What do you think?
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow
Book by
190 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1985
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
June 19, 2012
This wonderful compilation of three “Tomorrow”s might well have been titled, “Three Lost Gems.”
“Tomorrow” began life as a short story by William Faulkner, published in November 1940 in the “Saturday Evening Post.” Don’t feel bad if you’ve never heard of this brief tale; not only does it not appear in Faulkner’s “Collected Stories,” it doesn’t even appear in his later “Uncollected Stories.” The only place to find it is in a decidedly minor volume, “Knight’s Gambit,” which collects six relatively obscure mystery stories (loosely defined) by the Mississippi Nobel Prize winner. The plot is simple: in Faulkner’s familiar Depression-era Yoknapatawpha County, a man named Stonewall Jackson Fentry is the lone holdout on the jury of a murder trial, the only one who refuses to find the defendant not guilty. Why? Therein lies the bulk of this dark and very human tale, which is only a “mystery story” in the sense that Fenty’s motives are a mystery until near the end. It’s a powerful tale, and to me the biggest mystery is why the decision was made not to include it in Faulkner’s “Collected Stories.” It’s well worth collecting.
In 1960 the great Southern writer Horton Foote adapted Faulkner’s story for a standout episode of “Playhouse 90,” greatly expanding the tale, and in particular adding a deeply moving central romance which is only alluded to in the original work. Richard Boone and Kim Stanley gave superlative performances in this live drama (which has never been commercially released on video but which floats around in bootleg versions), and the script itself represents an amazing feat: a huge expansion of a very short story which nonetheless remains true in every way to the spirit of the original piece.
Finally, in 1972 Foote re-adapted “Tomorrow” as a vehicle for a feature film starring the brilliant Robert Duvall and Olga Bellin, a beautiful movie which has become a minor classic in itself (and is available on DVD).
“Tomorrow & Tomorrow & Tomorrow” collects all three remarkable versions of this remarkable tale—Faulkner’s story and the two Foote scripts—and includes interviews with a number of the principals involved with the film, including Foote, Duvall, and Bellin. There is a highly informative introduction by the volume’s editors, David G. Yellin and Marie Connors; a foreword by film critic Judith Crist; and a generous selection of photos from the TV and film versions (and even the “Saturday Evening Post” illustrations which accompanied the original publication of Faulkner’s story).
Any devotee of Faulkner or Foote really needs to own this fascinating volume, and for any apprentice screenwriters considering adapting prose fiction to television or film, “Tomorrow & Tomorrow & Tomorrow” can function as a textbook for how to do it at the highest possible level.
A marvelous collection in every respect. Five stars.
“Tomorrow” began life as a short story by William Faulkner, published in November 1940 in the “Saturday Evening Post.” Don’t feel bad if you’ve never heard of this brief tale; not only does it not appear in Faulkner’s “Collected Stories,” it doesn’t even appear in his later “Uncollected Stories.” The only place to find it is in a decidedly minor volume, “Knight’s Gambit,” which collects six relatively obscure mystery stories (loosely defined) by the Mississippi Nobel Prize winner. The plot is simple: in Faulkner’s familiar Depression-era Yoknapatawpha County, a man named Stonewall Jackson Fentry is the lone holdout on the jury of a murder trial, the only one who refuses to find the defendant not guilty. Why? Therein lies the bulk of this dark and very human tale, which is only a “mystery story” in the sense that Fenty’s motives are a mystery until near the end. It’s a powerful tale, and to me the biggest mystery is why the decision was made not to include it in Faulkner’s “Collected Stories.” It’s well worth collecting.
In 1960 the great Southern writer Horton Foote adapted Faulkner’s story for a standout episode of “Playhouse 90,” greatly expanding the tale, and in particular adding a deeply moving central romance which is only alluded to in the original work. Richard Boone and Kim Stanley gave superlative performances in this live drama (which has never been commercially released on video but which floats around in bootleg versions), and the script itself represents an amazing feat: a huge expansion of a very short story which nonetheless remains true in every way to the spirit of the original piece.
Finally, in 1972 Foote re-adapted “Tomorrow” as a vehicle for a feature film starring the brilliant Robert Duvall and Olga Bellin, a beautiful movie which has become a minor classic in itself (and is available on DVD).
“Tomorrow & Tomorrow & Tomorrow” collects all three remarkable versions of this remarkable tale—Faulkner’s story and the two Foote scripts—and includes interviews with a number of the principals involved with the film, including Foote, Duvall, and Bellin. There is a highly informative introduction by the volume’s editors, David G. Yellin and Marie Connors; a foreword by film critic Judith Crist; and a generous selection of photos from the TV and film versions (and even the “Saturday Evening Post” illustrations which accompanied the original publication of Faulkner’s story).
Any devotee of Faulkner or Foote really needs to own this fascinating volume, and for any apprentice screenwriters considering adapting prose fiction to television or film, “Tomorrow & Tomorrow & Tomorrow” can function as a textbook for how to do it at the highest possible level.
A marvelous collection in every respect. Five stars.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review