Light in August

Twayne's Masterwork Studies #95

by Alwyn Berland

Series Robert Lecker, McGill University.Written in an easy-to-read, accessible style by teachers with years of classroom experience, MASTERWORK STUDIES are guides to the literary works most frequently studied in high school. Presenting ideas that spark imaginations, these books help students to gain background knowledge on great literature useful for papers and exams. The goal of each study is to encourage creative thinking by presenting engaging information about each work and its author. This approach allows students to arrive at sound analyses of their own, based on in-depth studies of popular literature. Each illuminates themes and concepts of a classic text; uses clear, conversational language; is an accessible, manageable length from 140 to 170 pages; includes a chronology of the authors life and era; provides an overview of the historical context; offers a summary of its critical reception; and lists primary and secondary sources and index.

144 pages, Hardcover

First published November 18, 1992

Reviews

[Bill on GR Sabbatical · Rating 4 out of 5]

Berland's thesis in this brief study of Faulkner's 1932 novel is that a harsh Southern Calvinism is both its underlying theme and an unconscious influence on the author himself. I was at least as interested in the many other topics he presents, including the book's place in Faulkner's work, Southern literature, and modernism, its take on race, women, and religion, and insights into main characters Joe Christmas, Lena Grove, and Rev. Gail Hightower. A useful chronology of Faulkner's life is included, as is the text of his 1950 Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech, and a bibliography, now a little dated. I found it really helpful to read after I'd finished the novel.