As I Lay Dying &The Sound & The Fury & Light In August

Faulkner's famous tragic narrative of the Bundren family's trek across the Mississippi countryside to bury Addie their wife and mother is a true 20th-century masterpiece. In terms of organisation language and drama As I Lay Dying is one of the most important works in American fiction. The novel which is told in turn by each member of the family including Addie and others fluctuates in mood from dark humour to deep pathos. Some of Faulkner's most memorable characters appear in Light in August a novel about hopeful perseverance in the face of mortality including guileless dauntless Lena Grove who is looking for the father of her unborn child Reverend Gail Hightower who is plagued by visions of Confederate horsemen and Joe Christmas a desperate enigmatic drifter consumed by his mixed ancestry.