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Title: Flags in the Dust by William Faulkner, Douglas Day ISBN: 0-394-46591-1 Publisher: Random House Pub. Date: July, 1973 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.89 (9 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: The only Faulkner I truly enjoyed
Comment: I'm going to go out on a limb here, and express my feelings about Flags in the Dust using simple English. I took a course on Faulkner, and this was the novel I absolutely loved reading. I was frustratingly mystified by Sound and the Fury(particularly by all the accolades it has received), disgusted and disturbed by The Light in August, and had at least some admiration for Absalom, Absalom. Several reviewers describe this as "young" Faulkner or "developing" Faulkner - well, for me, this is Faulkner before the copious self-conscious devices - and seems far more genuine than his other novels. There it is - now I can only await the flood of "non-helpful" votes. It was worth it though.
Rating: 3
Summary: Developing Faulkner
Comment: Apparently, "Flags in the Dust" is the original text of the novel published in a cut form as "Sartoris". Having read "Flags in the Dust", I could see why it was cut - as the blurb on the cover said, it's frequently "over-written". Here's just one example:
"...yet more ladies were sibilantly crescendic with an occasional soberly clad male on the outer fringe of their colorful chattering like rocks dumbly imponderable about the cauldron where seethed an hysterical tideflux."
And there's more where that came from. By the way, Faulkner seemed addicted to the use of the word sibilant in all its forms in this novel.
I got the impression that this was a young author trying too hard to impress. The finer parts of the novel are where Faulkner describes his characters in a more economical style. Despite the stylistic faults, there's much of interest in "Flags in the Dust".
Just after World War One, young Bayard Sartoris (a fighter pilot) returns to his family home in the South. His twin brother (also a pilot) was killed in the War. The South he returns to is in part an Antebellum relic (slavery exists in all but name), but also it's changing due to the influence of the War and industrial progress - some blacks are questioning why they are denied civil rights when they fought in the War.
Faulkner describes the "old white" (and indeed "old black") attitudes, and yet portrays the poverty suffered by many blacks with great sympathy. Perhaps the dialogue will grate a bit to the modern reader - racialist words are used with great frequency - but perhaps it is impossible to depict the mores of the time in any other way.
"Flags in the Dust" is not a great novel, nor even a really good one, but it's a must for anyone who is interested in Faulkner's development as a writer.
G Rodgers
Rating: 4
Summary: Faulkner's "Flags" Tastes Better Than It Looks
Comment: Before I read this book, I kept hearing what a horrible novel it was. However, it isn't horrible; it's just not nearly as fantastic as some of his other works. It's still definitely worth the read, though.
If you can make it through sentences that seem to never end and some repitition, you will find a great story of love, guilt, and Southern life. This book opens with the Sartoris family, and several young men (Bayard Sartoris and others) returning home from World War I, and the impressions war left upon them. Thrown in with a little bit of incest, love notes, and a daredevil, this book provides a good combination of mushiness (sp?), humor, and sorrow.
However, while some have said not to read this book as your first Faulkner, I disagree. And here's why: reading this book after you have read some of his other works really makes you look at this book in a more negative way, since his other works have been so great. Just remember, if this is your first Faulkner read, many of his other works are MUCH BETTER, so if you read this first and don't like it, there are MUCH BETTER ones out there. As far as reading goes, it's a pretty easy read (although you might have to keep track of all the Johns and Bayards), at least in comparison to some of his other books. Also, if you plan on reading other Faulkner books, this one is a MUST, since it introduces you to the Benbrows, Snopes, and the Sartorises-all characters that are found in some of his other novels.
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Title: Absalom, Absalom!: The Corrected Text (Vintage International) by William Faulkner ISBN: 0679732187 Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 01 November, 1990 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Sanctuary: The Corrected Text by William Faulkner ISBN: 0679748148 Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 01 December, 1993 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: The Wild Palms: If I Forget Thee, Jerusalem by William Faulkner ISBN: 0679741933 Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 01 November, 1995 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: Go Down, Moses (Vintage International) by WILLIAM FAULKNER ISBN: 0679732179 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 30 January, 1991 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: Soldiers' Pay by William Faulkner ISBN: 0871401665 Publisher: Liveright Publishing Corporation Pub. Date: 01 December, 1996 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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