Light in August by William Faulkner (Book Analysis) E-Book

Bright Summaries

• Herausgeber: BrightSummaries.com
• Kategorie: Bildung
• Serie: BrightSummaries.com
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 43

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019

Beschreibung

Unlock the more straightforward side of Light in August with this concise and insightful summary and analysis!

This engaging summary presents an analysis of Light in August by William Faulkner, which centers around Lena Grove, a pregnant woman who is travelling from town to town in search of the father of her illegitimate unborn child, and Joe Christmas, a troubled, violent man whose mixed-race heritage has seen him ostracised from every community he has ever encountered. Christmas eventually finds a woman who seems prepared to accept and support him, but when she is brutally murdered, he is pursued by a bloodthirsty lynch mob. William Faulkner is widely recognised as one of the most significant American authors of the 20th century, and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1949.

Find out everything you need to know about Light in August in a fraction of the time!

This in-depth and informative reading guide brings you:
• A complete plot summary
• Character studies
• Key themes and symbols
• Questions for further reflection

Why choose BrightSummaries.com?
Available in print and digital format, our publications are designed to accompany you on your reading journey. The clear and concise style makes for easy understanding, providing the perfect opportunity to improve your literary knowledge in no time.

See the very best of literature in a whole new light with BrightSummaries.com!

Leseprobe

WILLIAM FAULKNER

AMERICAN NOVELIST AND SCREENWRITER

Born in Mississippi, USA in 1897.Died in Mississippi, USA in 1962.Notable works:The Sound and the Fury (1929), novelAs I Lay Dying (1930), novelAbsalom, Absalom! (1936), novel

William Faulkner was an American novelist, screenwriter, and recipient of the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction (in 1955 and 1963) and the Nobel Prize in Literature (in 1949). Born and raised in Mississippi, Faulkner’s early childhood was heavily influenced by his mother, his grandmother, and his African-American nanny, all of whom encouraged reading from a young age, as well as by his family’s oral history of the Civil War and the old South. Though initially successful in school, Faulkner neither graduated from high school nor finished the courses he began at the University of Mississippi. Nonetheless, he was introduced to the work of James Joyce (Irish author, 1882-1941) and wrote poems as a young man, eventually publishing his first novel in 1929.

Though he suffered from alcoholism throughout his life, Faulkner had a prolific career, writing over 15 novels and the screenplays for such classic films as To Have and Have Not (1944) and The Big Sleep (1946). Noted for his modernist prose style, Faulkner’s body of work made major contributions in the genre of the Southern Gothic, and his major works are regarded as some of the most influential and prominent novels of the 20th century.

LIGHT IN AUGUST

SOUTHERN GOTHIC NOVEL

Genre: novel (modernist)Reference edition: Faulkner, W. (1993) Light in August. London: Picador.1stedition: 1932Themes: identity, prejudice (classist, racial, and religious), morality, gender politics, the burden of the past

Light in August focuses on the events surrounding the murder of a spinster in 1930s Mississippi; however, sprawling across an ensemble of characters and their remembered pasts, the novel depicts everything from religious extremism to misogyny to blatant racism. Culminating in the murder and castration of a man tormented throughout his life for having African-American blood, the novel observes a culture of conservatism and those who exist without it – from this racially-alienated man to an unwed pregnant woman to a delusional Reverend haunted by ghosts of the Civil War.

Light in August is an example of Faulkner at the height of his modernist techniques, and the novel has shifts not only in narrative time but also in point of view, with the same incidents being recounted and remembered by different characters in a way that revisits the immediate narrative past. The style recalls an oral tradition and, together with the thematic content, makes the novel a staple in the genre of the Southern Gothic.

SUMMARY

LENA ARRIVES IN JEFFERSON, WHERE A HOUSE IS ON FIRE

Lena Grove has left her brother’s family in Alabama to seek Lucas Burch, the father of her illegitimate child who left town as soon as Lena became pregnant. Lena hitchhikes from town to town until she is finally picked up by Armstid, who brings her to his home on the way to Jefferson out of concern that she might deliver her baby soon. Though he introduces Lena to his wife as Lena Burch, Mrs. Armstid soon discerns that Lena is unmarried. Lena tries to convince Mrs. Armstid that Lucas is a good man despite his tendency to be jovial and to seek a good time.

Mrs. Armstid gives Lena the money she had saved from selling her eggs and sends her off. Armstid takes Lena to Varner’s store, who informs Lena that the man at the Mill in Jefferson is named Bunch and not Burch. Nonetheless, she is taken to Jefferson and does not notice a house burning off the side of the road.

Byron Bunch recalls the day Joe Christmas arrived at the Mill and when Joe Brown arrived at the Mill. While Christmas arrived in new clothes the Monday following his first pay check, and continued to improve his condition over time, Brown did not. Bunch recalls that Brown would gamble away his money. He then recalls that Christmas quit first, followed by Brown, and that the two men had reputedly set up an illegal bootlegging business, all the while living in the former slave quarters on the property of an old, single woman and abolitionist named Burden. When Lena arrives at the Mill, Bunch immediately falls in love with her and regrets telling her that Joe Brown has a white scar above his mouth; this piece of information makes it clear that Joe Brown is Lucas Burch’s pseudonym, and Lena is crestfallen.