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AS I LAY DYING
by Faulkner, William
- Used
- first
- Condition
- Near fine in near fine jacket.
- Seller
-
Silver Spring, Maryland, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
New York: Jonathan Cape: Harrison Smith, 1930. Near fine in near fine jacket.. First edition, second issue of Faulkner's best novel, with the original dust jacket in remarkably beautiful condition. One of the indisputably great novels of the twentieth century, AS I LAY DYING is a story of family horror and human tragedy Faulkner claimed to have written in just six weeks, without any real effort to speak of: "It just came all of a piece with no work on my part. I thought of all the natural catastrophes that could happen to a family and let them all happen." It was easy, he said, "real easy." 7.25'' x 5''. Original tan cloth with brown lettering. Red topstain. In original unclipped ($2.50) tan dust jacket. Initial "I" aligned on page 11. 254 pages. Light pencil notation to jacket front flap; tiny contemporary bookseller ticket to rear pastedown. Book with minor soil to front joint. Light edgewear and a few traces of soil to jacket; spine toned.
Synopsis
William Faulkner claimed to have written As I Lay Dying, his fifth novel, in just six weeks — with very little revision — while working at power plant in 1929. While this sounds impressive in and of itself, also consider the fact that this novel has 15 different narrators throughout its 59 chapters and has consistently been recognized as one of the greatest works of the American literature. As I Lay Dying is the first book in which Faulkner introduces Yoknapatawpha County, a fictional rendition of his native Lafayette County, Mississippi, which became the setting for some of his best-known works. The author’s self-described “tour de force” follows the death of Addie Bundren and her family’s various notions regarding her burial requests and their journey to Jefferson, in the heart of the county, to fulfill them. Poverty, bad weather, injury, and pregnancy are just some of the hindrances faced along the way. Fittingly, the title of the novel comes from a line in Homer’s The Odyssey: “As I lay dying, the woman with the dog's eyes would not close my eyes as I descended into Hades.” Along with The Sound and the Fury, As I Lay Dying helped to secured Faulkner’s stance as a pioneer of the stream-of-consciousness technique, joining the ranks with James Joyce and Virginia Woolf. In vernacular that echoes Mark Twain, the characters of the novel are able to develop gradually through the perceptions of others. Though this requires readers to take an active part in constructing the story, it also allows for multiple, and sometimes, conflicting interpretations. Faulkner was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1949 for his novels prior to that date, which includes As I Lay Dying. The novel has also directly influenced a number of other critically acclaimed books, including Graham Swift’s Booker prize-winning novel Last Orders and Suzan-Lori Parks’ Getting Mother’s Body, an African-American retelling of the story. As I Lay Dying is ranked 35th on Modern Library’s “100 Best” English-language novels of the 20th century and 55th on The Guardian’s list of the 100 best novels. The Grammy-nominated metalcore band As I Lay Dying derived its name from this book as well. In 2014, writer/director James Franco released a film adaptation of the novel.
Read More: Identifying first editions of AS I LAY DYING
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Details
- Bookseller
- Type Punch Matrix
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 50890
- Title
- AS I LAY DYING
- Author
- Faulkner, William
- Book Condition
- Used - Near fine in near fine jacket.
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Publisher
- Jonathan Cape: Harrison Smith
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 1930
- Keywords
- 20th century,US American,Modernism
Terms of Sale
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About the Seller
Type Punch Matrix
Biblio member since 2020
Silver Spring, Maryland
About Type Punch Matrix
Type Punch Matrix is a rare book firm founded by Rebecca Romney and Brian Cassidy. TPM is a member firm of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America and upholds their Code of Ethics.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
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