The Unvanquished [Hardcover]

William Faulkner (Author), Edward Shenton (Illustrator)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Random House; First Edition edition (1965)
• ASIN: B000J9YAQ2
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,173,671 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More 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 July 1962.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A tribute to the tenacity of the human spirit, May 21, 2010

By 

Dr. Bojan Tunguz (Indiana, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Unvanquished V351 (Paperback)

Set in the old South in the finishing years of the Civil War, this novel follows members of one family, and in particular Bayard Sartoris, as they struggle and try to prevail under the circumstances where most of the prevailing social and personal relations are constantly challenged and even permanently overturned. The writing is quintessential Faulkner, with all particularities of southern dialect and narrative that tries to stay close to the protagonists' mental musings. The story is remarkable and intriguing in that the interpersonal relations between different characters aren neither predictable nor straightforward. In particular it eschews facile delineation between various parties in the war, and no individual fits into a stereotypical category. Sometimes the closest friendships are between those who should be the worst of enemies, and at other occasions those whom you regarded to be close confidants that in the end betray you. These are in fact all too familiar circumstances in most of our lives and in all generations. It's what makes Faulkner's novels so timeless and valuable to read.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Southern society, May 10, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Unvanquished V351 (Paperback)

The Unvanquished is an excellent book, which depicts life in the South during and after the Civil War. The title means "the undefeated or the unconquered," and Faulkner expounds on this topic. One by one, the characters are defeated by either disillusionment, selfishness, or vainity ,and only one character withstands the terrible effects of the war: Bayard. Faulker does a remarkable job depicting the emotions of Southerners during this time and uses great imagery.