Go Down, Moses Wm Faulkner

[Gail]

Go Down, Moses is only my second Faulkner that is on the list.
A tale told in 7 parts that takes place in Faulkner's Mississippi spanning from before the Civil War to WWII, it traces through Faulkner's unique non-chronological layering, the story of a one family. This family has a white component and a black and multi-racial component and their interactions reflect a world that is co-dependent and doomed. Likewise it is a story about nature, man's continuous desire to eat away at the wilderness and the resulting destruction of all that makes man whole.
The chapters could stand alone as short stories and in fact, some of them were published first as short stories. One of them, The Bear, is almost a novella by itself and is the strongest part of the book. The writing is classic Faulkner in that nothing is ever made easy for the reader, especially in regards which era you are in, which branch of the family you are reading about and how they are related, but over the course of the book I found myself understanding that which was never explained.
Also, I did not grow up in the south, have no understanding or knowledge about the culture there, do not hunt and do not understand people that need to hunt if they do not need it for food. I also have little sympathy for Faulkner's white old men who mistreat women and African-Americans. And yet, I found myself at home in this book, feeling the incredible dignity and nostalgia that infuses the writing and at times crying for the common nature of man and all that we have lost.

[Amanda]

My appreciation of Faulkner continues with this novel, and I gave this one 5 stars. His writing is intentionally obscure and inaccessible to a degree, but instead of being repelled by it it draws me in to take my take and pay attention to detail. I find it takes on the dreamy mythological quality as well as a result of his writing style.

Besides my appreciation for the prose, the way he used the narrative to explore themes of white entitlement, impotence in black people being able to make real power moves or claims within a white supremacy power structure, the complicated mixed race legacy of the South (including with Indigenous people), were all masterfully explored here.

The way these stories weave together from slavery to Jim Crow also clearly sets a picture were the harms of slavery are never really corrected and it is a legacy still strapped to the lives and wellbeing of Black Americans.

I particularly loved in the last story, how even after her son has been (likely wrongfully) given the death penalty she still wants his obituary published like everyone else. It was a profound moment where all that's left she can ask for is the equality of death.