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Men Working
This novel of Mississippi hill country life depicts some of the more troubling and unpublicized aspects of the New Deal by tracing the fortunes of the Taylor family, sharecroppers who move to town to work for the "WP and A," the Works Progress Administration.
John Faulkner, a one-time WPA project engineer, has much to satirize in this broadly comic novel. First and foremost are the exasperating and unemployable, they are unaccountably abiding; hopelessly destitute, they place a higher premium on a new radio than on food and shelter. Faulkner also casts a sardonic eye on the town merchants, who extend credit to WPA workers as quickly as they inflate prices, and, of course, on the WPA itself, an agency that entices naive, desperate country folk with the promise of a dole―only to lay them off and then ignore them.
In his foreword, Trent Watts establishes the singularity of Men Working while noting in it echoes of Tobacco Road , As I Lay Dying , and The Grapes of Wrath . Watts also identifies in John Faulkner's tone an ambivalence shared by many southerners who witnessed the changes wrought by "progress" upon their traditional way of life.
John Faulkner, a one-time WPA project engineer, has much to satirize in this broadly comic novel. First and foremost are the exasperating and unemployable, they are unaccountably abiding; hopelessly destitute, they place a higher premium on a new radio than on food and shelter. Faulkner also casts a sardonic eye on the town merchants, who extend credit to WPA workers as quickly as they inflate prices, and, of course, on the WPA itself, an agency that entices naive, desperate country folk with the promise of a dole―only to lay them off and then ignore them.
In his foreword, Trent Watts establishes the singularity of Men Working while noting in it echoes of Tobacco Road , As I Lay Dying , and The Grapes of Wrath . Watts also identifies in John Faulkner's tone an ambivalence shared by many southerners who witnessed the changes wrought by "progress" upon their traditional way of life.
- GenresFiction
328 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1941
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About the author
John Faulkner
12 books3 followersLibrarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
Born John Falkner, younger brother of William Cuthbert Falkner (aka William Faulkner)
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
Born John Falkner, younger brother of William Cuthbert Falkner (aka William Faulkner)
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March 14, 2016
This is the book that was written by the brother of William Faulkner, John Faulkner. I am not only interested to learn more about the sibling relationship/rivalry, but read more of this lesser known Faulkner's books. The story of Men Working is about the impact of the WPA on the poor farmers in the south during the times before the outbreak of WWII. Although the author had "a dog in that fight" the story is a stark picture of the Beverly Hillbillies who didn't make it rich on black gold. The use of the country speech gets under your skin - I find myself saying, "Ain't that narce?"
Displaying 1 of 1 review