Faulkner from Within - Destructive and Generative Being in the Novels of William Faulkner - William H. Rueckert

Sep 18, 2026

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A scholarly study examining how destructive forces and generative being operate across William Faulkner’s novels. The work organizes interpretation through multiple parts, moving from the early territory and formative novels through the middle-period dialectical and passion-driven narratives, and into later works focused on time, redemption, social comedy, and closure. Including acknowledgments, introduction, notes, bibliography, and an index, it supports claims with critical analysis of Faulkner’s language and themes.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages385

Reading Time9 h 53 min

AccessFree to download

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

List of Abbreviations

Part I: 1927-1932

Part II: 1935-1940

Part III: 1942

Part IV: 1948-1962

Notes

Bibliography

Index

| | | --- | | | | FAULKNER
FROM
WITHIN

DESTRUCTIVE AND GENERATIVE BEING IN THE NOVELS OF WILLIAM FAULKNER
WILLIAM H. RUECKERT | Faulkner from Within Faulkner from Within Destructive and Generative Being in the Novels of William Faulkner William H. Rueckert Parlor Press West Lafayette, Indiana [www.parlorpress.com](www.parlorpress.com) Grateful acknowledgment is made to the University of Virginia Library for permission to use the cover image from the William Faulkner Papers (\#6074) in The Albert and Shirley Special Collections Library, University of Virginia Library. Parlor Press LLC, West Lafayette, Indiana 47906 © 2004 by Parlor Press All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America S A N: 2 5 4-8 8 7 9 Library of Congress Control Number: 2003115229 Rueckert, William H. 1926– Faulkner from within : destructive and generative being in the novels of William Faulkner / William H. Rueckert. ISBN ISBN 1-932559-04-3 (Adobe eBook) Includes notes, bibliographical references, and index. 1. Faulkner, William, 1897–1962—Criticism and interpretation. I. Title. II. Series. ISBN 1-932559-02-7 (Paper) ISBN 1-932559-03-5 (Cloth) ISBN 1-932559-04-3 (Adobe eBook) ISBN 1-932559-05-1 (TK3) Printed on acid-free paper. Parlor Press, LLC is an independent publisher of scholarly and trade titles in print and multimedia formats. ɨis book is also available in cloth and paper, as well as in Night Kitchen (TK3) format, from Parlor Press on the WWW at [http://www.parlorpress.com. For](http://www.parlorpress.com. For) submission information or to ﬁnd out about Parlor Press publications, write to Parlor Press, 816 Robinson St., West Lafayette, Indiana, 47906, or e-mail [editor@parlorpress.com](editor@parlorpress.com). For My Sons ɨeron, Quentin, Jordan, Morgan And our Faulknerian life together Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction xi List of Abbreviations xxii Part I: 1927-1932 1. Faulkner Discovers His Native Territory 3 Flags in the Dust (1926-1927; published 1973) 2. Faulkner’s First Great Novel: Anguish in the Genes 24 The Sound and the Fury (1929) 3. Destructive and Destroyed Being 49 The Coffin of Being 49 As I Lay Dying (1930) A Grammar of Negative Being 61 Sanctuary (1931) Demonic Incarnation and the Pestilential Word 69 Light in August (1932) Part II: 1935-1940 4. Verticality and Flight Passions 89 Pylon (1935) 5. Faulkner and the Civil War 100 Sutpen’s Vortex of Destruction 100 Absalom, Absalom! (1936) Bayard’s Last Stand 123 The Unvanquished (1938) 6. Faulkner’s Dialectical Novel 127 The Wild Palms (1939) 7. Economic, Moral, and Sexual Passions in The Hamlet 141 The Hamlet (1940) viii Contents Part III: 1942 8. Curing the Work of Time 159 Go Down, Moses (1942) Part IV: 1948-1962 9. Beginning the Work of Redemption 261 The Education of Chick Mallison 262 Intruder in the Dust (1948) Redeeming the Earlier Works 269 Faulkner’s Paladin 270 Knight’s Gambit (1949) 10 December 1950 272 10. Cleansing the Temple 274 Requiem for a Nun (1951) 11. War, Power and The Book: Faulkner’s Fable for Tomorrow 293 A Fable (1944-1953: published, 1954) 12. Social Comedy in Yoknapatawpha County 325 The Town (1957) and The Mansion (1959) 13. Serene and Comic: The Joyful Act of Closure 337 The Reivers (1962) Notes 341 Bibliography 350 Index 356 Acknowledgments This book has been a long time in the making and like any book this long, which has gone through so many revisions, it owes a lotto its many devoted typists. I acknowledge them all with gratitude. Two of these recent typists have been heroic in their devotion to this manuscript: Gail English (with some help from Marie Henry), one of our secretaries in the English Department at SUNY/Geneseo, put the whole text on disks for me the year that I retired so that I would be sure to finish it after I retired; and my wife, Barbara, has reformatted it,

FAQs

What is the central focus of the book?

The book analyzes destructive and generative being in William Faulkner’s novels, tracing how these forces shape themes and literary expression across his works.

How is the study structured?

It is divided into multiple parts covering different periods, moving from early works (1927–1932) through later phases (1935–1940, 1942, and 1948–1962).

Which reference materials are included to support the analysis?

The book includes notes, bibliographical references, and an index, along with an introduction and a list of abbreviations.

Sep 18, 2026

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