FLAGS IN THE DUST - Hardcover

Faulkner, William

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0394465911 ISBN 13: 9780394465913

Publisher: Random House, 1973

Synopsis

Faulkner, William / Day, Douglas (editor). Flags in the Dust. First Edition. New York, Random House, 1973. 15 cm x 21.5 cm. XI, 370 pages. Original Hardcover with original dustjacket in protective collector's mylar. Excellent condition with only very minor signs of external wear. Flags in the Dust is a novel by the American author William Faulkner, completed in 1927. His publisher heavily edited the manuscript with Faulkner's reluctant consent, removing about 40,000 words in the process. That version was published as Sartoris in 1929.[1] Faulkner's original manuscript of Flags in the Dust was published in 1973, and Sartoris was subsequently taken out of print. Plot summary The novel deals with the decay of an aristocratic southern family just after the end of World War I. The wealthy Sartoris family of Jefferson, Mississippi, lives under the shadow of its dead patriarch, Colonel John Sartoris. Colonel John was a Confederate cavalry officer during the Civil War, built the local railroad, and is a folk hero. The surviving Sartorises are his younger sister, Virginia Du Pre (Aunt Jenny or Miss Jenny), his son Bayard Sartoris (Old Bayard), and his great-grandson Bayard Sartoris (Young Bayard). The novel begins with the return of young Bayard Sartoris to Jefferson from the First World War. Bayard and his twin brother John, who was killed in action, were fighter pilots. Young Bayard is haunted by the death of his brother. In addition to feeling intense survivor guilt, Bayard senses instinctively that everyone in town liked John better. Both were superb athletes, and fearless fighters, but as Aunt Jenny frequently points out, Johnny Sartoris was friendly, cheerful and good-natured to old and young alike, while Bayard was cold, sullen, and moody even before the war. As a result of all this, Bayard secretly feels that he should have been killed in Johnny's place. That and the family disposition for foolhardy act..

About this title

About the Author

William Faulkner was born in New Albany, Mississippi, on September 25, 1897. Faulkner had begun writing poems when he was a schoolboy and published a poetry collection in 1924 at his own expense. In 1950, Faulkner traveled to Sweden to accept the 1949 Nobel Prize for Literature. He died of a heart attack on July 6, 1962.

Edition details

• Publisher: Random House
• Publication date: 1973
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0394465911
• ISBN 13: 9780394465913
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1