Essays, Speeches & Public Letters (Modern Library Classics) (Paperback)

by William Faulkner (Author), James B. Meriwether (Editor) "ONE DAY during the months while we walked and talked in New Orleans-or Anderson talked and I listened-I found him sitting on a bench in..." (more)
Key Phrases: New York, Memphis Commercial Appeal, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
?Those who care about the work of William Faulkner will be deeply grateful to Meriwether for putting Essays, Speeches & Public Letters together. . . . It will correct many errors [and] increase appreciation and understanding of [Faulkner?s] work.?
?George Garrett -- Review

Review
“Those who care about the work of William Faulkner will be deeply grateful to Meriwether for putting Essays, Speeches & Public Letters together. . . . It will correct many errors [and] increase appreciation and understanding of [Faulkner’s] work.”
—George Garrett

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Modern Library; 2 edition (February 10, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 081297137X
• ISBN-13: 978-0812971378
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #788,340 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The First and Best Approach to Faulkner's Fiction, February 19, 2006

By	jkibler (Maybinton, South Carolina) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Essays, Speeches and Public Letters. (Hardcover)

We now have back in print once again Faulkner's own words about crucial topics. This volume provides an excellent means to gauge the writer's thinking and should serve as an aid to good judgement. So much Faulkner criticism rides the pet hobby horses of the time and attempts to make Faulkner into the image of the critic. Reading his own words should be a counterbalance to such self-reflexive, myopic readings. The editor is the most scrupulous and best informed Faulkner scholar living today. It is a blessing that he edited this volume. Anything Faulkner wrote would be of interest, but some of these pieces stand right up there with his fiction. His "On Privacy" must take its place alongside the Nobel speech as one of the most important, prophetic documents of the century. "The American Dream---What Happened to It?" is a wonderful Southern critique of American materialism and false progress. Faulkner's understanding of the "word sounds" to which he saw Americans relegating the words freedom, liberty, and patriotism is as relevant today as when written 50 years ago. The volume has not dated with time. It's only gotten more incisive and as such is staggeringly impressive.