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The Unvanquished The Corrected TextThe following report compares books using the SERCount Rating (base on the result count from the search engine). |
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Aftersleep Books - 2005-06-20 07:00:00 | © Copyright 2004 - www.aftersleep.com () | sitemap | top |
This story chronicles the growth of Bayard Sartoris from the child who thinks war is a game (even though it isn't all that far from him) and can't imagine the consequences when he plays his games a little too close to the Yankees (Ambuscade) into a man who, when faced with the tragedy of his father's demise, must make this decision: who lives by the sword shall die by it--is it time to change the Southern tradition of bloodshed?
It is also the story of the South as it undergoes its most severe upheaval in its history: the Civil War and Reconstruction, and the effect on its people.
In my opinion, the best way to get acquainted with Faulkner is to begin with The Unvanquished. Once you're done with that, I suggest Intruder in the Dust. Be warned, though, that the latter isn't nearly as simple as The Unvanquished and there is a sentence that (if I recall correctly) runs for five or six pages (or more, but I'm not entirely sure). The good thing, at least, is that you can get used to the confusing syntax while the plot is still reasonably clear: what is clearer than a murder mystery and story of racial injustice (which, as the reader will gather from The Unvanquished, is one of the themes with which Faulkner is concerned in almost all his works)? Once you are used to seeing things from a somewhat blurred perspective (and to dealing with that syntax and stream-of-consciousness technique), I suggest moving on to Go Down, Moses (but you REALLY need to look at a McCaslin genealogy first, and to do this you should go to William Faulkner On the Web), and the stories in this book range from fairly simple to truly confusing (The Bear: it is in this story where you will be very glad you read Intruder In the Dust first!). And finally, you're ready for The Sound and the Fury (all of this, of course, is my own opinion about Faulkner; the reader may tackle these books in any order which he or she chooses: BUT DEFINITELY START WITH THE UNVANQUISHED!)