Light in August
Type
Label
Light in August
Language
eng
Index
no index present
Literary Form
fiction
Main title
Light in August
Medium
electronic resource
Nature of contents
dictionaries
Series statement
The Modern library of the world's best books
Summary
A landmark in American fiction, Light in August published in 1932, explores Faulkner's central theme: the nature of evil. Joe Christmas-a man doomed, deracinated and alone-wanders the Deep South in search of an identity, and a place in society. After killing his perverted God-fearing lover, it becomes inevitable that he is, pursued by a lynch-hungry mob. Yet after the sacrifice, there is new life, a determined ray of light in Faulkner's complex and tragic world. In a loose, unstructured modernist narrative style that draws from Christian allegory and oral storytelling, Faulkner explores themes of race, sex, class and religion in the American South. By focusing on characters that are misfits, outcasts, or are otherwise, marginalized in their community, he portrays the clash of alienated individuals against a Puritanical, prejudiced rural society. Early reception of the novel was, mixed, with some reviewers critical of Faulkner's style and subject matter. However, over time, the novel has come to be, considered one of the most important literary works by Faulkner and one of the best English-language novels of the 20th-century
Target audience
adult
Classification
Contributor
Creator
Genre
Subject
Content
Incoming Resources
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