An elegant, erudite, and at times baffling reconsideration of
Faulkner by a giant of Caribbean literature. A Martinican who first
encountered Faulkner in French translation, Glissant launches his
reappraisal after touring the novelist's house, Rowan Oak. His
reaction to the poet laureate of the past-haunted South is filtered
through his puzzled attempts to apprehend how the contemporary
South is emblematic of the American whole - banal roadsides
cluttered with fast-food restaurants, the cultural nonchalance
toward violence - making this part travelogue, part cultural and
literary criticism. Glissant's general affability is demonstrated
by his address of race in Faulkner: "How can you reduce Faulkner's
pantheistic Comedy to what he did or did not say about the race
question in the United States? But how can you fail to take this
question into consideration?" He argues for the importance of the
exercise, contending that "Faulkner's oeuvre will be complete when
it is revisited and made 'effective' by African-Americans," and he
credits Toni Morrison with beginning the project. Glissant brings a
unique perspective to Faulkner's work: as a Martinican, he comes
from a colonial culture built on a slave-based plantation economy
like the South's (and thus views slavery with a broader perspective
than most Americans); as an outsider, he's both an objective
analyst and something of an awestruck tourist. Glissant is good at
sketching the big picture of Faulkner's lifework (how the novels
fit together, what role the stories play) and small details (he
charts the three modes of Faulkner's writing, "the hidden, the
described, and the inexpressible" and sheds light on how the
author's trademark style contributes to his themes). It's the
middle ground - the discussion of individual novels - that's
sometimes hard to follow. The difficulty of analyzing Faulkner's
entire body of work in a short book may be due more to the novels'
complexity (they don't lend themselves to brief synopses) than to
any shortcomings of Glissant's. A sharp, challenging, and wholly
unique tour of Yoknapatawpha County. (Kirkus Reviews)
In 1989, the Caribbean writer Edouard Glissant visited Rowan Oak,
William Faulkner's home in Oxford, Mississippi. His visit spurred
him to write a revelatory book about the work of one of our
greatest but still least-understood American writers.
"A fascinating way to read Faulkner. . . .[Glissant's] case is
nothing less than that, no matter how Faulkner's personal Furies
twisted his public speech, Faulkner was a great, world-beating
multiculturalist."--Jonathan Levi, "Los Angeles Times Book Review"
"A sharp, challenging, and wholly unique tour of Yoknapatawpha
County." --"Kirkus Reviews"
"Passionate. . . . Glissant's prose sometimes vies with Faulkner's
for intricacy and evocative nuance." --Scott McLemee, "Newsday"
"Glissant tries to engage Faulkner on many fronts simultaneously,
positioning himself as a critic, a fellow artist and as a
descendant of slaves. . . He makes a convincing case that Faulkner
is not just another 'dead white male author.'"--Scott Yarbrough,
"Raleigh News & Observer"
"[An] ambitious and, at times, rambunctious expedition into
Yoknapatawpha County." --Christine Schwartz Hartley, "New York
Times Book Review"
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