Light in August

by William Faulkner Narrated by Scott Brick

Overview

From the Nobel Prize winner-one of the most highly acclaimed writers of the twentieth century-a novel set in the American South during Prohibition about hopeful perseverance in the face of mortality.

Light in August features some of Faulkner's most memorable characters: guileless, dauntless Lena Grove, in search of the father of her unborn child; Reverend Gail Hightower, who is plagued by visions of Confederate horsemen; and Joe Christmas, a desperate, enigmatic drifter consumed by his mixed ancestry.

“Read, read, read. Read everything-trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You'll absorb it. Then write. If it is good, you'll find out. If it's not, throw it out the window.” -William Faulkner

Editorial Reviews

Donald Adams

With this new novel, Mr. Faulkner has taken a tremendous stride forward. . . . Light in August is a powerful novel, a book which secures Mr. Faulkner's place in the very front rank of American writers of fiction. -- Books of the Century; New York Times review, October 1932

Publishers Weekly - Audio

Narrator Will Patton delivers a compelling performance in this audio version of Faulkner’s classic novel of tangled racial and sexual relations in the American South that traces the stories of pregnant Lena Grove, searching for the father of her unborn child; a bootlegger named Joe Christmas; and the Rev. Gail Hightower. Capturing the spirit of the text, Patton’s narration is expertly paced, rich, and hypnotic. He ably handles the tricky cadence of Faulkner’s prose—and the racial slurs that riddle the story—narrating with a honeyed drawl that is undercut by brutal frankness. There are a few moments when Patton overacts and fails to allow the author’s words to take center stage. However, Faulkner fans will likely overlook what amounts to a minor flaw in this otherwise enjoyable listen. A Random House /Vintage International paperback. (Aug.)

From the Publisher

No man ever put more of his heart and soul into the written word than did William Faulkner. If you want to know all you can about that heart and soul, the fiction where he put it is still right there.” —Eudora Welty
 
“Faulkner’s greatness resided primarily in his power to transpose the American scene as it exists in the Southern states, filter it through his sensibilities and finally define it with words.” —Richard Wright

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171873875
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	04/18/2006
Edition description:	Unabridged
Sales rank:	525,996

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Excerpted from "Light in August"
by .
Copyright © 1991 William Faulkner.
Excerpted by permission of Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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