About this title: ABSALOM, ABSALOM! is often considered to be Faulkner's greatest book, and one of his most compelling explorations of race, gender, and the burdens of the past. The plot revolves around the character of Thomas Sutpen, son of poor whites in Faulkner's fictional Yoknapatawpha County. Densely written and notoriously "difficult," the novel explores the question of why Sutpen's son, Henry, killed Charles Bon, his friend and classmate, and the suitor of his sister, Judith. The action shifts from the early 19th century, when this event took place, to the "present" (1909-1910), when Quentin Compson, a ...
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Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Random House, New York
Date Published: 1964
ISBN-13:9780394602714ISBN:0394602714
Description: Fair. Jacket is stained in places. Plastic over jacket has a small hole in the back. Binding falling apart. Pages show heavy age coloring. Some pages have underlining and small water marks. ORDERS OUT IN 24 HOURS. read more
Binding: book Paperback
Publisher: McGraw-Hill
Date Published: 1966-04-01
ISBN-13:9780075536574ISBN:0075536579
Description: Very Good. Owner's name on reverse of cover. "Used sticker" on cover. Otherwise clean, tight, unmarked book. Ships within 1 business day. read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: McGraw-Hill College
Date Published: 1972
ISBN-13:9780075536574ISBN:0075536579
Description: Fair. No Jacket. Water Damage, Inside Covers Soiled, Corners Worn, Water Lines On Pages, Pages Stiff, Text is Unmarked, Reading Copy. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: McGraw-Hill
Date Published: 1966
ISBN-13:9780075536574ISBN:0075536579
Description: New. Slight shelf wear. GoodwillnyBooks is committed to providing each customer with the highest standard of customer service. You may return new items within 30 days of delivery for a full refund. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Modern Library, New York
Date Published: 1951
Description: Very good in fair dust jacket. xii, 378 p. 19 cm. The Modern library of the world's best books, 271.. Good clean copy, dj ruffled and torn at spine, owner's name, shelf sticker and date ffep. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Random House: NY
Date Published: 1964
Description: Acceptable in ACCEPTABLE. jacket. FORMER LIBRARY BOOK. MAY HAVE COVER WEAR, SPINE CREASES, HIGHLIGHTING, UNDERLINING & PAGES YELLOWED FROM AGE. FASTER SERVICE FROM US! ! ! read more
Binding: Cloth
Publisher: Modern Library
Date Published: 1936
Description: Very Good + to Near Fine in Good + to Very Good- jacket. Hard Cover. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" Grey boards. Old price marked through and reduce on inside front DJ flap. Binding tight, pages clean. read more
"Although Faulkner has produced more than a few works considered to have achieved masterpiece status, to my mind Absalom, Absalom stands out among the rest. As usual, Faulkner's deft grasp of human nature is spot on, but it is his brilliant layering of the narrative which elevates this book into truly rarefied air.
Faulkner presents for us the story of Thomas Sutpen, who, born into poverty and spurned by the wealthy, sets about through hard work and an iron will to establish himself at the head of his own dynasty. Foremost among Sutpen's desires is the siring of an heir, and it is this relentless pursuit, not of a son but of a legacy, that proves to undo all of his designs. Sutpen's indomitable character towers over those around him, but their combined, often passive resistance eventually becomes overwhelming. The story is Faulknerian tragedy at its most iconic; the unraveling of Sutpen's machinations is fraught with irony yet ultimately inevitable.
As bleakly austere as the plot itself is, however, Faulkner's revolutionary narration provides the perfect atmosphere for its gloom. Most of the story is not observed first-hand, but rather related by characters who were in turn told the events by others. The main narrator is Quentin Compson (see The Sound and the Fury), who was originally told the story by his grandfather and others who knew Thomas Sutpen, now some decades dead, personally. Quentin is now recounting the tale for his college roommate, while adding his own conjectures as well. And this is the brilliance of Faulkner's narrative structure: by changing viewpoints and retelling the same scene from several angles, the subtle nuances of the various characters, both storytellers and subjects, are allowed to develop. Faulkner's adroit criticism of humanity is revealed just as fully in his characters' reaction to his story as in the story itself. The dense, sometimes stream-of-consciousness narration can sometimes make comprehension difficult, but the masterful prose deserves the extra attention.
Simply put, this is one of the best books I have ever read. The challenging, haunting combination of story and storytelling yield an artistry seldom to be found in literature, even among the great masters. Faulkner truly understood humanity, and the tragedy it so often comes to. Here, in this memorable tale, he helps us understand as well."
"Look, I can't say I disliked it - it was beautifully well written - but so terribly difficult. So difficult to follow and to know just where one is. I kept forgetting who was talking and who they were talking about. There is so much back story - it seems to be all back story. So many characters all more or less the same. Everything is so complex and detailed. I became lost and then I gave up, I'm afraid.
I can see it is probably worth the effort - but also know it requires more effort than I can put in at the moment."
"I have been intellectually bullied into giving this book another shot. You know who you are.
________________________________________________________________________ I am done with Faulkner. I simply cannot stand his writing style. How is it that Tolstoy can make Russian aristocrats from the late 1800 more relatable and interesting than the southerners Faulkner depicts in his novels? I don't know why I find Dimitri Karamazov more interesting than Tom Sutpen, but I do.
Only 100 pages into Absalom, Absalom! and I cannot read another word."
"I didn't finish it. I can't stand his writing style. But...Faulkner is fantastic in many ways, the story is insightful and heartbreaking.I just can't get past his pretentious style...and it is pretentious, he writes in the thirties! he doesn't need to extend his sentences like some romantic poet...it's sophomoric. I think I would love him if he just told his damn stories."
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