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

Faulkners famous tragic narrative of the Bundren familys 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. The Sound and the Fury a provocative and perplexing novel by William Faulkner published in 1929 is largely regarded as one of the most important English-language novels of the twentieth century. This new Norton Critical Edition builds on the merits of its predecessors while paying special attention to the novels contemporary reception as well as its diverse cultural and historical surroundings. The text for the Third Edition is based on Noel Polks meticulously produced corrected text which is preceded by a textual note. The annotations by David Minter which were aimed to help readers understand complex phrases and allusions have been kept. Some of Faulkners 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. The narrative of Thomas Sutpen an intriguing stranger who arrived in Jefferson township in the early 1830s is told in Absalom Absalom! He pulled a beautiful estate out of the muddy bottoms of the north Mississippi wilderness with the help of a French architect and a gang of wild Haitians. He wanted sons and the sons devastated him Faulker observed of Sutpen. Sutpens ruthlessness and single-minded disregard for the human community haunted not only his contemporaries but also men who came after him men like Que