Biography
A native of Mississippi, Faulkner left high school when he
was eighteen and later spent one year at the University of
Mississippi in Oxford as a special student. He drifted among
jobs before moving to New Orleans, where he met writers who
encouraged him to explore the southern region he knew so well.
Yoknapatawpha County, a fictional representation of the Oxford
area, became the setting for many of Faulkner's works, which
often depicted several generations of one family. Fascinated
with human psychology, he crafted inventive narratives that
invited his characters to explore and articulate their thoughts
through interior monologues. Faulkner's novels include The
Sound and the Fury (1929), As I Lay Dying (1930), Light
in August (1932), and Absalom, Absalom! (1936).
He received the Nobel Prize in literature in 1950.
Explorations
Compared to some of Faulkner's other novels, As I Lay
Dying (1930) isn't hard to read; but it can be difficult
to engage with sympathetically and emotionally. As traveling
companions, the Bundrens aren't especially bright, and
they are only sporadically articulate; the quest that forms
the plot, to bury Addie, turns out to be something of a
pretext, as nearly everyone on this grotesque journey has
personal reasons for going along. Gradually, however, humanity
and even a kind of nobility emerge in nearly all of these
characters, living and dead, sane and certifiably mad--and
the novel becomes a celebration of the human capacity to
keep promises, keep faith, and press onward with living. 1. Is Darl crazy? Darl can speak for others as well as
for himself. But are the other members of his family right
in thinking that he "knows too much"? He is the only Bundren
with no ulterior reason for going to town. We may find
it difficult to believe that Darl genuinely "goes crazy" at
the end of the novel, in part because, in earlier monologues,
he sounds like an intelligent, omniscient narrator. Who,
then, is Darl?
2. The journey as a plot device in a novel often implies
character development. Which character(s) develop in As
I Lay Dying? Which don't? Analyze the evidence of character
development within the novel, and discuss how Faulkner's
use of character affects our interpretation of the events.
3. Explore the idea of the novelist as a carpenter and
of As I Lay Dying as one of the tools--rather than
one of the products--of Faulkner's trade.
4. Critics have often commented on Faulkner's use of
comedy in As I Lay Dying. Think about the various
meanings of comedy, and evaluate the extent to which As
I Lay Dying may be considered a comic novel.
5. To what extent is Faulkner commenting on the American,
especially the southern, family? In our eagerness to read
this work as a triumphantly "modern" and "universal" novel,
have we ignored its regionality and the possibility that
it may be first and foremost a portrait of particular people,
or social types, in a given historical moment and landscape?
Locate some historical or photographic surveys of the American
Deep South in the opening decades of the twentieth century,
and consider Faulkner's credentials as a social and cultural
observer.
Other sites to consult:
The
University of Mississippi's comprehensive Faulkner
site., includes useful commentary on As
I Lay Dying.
A
University of Virginia site to celebrate Faulkner's
100th birthday, includes a sound clip of
the author and numerous web links.
Highlights of the University
of Virginia Library's collection of Faulkner
memorabilia, including his jacket, his pipe,
and the manuscript of As I Lay Dying. (Select "Most
Faulknerian" from the pull-down menu.)
http://www.nobel.se/literature/laureates/1949/faulkner-bio.html:
A Faulkner site from the Nobel Foundation.
http://www.mcsr.olemiss.edu/~egjbp/faulkner/faulkner.html:
William Faulkner On the Web at OleMiss.
http://www.acad.swarthmore.edu/faulkner/: The William
Faulkner Society.
Photographer to consider in
relation to Faulkner:
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