Light in August

Born in 1897 in New Albany Mississippi William Faulkner was the son of a family proud of their prominent role in the history of the south. He grew up in Oxford Mississippi and left high school at fifteen to work in his grandfather's bank. Rejected by the US military in 1915 he joined the Canadian flyers with the RAF but was still in training when the war ended. Returning home he studied at the University of Mississippi and visited Europe briefly in 1925. His first poem was published in <i>The New Republic</i> in 1919. His first book of verse and early novels followed but his major work began with the publication of <i>The Sound and the Fury</i> in 1929. <i>As I Lay Dying</i> (1930) <i>Sanctuary</i> (1931) <i>Light in August</i> (1932) <i>Absalom Absalom!</i> (1936) and <i>The Wild Palms</i> (1939) are the key works of his great creative period leading up to <i>Intruder in the Dust</i> (1948). During the 1930s he worked in Hollywood on film scripts notably <i>The Blue Lamp</i> co-written with Raymond Chandler<i>.</i> William Faulkner was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1949 and the Pulitzer Prize for <i>The Reivers</i> just before his death in July 1962. <p><b>VINTAGE CLASSICS' AMERICAN GOTHIC SERIES</b><br><b>Spine-tingling mind-altering and deliciously atmospheric journey into the dark side of America with nine of its most uncanny classics.</b><br><br>A landmark in American fiction <i>Light in August</i> explores Faulkner's central theme: the nature of evil. Joe Christmas - a man doomed deracinated and alone - wanders the Deep South in search of an identity and a place in society. After killing his perverted God-fearing lover it becomes inevitable that he is pursued by a lynch-hungry mob. Yet after the sacrifice there is new life a determined ray of light in Faulkner's complex and tragic world.</p> <p><b>VINTAGE CLASSICS' AMERICAN GOTHIC SERIES</b><br><b>Spine-tingling mind-altering and deliciously atmospheric journey into the dark side of America with nine of its most uncanny classics.</b><br><br>A landmark in American fiction <i>Light in August</i> explores Faulkner's central theme: the nature of evil. Joe Christmas - a man doomed deracinated and alone - wanders the Deep South in search of an identity and a place in society. After killing his perverted God-fearing lover it becomes inevitable that he is pursued by a lynch-hungry mob. Yet after the sacrifice there is new life a determined ray of light in Faulkner's complex and tragic world.</p>