The Portable Faulkner

by William Faulkner, Malcolm Cowley (Editor)

Overview

“A real contribution to the study of Faulkner’s work.” —Edmund Wilson

A Penguin Classic

In prose of biblical grandeur and feverish intensity, William Faulkner reconstructed the history of the American South as a tragic legend of courage and cruelty, gallantry and greed, futile nobility and obscene crimes. He set this legend in a small, minutely realized parallel universe that he called Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi.

No single volume better conveys the scope of Faulkner’s vision than The Portable Faulkner. The book includes self-contained episodes from the novels The Sound and the Fury, Light in August, and Sanctuary; the stories “The Bear,” “Spotted Horses,” “A Rose for Emily,” and “Old Man,” among others; a map of Yoknapatawpha County and a chronology of the Compson family created by Faulkner especially for this edition; and the complete text of Faulkner’s 1950 address upon receiving the Nobel Prize in literature. Malcolm Cowley’s critical introduction was praised as “splendid” by Faulkner himself.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,800 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780142437285
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	02/25/2003
Series:	Penguin Classics Series
Edition description:	Revised & Expanded Edition
Pages:	688
Sales rank:	379,289
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.60(h) x 1.40(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

William Faulkner (1897–1962) was born in Mississippi and was the recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature and the Pulitzer Prize. 

Malcolm Cowley (1898–1989) a leadiing literary figure of his time, wrote numerous books of literary criticism, essays, and poetry.

Date of Birth:

September 25, 1897

Date of Death:

July 6, 1962

Place of Birth:

New Albany, Mississippi

Place of Death:

Byhalia, Mississippi

Table of Contents

The Portable FaulknerIntroduction by Malcolm Cowley
Books by William Faulkner

1. The Old People
Editor's Note

1820. A Justice
1833. The Courthouse (A Name for the City)
(From Requiem for a Nun)
18 . Red Leaves
1859. Was
(From Go Down, Moses)

2. The Unvanquished
Editor's Note

1864. Raid
(From The Unvanquished)
1869. Wash
1874. An Odor of Verbena
(From The Unvanquised)

3. The Last Wilderness
Editor's Note

1883. The Bear
(From Go Down, Moses)

4. The Peasants
Editor's Note

1908. Spotted Horses
(From The Hamlet)

5. The End of an Order
Editor's Note

1902. That Evening Sun
1918. Ad Astra
1924. A Rose for Emily
1928. Dilsey
(From The Sound and the Fury)

6. Mississippi Flood
Editor's Note

1927. Old Man
(From The Wild Palms)

7. Modern Times
Editor's Note

1928. Death Drag
1929. Uncle Bud and the Three Madams
(From Sanctuary)
1930. Percy Grimm
(From Light in August)
1940. Delta Autumn
(From Go Down, Moses)

8. The Undying Past
Editor's Note

1951. The Jail (Nor Even Yet Quite Relinquish—)
(From Requiem for a Nun)
1699-1945. Appendix: The Compsons
1950. Address upon Receiving the Nobel Prize for Literature

What People are Saying About This

Edmund Wilson

Faulkner... belongs to the full-dressed post-Flaubert group of Conrad, Joyce, and Proust.

Ralph Ellison

For all his concern with the South, Faulkner was actually seeking out the nature of man. Thus we must return to him for that continuity of moral purpose which made for the greatness of our classics.

Robert Penn Warren

For all the 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.

Editorial Reviews

By the Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature

From the Publisher