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As I Lay Dying

A Norton Critical Edition
By William Faulkner
Series: Norton Critical Editions
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Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner is a seminal work of American literature that explores the Bundren family's harrowing journey to honour their matriarch's dying wish. Told through multiple perspectives, the novel delves into themes of grief, family loyalty, and the human condition within the Southern Gothic tradition.
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This edition is ideal for students, scholars, and readers interested in modernist literature and Southern American culture. The extensive critical apparatus and annotations provide valuable insights for academic study and deeper literary appreciation.

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Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

This Norton Critical Edition is based on the 1985 corrected text and is accompanied by newly updated and expanded explanatory annotations and an introduction by Michael Gorra.

Backgrounds and Contexts is divided into three sections, each of which includes a concise introduction by Michael Gorra. These introductions carefully frame the issues presented, with particular attention to As I Lay Dying's place in Faulkner's literary life. Contemporary Reception includes a selection of seven reviews, featuring those by Julia K. W. Baker, Henry Nash Smith, and Valery Larbaud. The Writer and His Work examines Faulkner's own claims regarding the composition of the novel and his changing opinions over time. This section includes sample pages from the manuscript, his Nobel Prize address, and additional writings by Faulkner on Yoknapatawpha County. Cultural Context reprints seven essays and advertisements — three selections new to the Second Edition — along with other materials that address questions of Southern motherhood, Agrarianism, and the Southern grotesque.

Criticism begins with the editor's introduction to As I Lay Dying's critical history and scholarly reception. Eleven critical essays are included, five of which are new to the Second Edition, by Olga W. Vickery, Cleanth Brooks, Eric Sundquist, Doreen Fowler, Dorothy J. Hale, Patrick O'Donnell, John T. Matthews, John Limon, Richard Godden, Susan Scott Parrish, and Erin E. Edwards.

A chronology and a selected bibliography are also included.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780393614534

Publisher: WW Norton & Co

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 05 August 2022

Country: United States

Imprint: WW Norton & Co

Edition: Second Edition

Contributors:

  • Edited by Michael Gorra

Audience: Tertiary education

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 25.0mm

Width: 130.0mm

Height: 216.0mm

Weight: 373g

Pages: 442

Collections

Arts & Culture Non-Fiction Series: Norton Critical Editions William Faulkner

About the Author

William Faulkner (1897–1962) is the Nobel Prize–winning author of The Sound and the Fury and As I Lay Dying, among other works. These two novels were originally published by Liveright in the 1920s. Michael Gorra is the Mary Augusta Jordan Professor of English at Smith College, where he has taught since 1985. He is the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Guggenheim Foundation and, for his work as a reviewer, of the Balakian Award from the National Book Critics Circle. His books include The Saddest Words: William Faulkner’s Civil War; Portrait of a Novel: Henry James and the Making of on American Masterpiece, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Biography; The Bells in Their Silence: Travels through Germany; After Empire: Scott, Naipaul, Rushdie; The English Novel at Mid-Century; and, as editor, The Portable Conrad and the Norton Critical Editions of The Sound and the Fury and The Portrait of a Lady.

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