- Audio Cassette
- Publisher: Cram Cassettes (April 1990)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1556510047
- ISBN-13: 978-1556510045
- Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (133 customer reviews)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
Faulkner's distinctive narrative structures--the uses of multiple points of view and the inner psychological voices of the characters--in one of its most successful incarnations here in As I Lay Dying. In the story, the members of the Bundren family must take the body of Addie, matriarch of the family, to the town where Addie wanted to be buried. Along the way, we listen to each of the members on the macabre pilgrimage, while Faulkner heaps upon them various flavors of disaster. Contains the famous chapter completing the equation about mothers and fish--you'll see.
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
Review
"For range of effect, philosophical weight, originality of style, variety of characterization, humor, and tragic intensity, [Faulkner's works] are without equal in our time and country."
--Robert Penn Warren --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
--Robert Penn Warren --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Most helpful customer reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
"My mother is a fish",
By
This review is from: As I Lay Dying (Paperback)
This is the first Faulkner novel I have read, after grinding through a few of his shorts like "A Rose For Emily". I've become a huge fan of Cormac McCarthy, who is oft described as Faulknerian, so I decided to give his long prose a chance. AS I LAY DYING was one of the darkest, most soul crushing, and oddly humorous, books I have ever read. I don't think I've ever despised a character as much as Anse Bundren. I hate him from basically his introduction.I've never been left as staggered as I was after reading AS I LAY DYING. I finished the book basically after my second year English class, having just studied Paradise Lost, sitting at a desk on the campus library's fourth floor, looking out the window as it snowed. Hell of an experience.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Quintessential Faulkner,
By
This review is from: As I Lay Dying (Paperback)
Among academics and literary connoisseurs at the moment, William Faulkner is generally the greatest American author to ever write. This novel, his quintessential work, is one of the main reasons why; it also epitomizes his work in many ways, collecting in one place many of his most pivotal techniques, themes, and concerns. The book's narrative complexity is widely-noted and highly-praised: the novel is composed of some 50-odd sections of narration by 15 different narrators. Each speaker has a distinctive personality, parlance, and way of viewing the world. The entire story is built around one central event: the death of the Bundren family matriarch, hence the title. As with The Sound and the Fury, the structure is not linear: it is told in bits and starts by each narrator, each revealing something that the others didn't reveal while also concealing something that the others did not. Different people often present the same event in totally different ways. The different sections of narration and the multiple narrators also provide insight into the psychology (and psychopathology) of each speaker. In the writing, Faulkner alternates between what the characters say, what they consciously think, and even what they unconsciously think. These latter two, especially the unconscious thoughts, are presented by Faulkner in a realistic and true-to-life manner: sometimes random, sometimes seemingly nonsensical, and sometimes incomplete. In so doing, Faulkner skillfully and successfully employs the often-cited but much-maligned and frequently-misunderstood technique of stream-of-consciousness. One might get the sense that Faulkner had a hard time running back and forth between the various plates that he had spinning, in order to keep any of them from falling down. If this was indeed the case, it is not apparent, and Faulkner pulls off the immensely complicated and complex task with grace, skill, and even apparent ease where a lesser author would've fallen flat on his or her face. In my view, anyone who can pull off such a task is nothing less than a genius. As one might expect, it is not exactly an easy read, especially the first time around -- for the text simply cries out for multiple readings -- but, once one gets the hang of the narration, it moves quite quickly and one is able to enjoy the storyline to its full extent.While the story and plot themselves, aside from the narrative complexity, might be quite simple, Faulkner manages to show much simple humanity in it. The Bundren family, in attempting to bury its matriarch, undergoes Job-like traumatic experience after traumatic experience. In relating their adventures and misfortunes, Faulkner lays on thick his particularly macabre brand of dark humor. The book is also positively dripping with Faulkner's particular brand of pathos. He also explores many of his central themes: the importance of the family, and particularly the matriarch to Southern life; the importance of the church (God and religion) to the same; the after-effects of the Civil War on the South; issues of class and race; the cyclical nature of life (as in the book's surprising, if not outright shocking, ending). In all of As I Lay Dying's broad implications and features, Faulkner created one of the great American novels. If one has never read Faulkner before, this is the place to start: it is basically an epitomization of his work, while also being an easier first read than, say, The Sound and the Fury. If one has read Faulkner before, pick this up for another great read.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Intro to William Faulkner,
By
This review is from: As I Lay Dying (Paperback)
I've read three of Faulkner's great novels, "Absalom, Absalom!" "The Sound and the Fury," and this one. Of the three, "As I Lay Dying" is the easiest and perhaps the most fun. Actually, after about the first 10 pages or so, the storyline is pretty easy to figure out. The only thing difficult is differentiating and remembering all the character names and associating the characters with their actions. Taking notes might actually be helpful. A family tree in the beginning would have been helpful too, but I'm sure Faulkner would have objected. Faulkner forces you to figure out simple things like gender, relative age, and familial relationships without giving you too many clues, but things soon become clear. Of the three Faulkner novels I've read, this is by far the funniest, and has a great punchline at the end. A must read for Faulkner fans, and if you're going to dive in to his works, this is a great place to start.
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