In this major reassessment, now available in paperback, Richard Gray uses and develops recent theories about the relationship between writing and historical experience, language and social change, to draw a brilliantly detailed portrait of the place and times Faulkner inhabited. Attending closely to each of the novels, Gray shows how they brim with an often undisclosed biography that is at once personal and cultural.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
"Richard Gray's study of Faulkner is biographically and historically informative in the most appropriate way; it is also critically sophisticated, lucid, and continuously accessible. Avoiding the usual biographical reductionism which subsumes a writer's work to its psychological or sociological context, Gray traces the inter-relationships between the man, the time, the place, and the writing, with exemplary and illuminating tact and insight. Frankly, I do not see how it could be better done; and, to anyone embarking on any kind of study of Faulkner, this is the first book I would recommend." Professor Tony Tanner, University of Cambridge
"... much more than a level-headed biography, it's a profound and beautifully written interpretation of Faulkner and his work. Gray combines formidable knowledge of Southern literature, culture, and history with wide-ranging critical expertise, giving us a work that is both thoroughly grounded in Faulkner's world and richly provocative in its interpretation of that world. Few writers on Southern literature possess Gray's breadth of knowledge and depth of insight. The Life of William Faulkner goes far to solidify Gray's position as one of the premiere critics in the field." Professor Robert H. Brinkmeyer, Jr, University of Mississippi
"The critical discussions are the strength of this volume, especially the commentaries on the novels written from 1929 to 1935. Recommended." T. Bonner, Jr. Xavier University of Louisiana, Choice
"... the book exhibits some expository strengths, such as in illustrating how the economic history of the South, specifically the dominance of cotton and the sharecropping system, connects to the motifs in his fiction." Virginia Quarterly Review
From the Back Cover
Arguably the greatest novelist yet to emerge from the United States, William Faulkner was a white Southerner creatively obsessed with problems of personal identity, social change, religion, sexuality, race, and that elaborate circuitry of passion and power - the family.
In this major reassessment, now available in paperback, Richard Gray uses and develops recent theories about the relationship between writing and historical experience, language and social change, to draw a brilliantly detailed portrait of the place and times Faulkner inhabited and to reveal just how intimately woven together were the tangled threads of Faulkner's personal and public experience - the privacy that Faulkner cherished and this history in which, whether he liked it or not, he was ensnared.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Faulkner: a Biographical Masterpiece,
By chris (Bronx, New York) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Life of William Faulkner: A Critical Biography (Blackwell Critical Biographies) (Paperback)
Gray more than does justice to Faulkner's literary prowess! He delves deep into the mindset of Faulkner and the South during the pre and post Civil War time frame. Gray also deals with Faulkner's social commentary, and creative imagination when portraying characters. ALL in all, a superb biography and critical study!
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Inside This Book
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Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs):
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apocryphal county, tall convict, dramatic sections, inexhaustible voice, one volume edition, autobiographical dimension, dark twin, epic past Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Gavin Stevens, The Hamlet, Frenchman's Bend, Quentin Compson, The Wild Palms, Horace Benbow, Joe Christmas, Temple Drake, New Orleans, Dewey Dell, Thomas Sutpen, William Faulkner, John Sartoris, Lucas Beauchamp, Flem Snopes, Old Colonel, Soldier's Pay, The Unvanquished, Meta Carpenter, United States, Bayard Sartoris, Eula Varner, Charles Mallison, Mink Snopes, Knight's Gambit New!
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
apocryphal county, tall convict, dramatic sections, inexhaustible voice, one volume edition, autobiographical dimension, dark twin, epic past Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Gavin Stevens, The Hamlet, Frenchman's Bend, Quentin Compson, The Wild Palms, Horace Benbow, Joe Christmas, Temple Drake, New Orleans, Dewey Dell, Thomas Sutpen, William Faulkner, John Sartoris, Lucas Beauchamp, Flem Snopes, Old Colonel, Soldier's Pay, The Unvanquished, Meta Carpenter, United States, Bayard Sartoris, Eula Varner, Charles Mallison, Mink Snopes, Knight's Gambit New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 100
books:
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7
books
cite this book:
See all 7 books citing this book
- Light in August (The Corrected Text) by William Faulkner on 33 pages
- Light in August (Modern Library) by William Faulkner on 33 pages
- Flags in the Dust: The complete text of Faulkner's third novel, which appeared in a cut version as Sartoris by William Faulkner on 32 pages
- Intruder in the Dust by William Faulkner on 24 pages
- William Faulkner: First Encounters by Cleanth Brooks on 13 pages
See all 100 books this book cites
- Creating Yoknapatawpha: Readers and Writers in Faulkner's Fiction (Studies in Major Literary Authors) by Owen Robinson on 5 pages
- Faulkner's Questioning Narratives: Fiction of His Major Phase, 1929-42 by David Minter in Back Matter
- Bridging Southern Cultures: An Interdisciplinary Approach (Southern Literary Studies) by John Lowe on page 96
- Teaching Faulkner: Approaches and Methods (Contributions to the Study of American Literature) by Stephen Hahn on page 161
- The Gospel according to America: A Meditation on a God-blessed, Christ-haunted Idea by David Dark in Back Matter
See all 7 books citing this book
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