As I Lay Dying
- Author: W. Faulkner (1897-1962)
- Title: As I Lay Dying
- Published: 1930
- Trivia: Title is an allusion to statement
- Agamenon –> Odysseus in book XI Odyssey.
- “As I lay dying the woman with the dog’s eyes
- would not close my eyes for me as I descended into Hades.”
- Trivia: Nr 35 on Modern Library’s Top 100 Novels
- #20BooksOfSummer Challenge
- Nobel Prize Winner Challenge: W. Faulkner 1949
- The Guardian List (128/1000)
Plot dilemma:
- What to do with a dead body?
- Addie, the mother is dying and wants to be buried in
- Jefferson Mississippi cemetery, 40 miles away.
- Timeline: 10 days (8 days traveling on dangerous backwoods road)
Point of view:
- 15 narrators
- 59 interior monologues
- No 3rd person all-knowing narrator
- So we are not sure if the points of view of others are reliable!
The Family:
- Anse is the husband and is full of country wisdom.
- He thinks his luck has changed when the road came to his house!
- Addie is the mother who is dying.
- All her life she has tried to break through the wall of isolation.
- She never finds any meaning in her grinding existence.
- Jewel is the favored son, the illegitimate son.
- He wants his mother entirely for himself.
- Cash is the practical carpenter son.
- He express his love for Addie in deeds. (builds her coffin)
- He does not need the word love.
- He is Addie’s eldest son and keeps a closeness with her
- …that excludes father Anse.
- Darl is the son who is denied his mother’s love.
- His thoughts and ‘6th sense’ take up 30% of the book!
- Dewey Dell is the unwed pregnant daughter.
- She thinks about the unborn child…
- ‘I feel like wet seed wild in the hot blind earth.’
- Vardaman is the unhinged youngest son.
- He has no idea what death means.
- He drills holes in the coffin so mother can breath.
- When the body starts to stink and decay his famous line is:
- “Mother is a fish.”
- This is not a family you will forget!
- Dr. Peabody (family doctor) reflects on death.
- It is Faulkner’s definition of death.
- “…death is a function of the mind and that of the minds of the ones
- who suffer the bereavement.
- The nihilst says it is the end,
- the fundamentalist (religious fanatic)
- the beginning when in reality it is
- …no more than than a single tenant
- or family moving out of a tenement or town.”
The journey:
- Addie wants to be buried ‘with her people’.
- A pilgrimage begins…to get the coffin to Jefferson Mississippi.
- Irony: family risks life and limb not to save the mother
- ….but to bury her.
- The crossing of a flooded river is like crossing the river in Hades!
- As I Lay Dying is often called a humorous epic.
- It is a hopeless quest to reach the cementery!
- Darl looks at the mules who must pull the wagon with the coffin.
- He gives us an idea of the wisdom of animals…
- “…in their eyes a wild, sad despairing quality as if they had already
- seen in the thick water the shape of the disaster
- …which they could not speak
- …and we could not see.“
Modernism:
- Faulkner was influenced by Joyce’s use of stream of consciousness.
- The character contemplates complex philosophical ideas.
- The most famous example is Darl in chapter 17.
- “And before you are emptied for sleep, what are you.
- And when you are emptied for sleep, you are not.
- …I don’t know what I am. I don’t know if I am or not.”
- It reminds the reader of Shakespeare’s
- Hamlet: To be, or not to be–that is the question…” soliloquy.
Names of the sons:
- Darl: denied mother’s love…name refers ironically to ‘Darling’.
- Jewel: illegitimate…name refers ironically to something precious.
- Vardaman:
- name refers to Gov Vardaman of Mississippi; called the ‘Great White Chief’ because of his populist appeal to the common man and strong belief in white supremacy.
- Cash:
- name refers to W.J. Cash. He was a journalist who attended school with Faulkner. Cash wrote an important essay in 1929: The Mind of the South. In 1930 Faulkner named one of his characters ‘Cash’, chapeau au bas to W.J. Cash.
Conclusion:
- I could go on and on about this book.
- But you should discover it for yourself.
- Each of the 5 children is a product of the ‘Old South’
- Social issues are highlighted in the characters:
- Lack of education (Dewey has no idea how she got pregnant!)
- Mental illness (Cash:’ aint none of us pure crazy…
- …aint none of us pure sane.”)
- Social class (dirt poor and lazy
- …make the Beverly Hillbillies look sophisticated!)
- Why did I wait so long to read it?
- Faulkner always intimidated me.
- I thought he would be too difficult to read.
Last thoughts:
- I was not prepared for Faulkner’s
- ….philosophical musings and humor!
- This book will make you stop and re-read many parts.
- The text is so dense with meaning… truly beautiful writing.
- #BestAdvice:
- Make sure you know ” who’s who ” in the family before reading.
- The chapters are very short and switch back and forth b/t characters.
- William Faulkner is on a level far above many writers I have read.
- He left me dizzy after reading the book!
- He was a southerner and an expert on good drink.
- Still he kept his humility.
- As a joke her wrote his own epigraph:
- “He wrote books and he died.”
- This is the best book I’ve read this year!
7 Comments
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This is one of the (many) classics still waiting for me. I’m happy to hear you enjoyed it so much.
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William Faulkner is on a level far above many writers I have read.
He left me dizzy after reading the book!
He was a southerner and an expert on good drink.
Still he kept his humility. As a joke her wrote his own epigraph:
He wrote books and he died.
LikeLike
This is such a great post! I’ve just finished reading this book and I ended up being quite confused … Your review really helps better understand the story and put together the puzzle pieces!
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I am happy you enjoyed My review!
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