William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying

William Faulkner (1897-1962) “My requirements for writing: paper, tobacco, food, and a little whisky” Grew up in Oxford Mississippi in a long-established Mississippi family Uncle a colonel in the Confederate army Family’s roots in the Old South furnish him with settings, themes, and cultural identity for sixteen novels and many short stories His work is decidedly southern

Faulkner’s Writing Began writing after he was in WWI Won both Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize Created Yoknapatawpha County: a fictional place in MI A microcosm of the American South both Ante-bellum and Post-bellum

Fictional Yoknapatawpha County Although Fictional, Faulkner gave it credibility, supplying a physical place and a census count Location used in several of his novels Near the real Yocona River in Mississippi

Crossing the Yocona River in 1900

The American South and As I Lay Dying The loss of the Civil War shaped the mentality and outlook of all southerners In Faulkner’s writing, the history of the south is a tragedy which must be addressed The novel asks: How do people deal with devastation and degeneration in their lives? Like the death of a loved one, a mother or wife, war also causes immense upheaval The novel is not about the Civil War; rather it is about the manner in which people deal with adversity in their lives: it is about the Human Experience

Faulkner’s Style in As I Lay Dying Written in stream of consciousness form Reader “hears” a character’s thoughts Faulkner never directly comments, describes, or explains Novel comprised of 59 monologues by 15 different characters Dream-like writing: often disjointed, distorted, and seemingly illogical Readers must piece the story together in a puzzle-like fashion Tale of a journey: nothing impedes the straightforward movement of plot to its destination-Jefferson and the burial of Addie