Customer Reviews

William Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom!: A Casebook (Casebooks in Criticism)

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I told my duaghter that I finished a great book, "Absalom, Absalom", and that now I was going to read a book ABOUT that book. She gave me a look, as if she never heard of anything so strange.

For literary scholars and the academic community, I'm sure this line of thinking is naive, but for many readers, a book of critcal analysis is just wierd, nerdy, or painfully boring. Well, I like reading about great books once I've read them, and I find that I get much more out of the experience. I've done this for War and Peace, Brothers Karamzov, and many others and I'm very glad I did.

It can be slow going at times, for sure, but some of the information is very brisk and enlightening, and the historical background context provided is very interesting. Another amusement for me is how "academic" and "preposterous" some of the anaysis can be; I think some of the critics are really reaching! This book is on par with the best of the ones that I have read. If you enjoy this sort of thing and have read Absalom, Absalom, I think you'd do well to check this one out.