In the best way possible, it was the same thing every day.
Yesterday's final day of the summer Faulkner class at Politics & Prose--and the last day of discussing his nuanced 1939 novel, The Wild Palms--was both an ending and a beginning. There was the usual engagement, energy, enthusiasm--even when not everyone liked it, but they were at least eager to discuss it. We also clarified some of the links between the two separate stories, and there was a slight "aha" moment when I noted the most direct (albeit implied) link between the stories: the protagonist of each winds up in the same place, Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman, by summer 1938. (With the two stories of a novel set 10 years apart, the links are nearly always implied or symbolic.)
We discussed whether the Harry and Charlotte characters in "The Wild Palms" story--pretty melodramatic by design--have desire, lust, love, or "Love" between them. (They're essentially like teenagers who think they're in "love," one of the students remarked.) This story also shows Faulkner being aware of other writers and the larger culture--such as a handful of references to Sherwood Anderson and Ernest Hemingway. For example, there is playful this nod to A Farewell to Arms:
"These doctors and nurses....What a fellow hears about hospitals. I wonder if there's as much laying goes on in them as you hear about."
"No," Wilbourne said. "There never is any place."
"That's so. But you think of a place like a hospital. All full of beds every which way you turn....And after all doctors and nurses are men and women."
This is part of the more modern awareness Faulkner shows in the story, with a dash of humor to balance out the melodrama.
The tall convict in the "Old Man" story, whether a misogynist or simply terrified of women (as another student said), seemed the most compelling character in the novel. He's innocent and honest (almost to the point of naivete) and has a strong sense of duty. A lot of the story's humor comes from his naive honesty, such as when he--an involuntarily escaped convict--voluntarily surrenders:
"Yonder's your boat, and here's the woman. But I never did find that bastard on the cottonhouse."
At this point, he's come to the end of a long journey which started with his being charged to rescue a woman (pregnant, though he didn't know it at first) in a tree and a man stuck on a cottonhouse during the great Mississippi River flood of 1927. Ironically, this 'escaped' prisoner, who had all the freedom he wanted, chooses to return to the structured routine of prison.
Our conversations about the books were always enlightening and entertaining. By the end, the majority of the class felt Light in August was the most Faulknerian of our three novels. I pretty much agree, though As I Lay Dying seems equally, if a little differently, Faulknerian.
Here's hoping for more of the same thing in the fall class, when we tackle Go Down, Moses, The Mansion, and The Reivers.
http://www.politics-prose.com/william-faulkner-later-works-2
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
A little self-promotion....
....hopefully not of the shameless, self-indulgent variety.
In March, I gave a talk at the Library of Congress, sponsored by the Humanities & Social Sciences Division. The subject was my recent book, Faulkner and Hemingway: Biography of a Literary Rivalry. I discussed, among other things, the letters the authors exchanged in mid-1947 after Faulkner's public remark about Hemingway's lack of artistic courage.
The webcast is now available via YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMMbj1JdXhI
One of the most fulfilling parts of this project was examining Hemingway's papers, which are housed in Boston at the Kennedy Presidential Library. I remember looking through folders containing hundreds of letters, always scanning for a single word: "Faulkner." Though the two authors never had a social relationship, they were very aware of each other psychologically.
Our next book, Faulkner's The Wild Palms, shows him having some fun with Hemingway's name and writings, including a "hemingwaves" pun and riffs on A Farewell to Arms.
In March, I gave a talk at the Library of Congress, sponsored by the Humanities & Social Sciences Division. The subject was my recent book, Faulkner and Hemingway: Biography of a Literary Rivalry. I discussed, among other things, the letters the authors exchanged in mid-1947 after Faulkner's public remark about Hemingway's lack of artistic courage.
The webcast is now available via YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMMbj1JdXhI
One of the most fulfilling parts of this project was examining Hemingway's papers, which are housed in Boston at the Kennedy Presidential Library. I remember looking through folders containing hundreds of letters, always scanning for a single word: "Faulkner." Though the two authors never had a social relationship, they were very aware of each other psychologically.
Our next book, Faulkner's The Wild Palms, shows him having some fun with Hemingway's name and writings, including a "hemingwaves" pun and riffs on A Farewell to Arms.
Friday, June 29, 2012
A Day of Links
Another class (Light in August, Day 1), another rich conversation.
Today, though, I'm in more of a link-sharing frame of mind. Here are some critical and biographical works that can help unpack some of Light in August. All should be available via GoogleBooks, the library, and/or interlibrary loan:
David Minter, William Faulkner: His Life and Work, Chap. 6 pgs. 129-32
Joseph Blotner, Faulkner, Chap. 32 pgs. 299-312
Daniel Singal, William Faulkner: The Making of a Modernist, Chap. 7
Jay Parini, One Matchless Time, Chap. 6 pgs. 178-83
Michael Millgate, ed., New Essays on Light in August
Apropos of our discussion of the racial tensions and ambiguities of Light in August is this recent New York Times piece on Absalom, Absalom!:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/01/magazine/how-william-faulkner-tackled-race-and-freed-the-south-from-itself.html?_r=1
I'm also pleased to announce that I'll be teaching another class at Politics & Prose in the fall, beginning Thursday September 13. This one will concentrate on three later works: Go Down, Moses (1942), The Mansion (1959), and The Reivers (1962):
http://www.politics-prose.com/william-faulkner-later-works-0
I'm eager to take another trip to Yoknapatawpha with another group of students.
Today, though, I'm in more of a link-sharing frame of mind. Here are some critical and biographical works that can help unpack some of Light in August. All should be available via GoogleBooks, the library, and/or interlibrary loan:
David Minter, William Faulkner: His Life and Work, Chap. 6 pgs. 129-32
Joseph Blotner, Faulkner, Chap. 32 pgs. 299-312
Daniel Singal, William Faulkner: The Making of a Modernist, Chap. 7
Jay Parini, One Matchless Time, Chap. 6 pgs. 178-83
Michael Millgate, ed., New Essays on Light in August
Apropos of our discussion of the racial tensions and ambiguities of Light in August is this recent New York Times piece on Absalom, Absalom!:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/01/magazine/how-william-faulkner-tackled-race-and-freed-the-south-from-itself.html?_r=1
I'm also pleased to announce that I'll be teaching another class at Politics & Prose in the fall, beginning Thursday September 13. This one will concentrate on three later works: Go Down, Moses (1942), The Mansion (1959), and The Reivers (1962):
http://www.politics-prose.com/william-faulkner-later-works-0
I'm eager to take another trip to Yoknapatawpha with another group of students.
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Round 2: The Fall
I'm very happy to announce that I'll be teaching another Faulkner class at Politics & Prose this fall, beginning Thursday September 13.
This course will look at three works spanning 1942-1962: Go Down, Moses; The Mansion; and his final novel, The Reivers.
For more information and registration, see:
http://www.politics-prose.com/william-faulkner-later-works-0
I'm looking forward to what should be another great experience.
This course will look at three works spanning 1942-1962: Go Down, Moses; The Mansion; and his final novel, The Reivers.
For more information and registration, see:
http://www.politics-prose.com/william-faulkner-later-works-0
I'm looking forward to what should be another great experience.
Friday, June 15, 2012
Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes.
Day two of As I Lay
Dying felt as strong and lively as the first day. We moved through the more
eventful second half of the novel, reading about the flood, fire, and continued
struggles and absurdity of the Bundren family—including Cash’s broken leg
(fixed with cement!?), Addie's postmortem reflections, and Darl’s mental unraveling. I was again very pleased
and heartened to work with engaged, intelligent adults who are eager to discuss
what they’ve read.
Early on, we paid a lot of attention to the last “Darl”
chapter, when he’s become fully unhinged and awaits the train ride to the
mental asylum in Jackson, Mississippi. He is “Darl,” “he,” and “I” to himself
at this point:
Darl has gone to Jackson. They put him on the train, laughing,
down the long car laughing, the heads turning like the heads of owls when he
passed. “What are you laughing at?” I said.
Moving, emotional, and a little troubling. Perhaps more so are Darl’s last words in this chapter:
Darl is our brother, our brother Darl. Our brother Darl in a
cage in Jackson where, his grimed hands lying light in the quiet interstices,
looking out he foams.
“Yes
yes yes yes yes yes yes yes.”
When I read (or reread)
this chapter, I’m always struck by how much Darl has unraveled here—in part
because of his mother’s death, in part because of the arduous journey he’s just
completed. Jewel, I think, is the most important narrator for the way he
encapsulates the family’s many dysfunctions, but this final “Darl” chapter seems
one of the most poignant. Is there an Early Darl and a Late Darl, or just one
emotionally complex and dynamic character?
Beyond Darl: One student brought up a good point about the
lack of anger/censure against the Vardaman character for (albeit unintentionally)
boring holes into his dead mother’s face. In his confused grief, he thinks she's alive and needs to breathe in the coffin. This reader vocalized what many of
the novel’s readers may feel—that is, why a lot of the Bundren characters seem to
accept (or be silenced by) some of the more absurd events of the novel.
With many writers but especially Faulkner, treating a book
as a nonlinear story to be read, reread, and reviewed is the best strategy.
How, I posed to the class, can we reconsider the early Darl chapters
in light of what we learn about his mental instability later? Nabokov may have
said it best: "Curiously, one cannot read a book; one can only reread it." In the
case of As I Lay Dying, this strong,
intelligent group should gain even more by rereading our first book.
This kind of rereading strategy will help them with our next
novel, the much more sweeping and complicated Light in August.
Saturday, June 9, 2012
Faulkner on Film: HBO and James Franco
This isn't really new information, but apparently Faulkner's works will be (or are being...) adapted for numerous films:
HBO (via David Milch of Deadwood and NYPD Blue fame): http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/30/faulkner-hbo_n_1121501.html
James Franco: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/03/james-franco-set-to-write-and-direct-faulkners-as-i-lay-dying-direct-mccarthy-adaptation_n_803791.html
My hopes are high for both of these--although Faulkner's works can be pretty resistant to filming for a broad audience. Franco (despite being a bit quirky and "celebrity") gave a great performance in Milk and (from what I've heard) 127 Hours. I'm wondering how he'll handle the interiority and free indirect discourse of As I Lay Dying's 15 narrators. I also find myself wondering who'll be cast in the roles. Maybe Hailee Steinfeld (of the recent remake True Grit) could be Dewey Dell.
The Faulkner film I know the most is the 1969 version of The Reivers with Steve McQueen. It had flaws and strengths, as many adaptations do.
Let's think about it: What 1 Faulkner work would you most like to see adapted into a film?
HBO (via David Milch of Deadwood and NYPD Blue fame): http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/30/faulkner-hbo_n_1121501.html
James Franco: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/03/james-franco-set-to-write-and-direct-faulkners-as-i-lay-dying-direct-mccarthy-adaptation_n_803791.html
My hopes are high for both of these--although Faulkner's works can be pretty resistant to filming for a broad audience. Franco (despite being a bit quirky and "celebrity") gave a great performance in Milk and (from what I've heard) 127 Hours. I'm wondering how he'll handle the interiority and free indirect discourse of As I Lay Dying's 15 narrators. I also find myself wondering who'll be cast in the roles. Maybe Hailee Steinfeld (of the recent remake True Grit) could be Dewey Dell.
The Faulkner film I know the most is the 1969 version of The Reivers with Steve McQueen. It had flaws and strengths, as many adaptations do.
Let's think about it: What 1 Faulkner work would you most like to see adapted into a film?
Monday, June 4, 2012
Doctorow on As I Lay Dying
An excerpt from the novelist E.L. Doctorow's recent reflections on Faulkner and As I Lay Dying (NYRB, May 24, 2012):
Faulkner had never lived as rarefied an existence as Hemingway, a man who organized his life around pursuits—hunting, fishing, writing, war reporting. Faulkner’s life was messier, less focused, a struggle from the beginning to make enough money to survive: he was a school dropout, and worked at various jobs—postmaster, bookstore clerk—and he held down the midnight shift in a coal-fired power plant, where, as it happened, he wrote most of As I Lay Dying. He was an air cadet in Toronto when World War I ended and unlike Hemingway had to pretend to the combat experience that had eluded him. He wrote poetry before he ever considered fiction, fell in love with a woman who married someone else, bought a house in some disrepair and did all the renovations himself, lost his brother to an airplane accident for which he felt responsible, and became a heavy drinker presumably to deal with the intensity of his writing life.
Some of this hits home for me, because I've written a book about the relationship-rivalry between Faulkner and Hemingway. Both writers, to some degree, had lives that were messy and unfocused--though for different reasons.
Doctorow's take on As I Lay Dying is compelling. We could think a lot of how courage is explored in the novel--especially with Jewel and Addie Bundren.
The link to the full story (available only to NYRB subscribers):
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/may/24/faulkner-as-i-lay-dying/
Faulkner had never lived as rarefied an existence as Hemingway, a man who organized his life around pursuits—hunting, fishing, writing, war reporting. Faulkner’s life was messier, less focused, a struggle from the beginning to make enough money to survive: he was a school dropout, and worked at various jobs—postmaster, bookstore clerk—and he held down the midnight shift in a coal-fired power plant, where, as it happened, he wrote most of As I Lay Dying. He was an air cadet in Toronto when World War I ended and unlike Hemingway had to pretend to the combat experience that had eluded him. He wrote poetry before he ever considered fiction, fell in love with a woman who married someone else, bought a house in some disrepair and did all the renovations himself, lost his brother to an airplane accident for which he felt responsible, and became a heavy drinker presumably to deal with the intensity of his writing life.
Some of this hits home for me, because I've written a book about the relationship-rivalry between Faulkner and Hemingway. Both writers, to some degree, had lives that were messy and unfocused--though for different reasons.
Doctorow's take on As I Lay Dying is compelling. We could think a lot of how courage is explored in the novel--especially with Jewel and Addie Bundren.
The link to the full story (available only to NYRB subscribers):
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/may/24/faulkner-as-i-lay-dying/
Friday, June 1, 2012
The First Day.
It's a wonderful experience to work with a group of intelligent, intellectually curious adults in talking about a book they've all read.
Today was the first of six classes. We discussed the first half of As I Lay Dying. After a brief introduction and overview, one of the first questions I got was about Vardaman Bundren's "My mother is a fish." chapter. I expected it, but not so soon. The students (about 23-24) seem ready for the challenges Faulkner can offer, and they posed some great questions. We talked a lot about this section, which focuses on Dewey Dell and Dr. Peabody:
She was old and sick too. Suffering more than we knew. She couldn't have got well. Vardaman's getting big now, and with you to take good care of them all. I would try not to let it grieve me. I expect you'd better go and get some supper ready. It dont have to be much. But they'll need to eat, and she looking at him, saying You could do so much for me if you just would. If you just knew. I am I and you are you and I know it and you dont know it and you could do so much for me if you just would and if you just would then I could tell you and then nobody would have to know it except you and me and Darl.
Here, Darl imagines how his sister Dewey Dell is reacting to their mother's death (as well as a secret she's keeping). The more we reread and discussed, the more clear it became how creatively Faulkner overlaps the characters' emotions, personalities, and minds. One student said that we just have to trust Faulkner and we'll get it.
I'm looking forward to this experience. It's also a little strange--good strange--to be among the youngest in the group, since I'm usually almost twice my students' ages. These students are mostly adults in their 40s-50s and older, and they're already a great, engaged group. And, they now know a little more about why Addie Bundren is a fish.
Today was the first of six classes. We discussed the first half of As I Lay Dying. After a brief introduction and overview, one of the first questions I got was about Vardaman Bundren's "My mother is a fish." chapter. I expected it, but not so soon. The students (about 23-24) seem ready for the challenges Faulkner can offer, and they posed some great questions. We talked a lot about this section, which focuses on Dewey Dell and Dr. Peabody:
She was old and sick too. Suffering more than we knew. She couldn't have got well. Vardaman's getting big now, and with you to take good care of them all. I would try not to let it grieve me. I expect you'd better go and get some supper ready. It dont have to be much. But they'll need to eat, and she looking at him, saying You could do so much for me if you just would. If you just knew. I am I and you are you and I know it and you dont know it and you could do so much for me if you just would and if you just would then I could tell you and then nobody would have to know it except you and me and Darl.
Here, Darl imagines how his sister Dewey Dell is reacting to their mother's death (as well as a secret she's keeping). The more we reread and discussed, the more clear it became how creatively Faulkner overlaps the characters' emotions, personalities, and minds. One student said that we just have to trust Faulkner and we'll get it.
I'm looking forward to this experience. It's also a little strange--good strange--to be among the youngest in the group, since I'm usually almost twice my students' ages. These students are mostly adults in their 40s-50s and older, and they're already a great, engaged group. And, they now know a little more about why Addie Bundren is a fish.
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Reading List, Questions, and Schedule
June 1: As I Lay Dying, "Darl" to "Dewey Dell" (pgs. 3-122)
Consider: What are the effects and opportunities of using multiple narrators? What are your first impressions of each character's voice, worldview, and reliability as narrator?
June 15: As I Lay Dying, "Tull" to "Cash" (pgs. 123-261)
Consider: How have your views of the character-narrators changed? What--if anything--has changed by the end of the novel?
Group Thinking: Work in pairs, and choose any two consecutive chapters. How does Faulkner both link and differentiate the narrators? How do the chapters complement or contradict each other?
June 29: Light in August, Chaps. 1-11 (pgs. 3-255)
Consider: Joe Christmas, Lena Grove, Rev. Gail Hightower--What do we think of each character and of the overlap of their storylines? Moreover, what do we make of the novel's fixation (or obsession?) with history?
July 13: Light in August, Chaps. 12-21 (pgs. 256-507)
Consider: How has the novel changed? What do we make of the racial hatred and violence seen in Doc Hines, Percy Grimm, and others? Why does Faulkner give Hightower and Christmas identity crises?
July 27: The Wild Palms
Consider: What do we think about the intersections and balance between "The Wild Palms" and "Old Man" as the stories of this text? What do we gain from this alternating structure? Despite the different settings, characters, and time periods, what links do we see between them?
August 10: The Wild Palms
Consider: What do we make of the conclusion of each story? Is this what is supposed to happen to each character, morally and legally speaking? What seems to be Faulkner's stance on the touchy moral issues in the text, such as marital infidelity, abortion, and crime? What story seems to have dominated the book? How and why?
Ultimately, what do our three novels show us about the challenges, benefits, and importance of Faulkner? Have your impressions and associations changed since the beginning?
Consider: What are the effects and opportunities of using multiple narrators? What are your first impressions of each character's voice, worldview, and reliability as narrator?
June 15: As I Lay Dying, "Tull" to "Cash" (pgs. 123-261)
Consider: How have your views of the character-narrators changed? What--if anything--has changed by the end of the novel?
Group Thinking: Work in pairs, and choose any two consecutive chapters. How does Faulkner both link and differentiate the narrators? How do the chapters complement or contradict each other?
June 29: Light in August, Chaps. 1-11 (pgs. 3-255)
Consider: Joe Christmas, Lena Grove, Rev. Gail Hightower--What do we think of each character and of the overlap of their storylines? Moreover, what do we make of the novel's fixation (or obsession?) with history?
July 13: Light in August, Chaps. 12-21 (pgs. 256-507)
Consider: How has the novel changed? What do we make of the racial hatred and violence seen in Doc Hines, Percy Grimm, and others? Why does Faulkner give Hightower and Christmas identity crises?
July 27: The Wild Palms
Consider: What do we think about the intersections and balance between "The Wild Palms" and "Old Man" as the stories of this text? What do we gain from this alternating structure? Despite the different settings, characters, and time periods, what links do we see between them?
August 10: The Wild Palms
Consider: What do we make of the conclusion of each story? Is this what is supposed to happen to each character, morally and legally speaking? What seems to be Faulkner's stance on the touchy moral issues in the text, such as marital infidelity, abortion, and crime? What story seems to have dominated the book? How and why?
Ultimately, what do our three novels show us about the challenges, benefits, and importance of Faulkner? Have your impressions and associations changed since the beginning?
Entering Yoknapatawpha
Welcome! This is the companion blog for the class "William Faulkner: The 1930s" at Politics & Prose bookstore for June-August 2012. I'll be using this site for course information, student comments and feedback about Faulkner, my own reflections on the differences between this class and my university teaching...as well as whatever else comes up.
For this summer course, we'll be reading and discussing three Faulkner texts: As I Lay Dying (1930), Light in August (1932), and The Wild Palms (1939). I also hope to be teaching another Faulkner course in the fall; stay tuned for updates and a reading list.
On the eve of yet another first day of class, I'm looking forward to sharing my love of Faulkner--both his challenges and rewards--in a different setting with different kinds of student-readers. I've taught at the university level for nearly 13 years, but this is my first foray into teaching this kind of adult/continuing ed class.
See also: http://www.politics-prose.com/william-faulkner-1930s-0
For this summer course, we'll be reading and discussing three Faulkner texts: As I Lay Dying (1930), Light in August (1932), and The Wild Palms (1939). I also hope to be teaching another Faulkner course in the fall; stay tuned for updates and a reading list.
On the eve of yet another first day of class, I'm looking forward to sharing my love of Faulkner--both his challenges and rewards--in a different setting with different kinds of student-readers. I've taught at the university level for nearly 13 years, but this is my first foray into teaching this kind of adult/continuing ed class.
See also: http://www.politics-prose.com/william-faulkner-1930s-0
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)