As I Lay Dying (Modern Library)
by William Faulkner
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Book Summary Information
Author: William FaulknerEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2000-11-28
ISBN: 0375504524
Number of pages: 288
Publisher: Modern Library
Book Reviews of As I Lay Dying (Modern Library)
Book Review: Something to do with Substantial Sandwiches
Summary: 5 Stars
If a sandwich was created from the pages of literature's best, it would be a sizeable feast that nobody--except those with the biggest of mouths--would be able to bite without a knife's assistance. The literary sandwich would be difficult to chew and even harder to swallow. But how satisfying it would be with its fresh lettuce, its delicious tomatoes. And if every copy of AS I LAY DYING was torn and made into a sandwich, I do dare to say there would be little difference between it and former one mentioned. For in Faulkner's brilliant novel, nearly every pleasure literature provides is present. It is a difficult work, but one that rewards careful readers.
What contributes to AS I LAY DYING'S difficulty is how steeped it is in the abstract. Bringing symbolism to the foreground is a choice writers with less skill would suffer from. But Faulkner is able to successfully build a story--a touching one, too--out of metaphors and symbols. True: one can ignore the literary elements. Really, though, doing so would be eating the spaghetti with no sauce, drinking the soup with no noodles. I cannot develop any personal views on many of the most powerful symbols for the fear of spoiling one or two of the myriad surprises in the novel. However, do pay attention: the Bundren's journey to Jefferson is not all about death and it is not, like Darl says, a single person's journey. "It takes two people to make you," he says, "and one people to die." Honey-worded but not correct as the narrative proves.
The most important theme in the book is the meaningless of words. Vardaman, Addie and Darl all obsess over words. Vardaman has trouble dealing with death and the state of existence. Almost manically, he transforms his mother into a fish: "My mother is a fish." And why isn't she? If she is not alive, then what is she? Darl too thinks through such problems, but being older and more pensive, his solutions are more complex; they involve both philological and philosophical ideas. Really, Darl's character reads like an amateur philosopher--wise enough to ponder, but not wise enough to form a substantial notion. Finally, Addie's character: all that needs to be said about her is the last sentence. It proves right all three of the characters who wonder how the abstract and is able to be properly represented by a group of letters.
Of course, if one gazes long enough, the eyes will find a flaw. One does not need to peer for a while before finding faults in AS I LAY DYING. As the narrative is split into a multitude of point of views, perhaps too many, it is challenging to wholly grasp what is occurring, especially because Faulkner and his characters do not try to aid your efforts. Many times, the reader is left to interpret what was only whispered, not yelled. The novel, then, is frustrating to read. It is far worse, however, that one of the novel's strong points is dulled the more one flips its pages: its beautiful phrases. If Vardaman had only once said his mother was a fish, if Darl only once reflected on existence in peculiar ways, had only once told Jewel his mother was a horse, the instances would be memorable. Alas they happen so often, they become platitudinous.
Yet, even with its flaws, it is a book that any interested in literature cannot skip. As most great books, it is better writing an analysis than a review. I have done what I could and hope to have convinced you that AS I LAY DYING must be read
Summary of As I Lay Dying (Modern Library)
One of William Faulkner?s finest novels, As I Lay Dying, originally published in 1930, remains a captivating and stylistically innovative work. The story revolves around a grim yet darkly humorous pilgrimage, as Addie Bundren?s family sets out to fulfill her last wish: to be buried in her native Jefferson, Mississippi, far from the miserable backwater surroundings of her married life. Told through multiple voices, As I Lay Dying vividly brings to life Faulkner?s imaginary South, one of literature?s great invented landscapes, and is replete with the poignant, impoverished, violent, and hypnotically fascinating characters that were his trademark. Along with a new Foreword by E. L. Doctorow, this edition reproduces the corrected text of As I Lay Dying as established in 1985 by Faulkner expert Noel Polk.Faulkner's distinctive narrative structures--the uses of multiple points of view and the inner psychological voices of the characters--in one of its most successful incarnations here in As I Lay Dying. In the story, the members of the Bundren family must take the body of Addie, matriarch of the family, to the town where Addie wanted to be buried. Along the way, we listen to each of the members on the macabre pilgrimage, while Faulkner heaps upon them various flavors of disaster. Contains the famous chapter completing the equation about mothers and fish--you'll see.
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