The Saddest Words: William Faulkner’s Civil War

Product Description

A “timely and essential” (New York Times Book Review) reconsideration of William Faulkner’s life and legacy that vitally asks, “How should we read Faulkner today?” With this “rich, complex, and eloquent” (Drew Gilpin Faust,
Atlantic) work, Pulitzer Prize finalist Michael Gorra charts the evolution of an author through his most cherished―and contested―novels. Given the undeniable echoes of “Lost Cause” romanticism in William Faulkner’s fiction, as well as his depiction of Black characters and Black speech, Gorra argues convincingly that Faulkner demands a sobering reevaluation. Upending previous critical traditions and interweaving biography, literary criticism, and rich travelogue, the widely acclaimed
The Saddest Words recontextualizes Faulkner, revealing a civil war within him, while examining the most plangent cultural issues facing American literature today. 10 illustrations

Review

The Saddest Words confirms Michael Gorra’s place as one of the most creative and readable literary critics working today. . . . Provocative and poignant, it delivers a rich, discomfiting sense of why the legacies of the war, and of Faulkner himself, remain such unsettled topics in our nation still.–Maya Jasanoff, author of The Dawn Watch: Joseph Conrad in a Global World

A meticulous work spanning literary criticism and history. As Gorra demonstrates, writing allowed Faulkner (1897-1962) to clarify his thinking and create characters who were often a reflection of himself, in many ways depicting the people of the South as unable to move on from the past. Biographical portions of the narrative show how the author’s own life mirrored these behaviors and sentiments, especially revealing is Gorra’s examination of Faulkner’s later career in Hollywood.?Faulkner once famously said, ‘The past is not dead. In fact, it’s not even past, ‘ and this exceptional study by Faulkner lends credence to these words. A worthy addition to Faulkner studies, and for larger Southern literature and Civil War collections.–David Keymer – Library Journal

Faulkner’s enduring, ubiquitous quote that ‘the past is never dead’ might be a fitting epitaph for this new book. In this timely re-examination, Gorra considers how Faulkner should be read in the 21st century, with a focus on the depiction of Black people and racism in his fiction.–Joumana Khatib – New York Times

Gorra’s well-conceived, exhaustively researched book probes history’s refusals… Rich in insight… Timely and essential as we confront, once again, the question of who is a citizen and who among us should enjoy its privileges.–Ayana Mathis – New York Times Book Review

Powerful… Mr. Gorra demonstrates convincingly that this unshakable past for Faulkner came increasingly to involve race…. For Mr. Gorra, Faulkner’s fiction should be read these days for ‘the drama and struggle and paradox and power of his attempt to work through our history, to wrestle or rescue it into meaning.’ Reading Faulkner today we discover just how much imagination and courage can be required to face the past.–Randall Fuller – Wall Street Journal

As esteemed literary scholar Gorra informs us in this transcendent study, European audiences had long considered Faulkner one of the leading modernists . . . Gorra expertly mines his own deep reading of the Faulkner oeuvre to serve as our Virgil and guide us through an exploration of how the Civil War influenced Faulkner’s work and how, in turn, Faulkner’s writing helped shape modern literature. Gorra adroitly and poignantly portrays Faulkner at war with himself, juxtaposed and entwined with the history of a cleaved nation, to provide a compelling and necessary reexamination of a towering literary figure.–Bill Kelly, Booklist, starred review

A magisterial, multidisciplinary study of Faulkner that shakes the dust off his canonization.–Kirkus Reviews [starred review]

Michael Gorra is one of the finest critical minds at work in literature today, and this masterl