Intruder in the Dust by William Faulkner - 3 stars (Steeplechase, BWF)

[Joy D]

Intruder in the Dust by William Faulkner - 3* - My Review

When Lucas Beauchamp, a black man, is unjustly accused of murdering a white man, Chick Mallinson, a sixteen-year-old white youth, tries to repay an old debt by helping Lucas prove his innocence. Lucas had previously helped Chick but would not accept any form of payment. Set in Faulkner’s fictional Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi in the 1940s, it addresses the fraught race relations of the time. This group of southern whites assumed that the black man was guilty without any investigation and threatened to lynch him. Through the story, we learn that Lucas has never adopted the subservient attitude expected of him in the culture of the Jim Crow South. It is written in Faulkner’s signature style, with long convoluted run-on sentences. This style wears out its welcome after a while. Published in 1948, I think it is the closest Faulkner comes to writing what we now call a mystery-thriller. There are attempts to insert humor, which seem oddly out of place. After an intriguing setup, it goes in bizarre directions toward the end.

PBT Steeplechase - tagged "southern lit" x10:
https://www.goodreads.com/work/shelve...

PBT BWF May Extra I - tagged "crime" x12:
https://www.goodreads.com/work/shelve...