As I Lay Dying

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As I Lay Dying

• By William Faulkner
• 1930

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Faulkners House (1930)
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Mississippi Farmers, circa 1930
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The Land of Cotton
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• Covered bridge over the Yocona River (early
  1900s) one of several covered bridges in
  Lafayette County.

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Faulkners Mississippi
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Narrative Voice

• What do we expect from a narrator?
• What do we keep in mind when we have a first
  person perspective?
• Consider while reading How does this novel
  compare with the narrative perspective of other
  novels read this year?
• Terms to KNOW as you evaluate this text
• Realism objective or even scientific narrative
  view
• Modernism personal and subjective point of view.
  

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Perspectives

• Faulkner often told his stories using multiple
  narratives, each with their own interests and
  biases, who allow us to piece together the 'true'
  circumstances of the story, not as clues in a
  mystery, but as different melodies in a piece of
  music that form a crescendo. The conclusion
  presents a key to understanding the broad
  panorama surrounding the central event in a way
  that traditional linear narratives simply are
  unable to accomplish. - Evan Goodwin.
• Faulkner's As I Lay Dying, like history, will be
  made up of sometimes competing or confusing bits
  of knowledge, based on the often competing
  perspective of the viewer.
• Discuss what are the strengths and weaknesses
  of learning about something or someone through
  multiple perspectives?

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Reading Journal

• As you read, maintain a journal on As I Lay
  Dying. Write down thoughts, questions, and ideas
  about the novel. Notice repetition,
  contradiction, and objects that hint at a deeper
  symbolic meaning. Be sure to include page
  numbers to relevant passages in the text.
• You must have at least 3 journal entries per each
  of the 3 major sections of reading.

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As you read and journal, consider these points

• What does this character reveal about himself?
• What do we learn about the characters that they
  did not intentionally reveal?
• What do we know about him from others?
• What is his role in the novel?
• What major symbols are associated with this
  character, and what might they mean?
• What do we learn about the setting and culture
  through the characters' voices?

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What is the American South?

• You're in the American South now, a proud region
  with a distinctive history and culture. A place
  that echoes with names like Thomas Jefferson and
  Robert E. Lee, Scarlett O'Hara and Uncle Remus,
  Martin Luther King and William Faulkner, Billy
  Graham, Mahalia Jackson, Muhammad Ali, Elvis
  Presley. Home of the country blues and country
  music, bluegrass and Dixieland jazz, gospel music
  and rock and roll. Where menus offer both
  down-home biscuits and gravy and uptown shrimp
  and grits. Where churches preach against
  "cigarettes, whiskey, and wild, wild women" (all
  Southern products) and where American football is
  a religion.
• - From John Shelton Reed's My Tears Spoiled My
  Aim