Absalom, Absalom! (Modern Library)

From the Modern Librarys new set of beautifully repackaged hardcover classics by William Faulkneralso available are Snopes, As I Lay Dying, The Sound and the Fury, Light in August, and Selected Short Stories

First published in 1936, Absalom, Absalom! is William Faulkners ninth novel and one of his most admired. It tells the story of Thomas Sutpen and his ruthless, single-minded attempt to forge a dynasty in Jefferson, Mississippi, in 1830. Although his grand design is ultimately destroyed by his own sons, a century later the figure of Sutpen continues to haunt young Quentin Compson, who is obsessed with his family legacy and that of the Old South. Faulkners novels have the quality of being lived, absorbed, remembered rather than merely observed, noted Malcolm Cowley. Absalom, Absalom! is structurally the soundest of all the novels in the Yoknapatawpha seriesand it gains power in retrospect. This edition follows the text of Absalom, Absalom! as corrected in 1986 under the direction of Faulkner expert Noel Polk and features a new Foreword by John Jeremiah Sullivan.