought and planning that went into Yoknapatawpha County. So anyway, this book is essentially all of Faulkner in a microcosm; the good and the bad. It's very useful as an overview of his fictional world, and probably a good read for those who want to get more seriously into him. The rest of us should stick with The Sound and the Fury, As I Lay Dying and Light In August.
*word suggested by a friend
April 10, 2008
I highly recommend Malcolm Cowley's slicing, dicing and rearranging the highlights of Faulkner's works. Faulkner himself was very impressed with his editor's vision of his works, and said so. This book is the best way to dive into Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha (god help with the spelling of that world) County. Because Faulkner re-wrote so many things, literary overlaps, that Cowley parsed and cut and put together this indispensable book. It has the Bear and Spotted Horses and all the historical tales of the founding of his wonderful and detailed "world". Buy it. Keep it on hand. It's a book that one can pick up, read year after year, for the rest of one's life, and use it like a literary Bible to refresh and renew one's mind and spirit.
August 24, 2012
Stories. They endured.
May 15, 2020
All of these stories and sections of novels are set in Yoknapatawpha County, Faulkner's fictional creation in Mississippi.
The author's achievement here is impressive with his creation of a sense of fluid time and overwhelming detail.
I have never been enthusiastic regarding his prose style and often melodramatic plots.
But this book is as good as any to sample Faulkner and stories like "The Bear" contain all the elements that are notable in his work.
The author's achievement here is impressive with his creation of a sense of fluid time and overwhelming detail.
I have never been enthusiastic regarding his prose style and often melodramatic plots.
But this book is as good as any to sample Faulkner and stories like "The Bear" contain all the elements that are notable in his work.
May 26, 2021
I rate this book 5 of 5 — OUTSTANDING. Reading this book is truly the best way to begin one’s understanding of, and eventual appreciation for, William Faulkner’s writing. Editor Malcolm Cowley has collected many Faulkner short stories and several excerpts of his novels into a chronological history of the people and events of Faulkner’s fictional Yoknapatawpha County — which serves as the setting for so many of his stories and the embodiment of so many of his themes. Particularly helpful: 1) Cowley’s editor’s notes before groups of short stories and excerpts, 2) a map of Yoknapatawpha County that Faulkner himself created for Cowley’s work (this book), and 3) the Compson family history that Faulkner wrote to provide illuminating background information for his readers. Yes, it took me 3 months to read; yes, I had to look up the meanings of large numbers of (sometimes archaic) words; yes, there are still extremely long and confusing passages; and yes, there is racism exhibited by the words and deeds of the characters — but The Portable Faulkner provides the diligent reader a fighting chance to actually enjoy Faulkner’s writing.
August 3, 2010
This is a collection of stories from several novels and shorts set in Faulkner's brainchild of Yoknapatawpha County. There are several stories, some stand-outs being "The Courthouse", "Was", "A Rose for Emily" and the "The Bear". "The Bear" in particular took my breath away.
This collection would be a great way for someone new to Faulkner to break into his sometimes dense writing style, as the stories are collected from different sources and, though ordered chronologically (by setting, not publishing date) one can skip ahead or come back to which stories seem the most (or least) appealing. Hint: if you start with "The Bear" you will want to read more...
This collection would be a great way for someone new to Faulkner to break into his sometimes dense writing style, as the stories are collected from different sources and, though ordered chronologically (by setting, not publishing date) one can skip ahead or come back to which stories seem the most (or least) appealing. Hint: if you start with "The Bear" you will want to read more...
October 22, 2007
The best and worst of Faulkner. You get the simple poignancy of the Compson family stories, the spooky 'Southern Gothic' in pieces like "A Rose For Emily," but also the needlessly incomprehensible rambling in "Spotted Horses."
September 2, 2007
I was rooting for the bear.
Read
February 8, 2014I hated this book.
September 3, 2015
The five stars are for Malcolm Cowley, whose introductory comments were invaluable. As for Faulkner himself, I don't know what to say.
November 30, 2023
I came to Jefferson MS by way of Mulberry Plantation SC and Andalusia Farm GA, in search of times lost, of glimpses of the past (and of the Self) in the cracked and smoked mirrors where long-dead writers conjure (wands morphing into pencils into Underwoods and Royals). Faulkner both did and did not disappoint.
His best in this volume seems to be “The Jail”, (1951) which Malcolm Cowley, (vachement) helpfully, tells us was written as a prologue to the last act of “Requiem for a Nun” (which I may now have to read). This bit of narrative is quite good, poetry even, Faulkner at his stream-of-consciousness and cinematographic most-capable. It’s easy to imagine this as a video or short film, as I’m sure Faulkner did when he conjured the words onto pages.
I can’t resist quoting one lengthy passage that touches upon a theme I’ve raised elsewhere:
“…only the aging unvanquished women were unreconciled, irreconcilable, reversed and irrevocably reverted against the whole moving unanimity of panorama until, old unordered vacant pilings above a tide’s flood, they themselves had an illusion of motion, facing irreconcilably backward toward the old lost battles, the old aborted causes, the old four ruined years whose very physical scars ten and twenty and twenty-five changes of season had annealed back into the earth; twenty-five and then thirty-five years; not only a century and an age, but a way of thinking died;”
At other times, he (Faulkner) is rather less engaging; downright off-putting indeed. “Old Man” had great potential as a story, but the story gets lost in Faulkner’s word-conjurings. I also found it geographically confusing if not actually impossible. How did our convict get from northern Mississippi (east side of Old Man River) to somewhere below Caernavon without actually passing any cities, including New Orleans? Faulty history is another one of Faulkner’s faults (reference to the slave revolt in Haiti (1828-ish) in “Absalom Absalom” and the real revolt around 1803.) Flawed history is bad. (Interestingly, Caroline Gordon criticized Faulkner’s “A Fable” for what might be called a lack of vraisemblance.)
Setting aside these bits of his sloppiness, Faulkner at his worst is insufferably pretentious. He seems to love to hear himself conjure endless streams of words, obscure ones to boot, and frequently, but, frankly, someone should have told him when he’d gone overboard and forced him him to re-write some passages. (I’ll spare you a quote and let you find your own examples.)
This, of course, brings me to the central question…the audience. I know Faulkner influenced other writers; Flannery O’Connor and Jack Kerouac come to mind. I also understand that by 1945 (the year MCowley initially put together this portable collection), Faulkner’s earlier works were out of print, but that this compilation engendered something of a Faulkner revival such that he won the 1949 Nobel Prize in literature (belatedly it seems, and strangely, in 1950…) I’m not sure what drew readers and publishers to Faulkner initially…I suppose stream-of-consciousness was somewhat avant-garde…although I can understand why his books went out of print. What I don’t get is how this volume triggered a revival. Faulkner can be good, even very good. But overall he’s not that good. He and his admirers have a higher opinion of him(self) than I do. Maybe pretentiousness is considered a sign of the deep-thinker, the artist, the uber mensch. I’m more a partisan of consistent and non-elitist readability.
I don’t know. I probably wouldn’t read any more Faulkner except that I’ve already bought two more of his books that I’m hoping will conjure up for me some of those spectral visions in smoky mirrors of the long- and forgotten-dead.
His best in this volume seems to be “The Jail”, (1951) which Malcolm Cowley, (vachement) helpfully, tells us was written as a prologue to the last act of “Requiem for a Nun” (which I may now have to read). This bit of narrative is quite good, poetry even, Faulkner at his stream-of-consciousness and cinematographic most-capable. It’s easy to imagine this as a video or short film, as I’m sure Faulkner did when he conjured the words onto pages.
I can’t resist quoting one lengthy passage that touches upon a theme I’ve raised elsewhere:
“…only the aging unvanquished women were unreconciled, irreconcilable, reversed and irrevocably reverted against the whole moving unanimity of panorama until, old unordered vacant pilings above a tide’s flood, they themselves had an illusion of motion, facing irreconcilably backward toward the old lost battles, the old aborted causes, the old four ruined years whose very physical scars ten and twenty and twenty-five changes of season had annealed back into the earth; twenty-five and then thirty-five years; not only a century and an age, but a way of thinking died;”
At other times, he (Faulkner) is rather less engaging; downright off-putting indeed. “Old Man” had great potential as a story, but the story gets lost in Faulkner’s word-conjurings. I also found it geographically confusing if not actually impossible. How did our convict get from northern Mississippi (east side of Old Man River) to somewhere below Caernavon without actually passing any cities, including New Orleans? Faulty history is another one of Faulkner’s faults (reference to the slave revolt in Haiti (1828-ish) in “Absalom Absalom” and the real revolt around 1803.) Flawed history is bad. (Interestingly, Caroline Gordon criticized Faulkner’s “A Fable” for what might be called a lack of vraisemblance.)
Setting aside these bits of his sloppiness, Faulkner at his worst is insufferably pretentious. He seems to love to hear himself conjure endless streams of words, obscure ones to boot, and frequently, but, frankly, someone should have told him when he’d gone overboard and forced him him to re-write some passages. (I’ll spare you a quote and let you find your own examples.)
This, of course, brings me to the central question…the audience. I know Faulkner influenced other writers; Flannery O’Connor and Jack Kerouac come to mind. I also understand that by 1945 (the year MCowley initially put together this portable collection), Faulkner’s earlier works were out of print, but that this compilation engendered something of a Faulkner revival such that he won the 1949 Nobel Prize in literature (belatedly it seems, and strangely, in 1950…) I’m not sure what drew readers and publishers to Faulkner initially…I suppose stream-of-consciousness was somewhat avant-garde…although I can understand why his books went out of print. What I don’t get is how this volume triggered a revival. Faulkner can be good, even very good. But overall he’s not that good. He and his admirers have a higher opinion of him(self) than I do. Maybe pretentiousness is considered a sign of the deep-thinker, the artist, the uber mensch. I’m more a partisan of consistent and non-elitist readability.
I don’t know. I probably wouldn’t read any more Faulkner except that I’ve already bought two more of his books that I’m hoping will conjure up for me some of those spectral visions in smoky mirrors of the long- and forgotten-dead.
May 16, 2025
So here's the thing. I read 9 short stories that highly interested me in Faulkner's Collected Stories, 4 of which are also in the Portable Faulkner. Those eight (The five only in Collected Stories: Barn Burning, Dry September, Two Soldiers, The Brooch PLUS the four in both: A Rose for Emily, That Evening Sun, Ad Astra, Wash) are the only short stories by Faulkner I want to read at this time. But then I picked up the Portable Faulkner to read Faulkner's uncollected novellas, including Spotted Horses and The Old Man. I'd previously read The Bear. And that's all of the Portable Faulkner I wanted to read. So what do I do with this weird Frankenstein-esque reading of selected short stories and novellas across two books? I just count one of them as read. So congrats, Portable Faulkner, I'm telling Goodreads I read you. My thoughts? The more I read Faulkner, the more I am convinced he's the greatest American novelist. Some of my favorites that I read:
The Old Man and Spotted Horses are incredible novellas. Barn Burning is his best short story. The Brooch is a fantastic example of in media res and is a more focused & better potboilery story than Sanctuary. That Evening Sun is a phenomenal exploration of the terror and paranoia experienced by a powerless black woman impregnated by a rich white man fearing her husband will kill her. The protagonist's fear, powerlessness, and paranoia permeate the page.
Other thoughts: A Rose for Emily and The Bear are overrated. A Rose for Emily is the perfect teachable short story, but I felt it was too brief to earn its fairly predictable twist ending. The Bear is a phenomenal man vs nature novella for 3 parts, but collapses under an attempt to imitate Absalom, Absalom in part 4.
The Old Man and Spotted Horses are incredible novellas. Barn Burning is his best short story. The Brooch is a fantastic example of in media res and is a more focused & better potboilery story than Sanctuary. That Evening Sun is a phenomenal exploration of the terror and paranoia experienced by a powerless black woman impregnated by a rich white man fearing her husband will kill her. The protagonist's fear, powerlessness, and paranoia permeate the page.
Other thoughts: A Rose for Emily and The Bear are overrated. A Rose for Emily is the perfect teachable short story, but I felt it was too brief to earn its fairly predictable twist ending. The Bear is a phenomenal man vs nature novella for 3 parts, but collapses under an attempt to imitate Absalom, Absalom in part 4.
August 31, 2020
Faulkner has long been on my list of rereads, an author one encounters in school and forgets soon after. I kept encountering him in various writing classes I've taken and writing texts I've read.
His style breaks most of the rules I adhere to in my own work and what makes it work is his is unique and unmistakable Voice. Read him and you're listening to someone gossip about their neighbors, their family, their town, themselves. It would be amusing to read the entries in a "Bad Faulkner" competition ala the Bad Hemingway competitions.
The problem I have with Faulkner is the same I have with much literature; beautiful writing in which nothing happens. His work reminds me of Margaret Atwood's; I love to read her work to study her use of language but dang, can something happen to somebody, please? Use that beautiful language to show someone going through story-related change.
Faulkner does on occasion put change front and center, he takes so long doing it that I lose interest, and that's my problem, not his.
A good study of Language and Voice, he.
His style breaks most of the rules I adhere to in my own work and what makes it work is his is unique and unmistakable Voice. Read him and you're listening to someone gossip about their neighbors, their family, their town, themselves. It would be amusing to read the entries in a "Bad Faulkner" competition ala the Bad Hemingway competitions.
The problem I have with Faulkner is the same I have with much literature; beautiful writing in which nothing happens. His work reminds me of Margaret Atwood's; I love to read her work to study her use of language but dang, can something happen to somebody, please? Use that beautiful language to show someone going through story-related change.
Faulkner does on occasion put change front and center, he takes so long doing it that I lose interest, and that's my problem, not his.
A good study of Language and Voice, he.
July 17, 2023
It is not too bold a statement to say that this book saved Faulkner's literary career. When this volume was published in 1946, most of Faulkner's books were out of print and those that remained in print were disparaged as regional writings describing a slowly moldering South full of racist hillbillies and Civil War apologists. Malcolm Cowley was the first critic to see in Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha works the making of a myth in which all these stories are linked. Much like Balzac, Zola and Proust, Faulkner viewed his subject in the context of history. In The Portable Faulkner these stories are arranged so that the reader gets to follow the history of Yoknapatawpha County from the time of the Chickasaws to stories set in the 1950s. This book introduced a new generation of readers to Faulkner.
There is nothing new in this book; all stories and novels are available elsewhere. However, Malcolm Cowley's Introduction is one of the gems of literary criticism and should be read by every Faulkner reader.
There is nothing new in this book; all stories and novels are available elsewhere. However, Malcolm Cowley's Introduction is one of the gems of literary criticism and should be read by every Faulkner reader.
June 15, 2018
Only read "The Bear" and "An Odor of Verbena" on this pass, two short stories that function as my introduction to Faulkner. In spite of their captivating narratives ("The Bear" presents a man who rejects away his entailment because of its history with slavery and "An Odor of Verbena" centers on a son's ethical conflict regarding the pressure to avenge his father), I found these stories rhetorically stale. Nevertheless, Faulkner's voice deserves its credit and his ability to weave thematic density with a compelling storyline will bring me back to his writing, hopefully in the form of one of his more extensive works.
September 18, 2024
An exceptional volume and good example of Faulkner's works. Trigger warning for racial slurs, but the writing is there. Perhaps excused as a symptom of the time, or more specifically the time written about, the slurs did seem a bit striking to this reader, as they are casually excused as simple vocabulary, and perhaps they are in this era. Best described as an R-rated movie for language, Faulkner's stories are best read by adults. I first encountered the author as a high school student, but didn't fully appreciate him until college and beyond. If you want to try Faulkner, or want an idea of the scope of his books and stories, I highly recommend this collection.
September 13, 2025
The rationale of this volume, as its editor Cowley relates, is that Faulkner repeats archetypes and plotlines in his books over time, developing and varying them in subsequent works. Therefore, this portable version of Faulkner's works arranges excerpts from various writings around character archetypes and themes. The volume does not work to give you a unified story but it does serve to give the reader a flavour of Faulkner's writings. Personally, I found them to be lacklustre with few excerpts reaching beyond mediocrity in the sense of artful prose or intriguing characters.
December 3, 2025
Although not all the stories captured my attention equally, I still can’t manage to wrap my head around the sheer size and depth of Faulkner’s scope and vision when creating fiction. His dedication and commitment to his work is of an unbelievable magnitude. A must read for anyone who enjoys Faulkner and wants to feel the weight and power of what this man for some reason felt compelled to write about during his lifetime.
July 16, 2025
A wonderful introduction to Faulkner’s work
December 17, 2025
Only read The Bear out of this
July 29, 2011
Some reading is effortless, even some of Faulkner's writings. However, the first stories in this historically-ordered collection -- because they delve into truly foreign cultures/peoples in old Mississippi -- are kinda tricky. One day I couldn't make heads or tails of the dialog, and then the next it would click. I think it is like being someone who appreciates lots of different styles of music -- I know I don't listen to a whole opera, a great Mingus/Ellington jazz suite, hours of alt/indie rock radio, followed by a rousing bluegrass concert. There are moods, seasons, jags. The Bear was tough to get through, but I probably wasn't in the right place. I think there is a Faulkner for every season in this collection.
August 13, 2021
Someone once said something to the effect of Faulkner doesn’t come to you, you come to Faulkner. That’s pretty accurate. He’s as tough a writer to slog through as any (in English) besides perhaps Joyce. But when he’s on it, his stories pack more historical and personal sadness and power than any writer I’ve ever read. I feel like I need to check out n with him every few years. I knocked a star off for a few stories that didn’t really add anything for me (e.g. “Old Man”, which was a shorter and more inferior version of “the Wild Palms”). But there were so many powerful works in this volume (e.g. “An Odor of Verbena”, “The Bear”, and “Delta Autumn”). It’s like he’s showing us that the only thing tougher than contemplating our future is reckoning with our pasts.
July 5, 2014
magisterial, sometimes verbose. this book shows how all of his tales tie together, building a self-contained, convincing and emotive world, within mississippi, over several generations. in that sense it offers more than reading a single faulkner novel. the commentary (malcolm cowley) itself is a small work of art. to my impatient mind, some of the excerpts should have been more aggressively edited, some of the prose is purple, some of the themes are focused to a degree that invites parody (decline of the south, cursed families). but i felt enriched by reading this, and am sure some of the characters and scenes will stay with me.
May 5, 2016
A great starting point for those who have never read Faulkner and intimidated by his reputation. Malcom Cowley's introduction a must before reading the book, which consists of short stories and selections from novels.
Stories and selections are arranged in chronological order as events occur in the fiction. This aids the reader in understanding the complex relation of events and characters that occur in Faulkner's fictional Yoknapotawha County. Faulkner had not written or published the stories in the order that they occurred in the fiction.
Stories and selections are arranged in chronological order as events occur in the fiction. This aids the reader in understanding the complex relation of events and characters that occur in Faulkner's fictional Yoknapotawha County. Faulkner had not written or published the stories in the order that they occurred in the fiction.
April 9, 2025
The portable Faulkner is in fact not portable. I sat down for this one, as if that helped. If you don’t know your literature history this one would be a difficult read, and I don’t mean the language, though that also is a burden. Would I call this an essential read? On a good day sure, but sometimes Faulkner really tests my patience.
August 1, 2008
This is a great collection, and also the book that put Faulkner on the map. Malcolm Cowley is a remarkable man, and Faulkner was lucky to have him. Otherwise, who knows? Would anyone have read The Sound and the Fury?
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