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?

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