Product Description

A landmark in American fiction, "Light in August" 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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #60034 in Books
• Published on: 2000-10-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

From the Back Cover
'Magisterial' Independent

A landmark in American fiction, Light in August 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.

See also: The Sound and the Fury

About the Author
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 The New Republic in 1919. His first book of verse and early novels followed, but his major work began with the publication of The Sound and the Fury in 1929. As I Lay Dying (1930), Sanctuary (1931), Light in August (1932), Absalom, Absalom! (1936) and The Wild Palms (1939) are the key works of his great creative period leading up to Intruder in the Dust (1948). During the 1930s, he worked in Hollywood on film scripts, notably The Blue Lamp, co-written with Raymond Chandler. William Faulkner was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1949 and the Pulitzer Prize for The Reivers just before his death in July1962.

Customer Reviews

Mississippi Burning
This a Faulkner's major work which could be considered as one of the best American novels of the 1930s. On its surface, Light in August seems to be a chaotic narrative of life in the deep South after Reconstruction. However, such a chaos mirrors the chaos of a whole society unable to cope with the shadow of racism. For it is racism, the very truth behind racism, what Faulkner explores in this novel.

Behind the violence and confusion of Faulkner's narrative, there is a glance into the very core of human condition. Faulkner shows how we are, our fears, our secret dreams, our prejudices. Although, Faulkner's style is complex, the reading of "Light in August" is utterly rewarding.

This book represents the best introduction to Faulkner's novels and to the history of the deep South. Anyone interested in American literature should read it.

A Twentieth Century Poe
I once heard an English teacher describe William Faulkner as "Our Shakespeare". He said that the southern culture provides so much for a novelist to work with and Faulkner works it to the limit. I saw much of Shakespeare in "Light In August" as Faulkner transports us into the minds and culture of the depression era South. Lena Horne, traipsing from Alabama to Mississippi in search of the father of her unborn child, Joe Christmas, the self-proclaimed mulatto outcast, Gail Hightower, the minister whose obsession with the past cost him his wife and pulpit and Joanna Burden the heiress of the Carpetbag family who never became a part of the community in which she lived her life all provide us with an insight into this world.

More than Shakespeare, "Light In August" reveals Faulkner, in my opinion, as a Twentieth Century Poe. In Poe's work it is often the sounds that make the work. In "Light In August", I was entranced by the dialogue and the streams of consciousness which revealed the characters and their world to the reader.

I cared little for the story line, but the sights, sounds and the smells of "Light In August" make it a worthwhile read.

Dark, Brooding Book but Worth It
Don't read this when feeling depressed about the state of the world - it's Southern Gothic mix of racism, poverty, violence and general depravity will do little to relieve your angst. That being said, the novel is beautifully written and well-worth a read. Faulkner is a master of scene and his sense of pacing is incredible. Overall, an unsettling, but powerful work.