Light in August [Hardcover]

William Faulkner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 12, 1967

Joe Christmas does not know whether he is black or white. Faulkner makes of Joe's tragedy a powerful indictment of racism; at the same time Joe's life is a study of the divided self and becomes a symbol of 20th century man.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

To declare that Light in August is William Faulkner's finest work would be to invoke debate of irreconcilable conclusion. Yet for many followers of Faulkner, this novel showcases many of his best moments and characters. As usual, he mines the rich soil of Mississippi mud to create his subjects, this time in the form of Reverend Gail Hightower, Lena Grove and Joe Christmas. The issue of black and white and rich and poor is prevalent, though to draw lines that clear would be a disservice to Faulkner's immensely layered text and the multicolored beauty of his writing. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

“For all his concern with the South, Faulkner was actually seeking out the nature of man. Thus we must turn to him for that continuity of moral purpose which made for the greatness of our classics.” —Ralph Ellison

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Random House (March 12, 1967)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0394433351
• ISBN-13: 978-0394433356
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.7 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,841,821 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The South rises, July 15, 2000

By 

Michael Battaglia - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Light in August (Modern Library College Editions Series) (Paperback)

Nothing is ever simple in a Faulkner book. However plainly the people talk, however straightforward that the situations seem, there are layers and layers of things to dig through to find the ultimate truth, if indeed there is any. I've already read Sound and the Fury and as glorious as that book was, this novel absolutely captivated me. It's Faulkner's way with words, he's not flashy like some contemporary authors, preferring to slowly wind his way into your consciousness with his gift of writing. It's only as you read, maybe as you peruse a passage for the second time do you see the little details that you missed the first time out, the choice of a word here, the flow of a paragraph. And his characters, all beautifully drawn, with flaws and cracks and everything, but even the farthest gone of his lowlives has some pearl of wisdom to impart, his pillars all have dark secrets. In short they're just like his, if we lived in the South at the turn of the century. Faulkner captures it all, weaving his characters together with the skill of a master, no seams showing, everything seeming to happen naturally. Even when the story detours to tell someone's backstory, it seems to come at the perfect moment. If I sound a bit fawning, that's because this book deserves it, nothing puts together the picture of a time better than this, and as an aspiring writer I am in sincere awe of Faulkner's ability to reflect even the more complex of emotions with a word or a sentence. He has to be read to be believed and it definitely must be experienced. Just immerse yourself in a time and place thought long gone, that still lurks in the corners of people's thoughts and the traditions that never die.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Brilliance in the Deep South., August 6, 2000

By 

Chandler Merrell - See all my reviews

This review is from: Light In August (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition) (School & Library Binding)

This was my second experience with Faulkner, I read 'The Bear' in college some 25 years ago. 'The Bear' was written when Faulkner decided that he would no longer take it easy on the reader and stopped punctuating.

Reading 'Light in August' is not quite as frustrating; more like driving over a mountain, everyime you hit a straightaway you see another switchback on the horizon.

The story is not complicated but the characters are and Faulkner interweaves his passionate story by taking you as far back as three generations to make the reader understand from whom some characters evolved.

The best and most important character is Joe Christmas, the abused mulatto with no sense of heritage whose atrocious act is central to the goings on.

The passion with which Faulkner writes was simply unmatched by his contemporaries.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars He writes in color, February 10, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Light in August (Bookcassette(r) Edition) (Audio Cassette)

Faulkner writes in rainbow color. Full of feeling, mortification, and injustice. The character of Joe Christmas is a shockingly tragic figure that seems almost Christlike, and the character of the oversexed Miss Burden is equally sad. There are so many themes you could pull out of this story. It just fascinates me. I think it touches on race relations in a way that's really pretty intuitive for the time period and part of the country Faulkner was coming from. He plays with both fear of black people and fear of female sexuality, all in the same weave. Worth it.