About this title: William Faulkner's 1932 novel, LIGHT IN AUGUST, takes place in the first two decades of the 20th century. Its characters are mostly marginal outcasts, but most of the story concerns Joe Christmas, an orphaned man with a mysterious past who believes himself to be part black and is, accordingly, shunned--until he meets a tragic and gruesome end at ...
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Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Modern Library, New York
Date Published: 1968
Description: Fair. No dust jacket. Wear to edges of soft cover. Fold li ne near spine. Page tanning from age. 480 p. 19 cm. Modern Library book; 88. Modern library book; 88.. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Modern Library
Date Published: 1950
Description: Acceptable. -Ex-Library--No Jacket. Good + 12mo-over 6 3/4"-7 3/4" tall 444 pgs. Interior-Nice overall condition w/ ex-library referencing. The boards have only light signs of use. -Publish Place: New York-Size: read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Modern Library, Ne w York
Date Published: 1959
Description: Very Good. No Jacket. Green cloth on boards, gilt letters to spine. lightly soiled, bottom corners bumped. text has underlining, still a nice reading copy. read more
Edition: Modern Library Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Random House, United States of America
Date Published: 1950
Description: Good. No Jacket. Good. No Jacket 12mo-over 6¾"-7¾" tall. Modern Library Edition. Used as a College textbook for Literature Class. Good quality copy of 1950 edition of Falukner's work. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: McGraw Hill Text
Date Published: 1968
ISBN-13:9780394309682ISBN:0394309685
Description: Acceptable. Book has considerable wear, but is still very useable. Interior has writing. MMP SHIPS W/IN 24 HOURS! FREE INSURANCE on all orders! E-mail notification! Careful, thorough packaging. Fast, personal service. No hassle, full refund return policy! COMBINE SHIPPING-TENS OF THOUSANDS OF OTHER BOOKS/CDs/MOVIES AVAILABLE! read more
Description: Very Good. Light penciling of text, else Clean and tight, a nice copy. 4.5 X 7" Member, Florida Antiquarian Booksellers Association. read more
Binding: Gray Cloth
Publisher: Random, New York
Date Published: 1950
Description: Very Good. No Jacket. 12mo-over 6¾"-7¾" tall. Modern Library Edition. Intro by Richard H Rovere. One of Faulkner's 3 or 4 finest novels, set in his "Camelot in Northern Mississippi. " (From the intro. ) 444 pp. This copy is free of markings of any kind & the pages are clean & bright. Cover is clean. The only flaw I see is crack in the hinge at the title page. read more
"Well, I am reading Faulkner and enjoying it. Probably enjoying it more because I do not have to explain it to anyone, or write a "book report". At this stage I can enjoy getting to know interesting and engaging characters and see how their lives intersect. Also, you can expect great and surprising writing from Faulkner. Here is one of those tidbits from the mouth of Rev Hightower: 'Yes,' he thinks. 'I should never have let myself get out of the habit of prayer.' He turns from the window. One wall of the study is lined with books. He pauses before them, seeking, until he finds the one which he wants. It is Tennyson. It is dogeared. He has had it ever since the seminary. He sits beneath the lamp and opens it. It does not take long. Soon the fine galloping language, the gutless swooning full of sapless trees and dehydrated lusts begins to swim smooth and swift and peaceful. It is better than praying without having to bother to think aloud. It is like listening in a cathedral to a eunuch chanting in a language which he does not even need to not understand. Doesn't reading or thinking for comfort do that to us?"
"I had Jesse's copy from home and he had bought another copy while in Cambridge. We read this together and managed to have several cool conversations both during and after our reading. What to say? Such gorgeous language. I think I'd been intimidated by this book, might have started it years ago and set it down. It was gripping from the first page. Stories within stories; endless twists and turns in the storyline. Noted frequent use of portmanteau words such as: his head backflung; while the slowspitting and squatting men watch her covertly; in a room lighted by a bugswirled kerosence lamp. Interesting use of repetition of specific words; intricate character development. Need to read more Faulkner!
Connection of beginning to end. First paragraph: Sitting beside the road, watching the wagon mount the hill toward her, Lena thinks, 'I have come from Alabama: a fur piece. All the way from Alabama a-walking. A fur piece.' Thinking although I have not been quite a month on the road I am already in Mississippi, further from home than I have ever been before. I am now further from Doane's Mill than I have been since I was twelve years old.
The ending: "'Saulsbury, Tennessee' and I looked back and saw her face. And it was like it was already fixed and waiting to be surprised, and that she knew that when the surprise come, she was going to enjoy it. And it did come and it did suit her. Because she said, "'My, my. A body does get around. Here we aint been coming from Alabama but two months, and now it's already Tennessee.'""
"A couple of thoughts I'll tie together: 1) I read a BBC article that suggests a large percentage of people keep books on their shelf to impress others rather than to read them. 2) As young students, teachers take us to the library and allow us to pick out whatever book we like (as long as we're not just trying to avoid reading by picking out a pamphlet), but by the time we reach high school and college, it's assigned. Though I believe an educator's recommendation to be valuable, I believe taking away a person's choice can rob them of finding the book that will spark excitement and turn them into readers for life. I believe far too many people are forced to read classics, when quite frankly, some of them will never be appealing. For me, I usually have strong reactions, good or bad, to the classics, but I found my spark long ago. For most people though, they know that reading is an intelligent practice, but they're bored by what they've been forced to read, so books are used for the perception they create rather than the pleasure of their contents. While some of it is taste and a blatant unwillingness to participate in any medium straying from the instant gratification culture, there are certainly a good number of masturbatory authors who are more concerned with coming off as intelligent rather than relatable.
I believe William Faulkner is one of those writers who lets his writing get in the way of a good story.
Published in 1932, Light in August is written in the Southern Gothic tradition-set in Faulkner's fictional Mississippi county, Yoknapatawpha county-where the grotesque is often perpetrated by horror/romance archetypes without moral judgment from the author. The plot consists of three connected strands: 1) A pregnant woman, Lena Grove, in search of the father of her baby; 2) An enigmatic alcohol smuggler, Joe Christmas, struggling with his mixed ancestry; and 3) A disgraced Priest, Reverend Gail Hightower, who lives in near-isolation after annoying the town with his sermons about his dead grandfather. Much of the novel deals with the racism of the South, pulling in violence and observing Judeo-Christian values if they were smashed into a funhouse mirror. It takes a little while to find Faulkner's rhythm, but it's not a tough search and it's enjoyable until you realize he won't just tell the story. The reader gets dragged through lengthy flashbacks even though the compelling plot line just found its adrenaline. Then you'll get to the part you've been waiting for and Faulkner will skip ahead, spoiling his own story then slowly backing through the incident without any of the tension.
There are obscure punctuation choices, too, and while it's not a major point of contention, it illustrates my frustration with his style: He uses six ellipses (. . . . . .) when the standard three (...) will do. The second quarter of this book, about 150 pages, could have easily been trimmed back to a lean 30, and even though I liked the last chapter, at least 40 of the pages before that could have been cut out, too, but that's not Faulkner's style. He believes in stream of consciousness, where thoughts expand and ideas ramble so that you understand the deepest recesses of a character. While this has certain strengths-as each character gets presented in differing ways, depending on who's viewing them-I still find the style obese and much of the information superfluous. I lean minimalistic by default (though even I like a little meat on the bone), so I'm not a fan of reading what I think a visceral editor should have cut. Nothing seems to be minor in Faulkner's eyes. As a result, none of the characters feel all that major either. They're unique, distinguished, but with everything else, there's just too much to appreciate it. It's like mixing all the beautiful colors. After a while, you just end up with brown. Sometimes you need to make choices and Faulkner doesn't make enough for my liking. As a result, any other book of his will not come onto my shelf. I don't care who thinks I look smart. Two stars. Barely."
"Lena Grove travels, on foot and with the aid of strangers, through the South in search of the father of her unborn child. Her journey introduces the reader to a variety of characters, including the child's father, a man who falls in love with Lena, and a biracial man named Christmas. Like Lena, all of these characters have stories to tell, and Faulkner interweaves a number of back stories and histories in the body of this book. One of his more accessable texts, Light in August is easy to get in to and builds up gradually to its complexities and confusing narrative traits. The result is a readable text that still manages to capture the character depth and human study that Faulkner does so well. While I prefer his more difficult/complex work, I definitely enjoyed this text and I highly recommend it.
For the first couple chapters, this book doesn't feel like Faulkner. I was surprised by just how approachable and linear the text was. By the last few chapters, Faulkner is intertwining disparate narratives and times and using more streams of consciousnesses. The book definitely becomes more complex as it progresses. This gradual build up in style and complexity allows the reader to adapt to Faulkner's writing style and techniques, making the end of the book more rewarding because the reader has a better grasp of how to understand and interpret it. I highly recommend this text for readers new to Faulkner, and I think high schools would do well to use it in place to As I Lay Dying in schools.
That said, I enjoyed both As I Lay Dying and The Sound and the Fury more than this book. Because both books delve immediately into the complex end of Faulkner's writing style, they reach their full potential from the onset rather than building in to it. Characters have more stories, more thoughts, more key events; information is tightly packed, emotional, and raw, less filtered through the writer's lens. I don't feel like I found as much depth or character interest in Light in August, with the possible exception of Christmas, whose life story receives the most attention and time. I have no doubt that this was a good book: characters are real and descriptions detailed, almost physical; Faulkner attacks his greater issues of humanity, personal history, and fault and action from multiple angles both narrative and character-based. The book is compelling, both depressing and uplifting and certainly enlightening. Nonetheless, I believe that Faulkner sacrificed some depth by limiting the writing style at the beginning of the book.
I do recommend this book, as well as any other book by Faulkner. He is an extraordinary author and conveys fascination with and insights on humanity: what makes a man, what insights him to action, and when, despite all justification, man is still at fault. This book is a good start for those new to Faulkner. While it may be disappointing, in terms of style and depth, to those that have already read him, Light in August nonetheless contains one of Faulkner's most complex and compelling character and is a rewarding read."
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