Absalom, Absalom!
Summary
William Faulkner's 1936 novel Absalom, Absalom! is widely regarded as one of the greatest works of Southern Gothic literature. Set in the antebellum South, the novel explores themes of family, race, and the weight of history through the story of Thomas Sutpen and his ill-fated quest to establish a dynasty. Faulkner's innovative narrative technique, which employs multiple narrators and non-linear storytelling, challenges readers to piece together the complex tale. This epic novel contributed to Faulkner being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1949.
Plot
Thomas Sutpen arrives in Jefferson, Mississippi in the 1830s with a group of slaves and a French architect. He acquires a large plot of land and builds an impressive plantation called Sutpen's Hundred. Sutpen marries Ellen Coldfield and has two children, Henry and Judith. Years later, Henry befriends Charles Bon at university and brings him home, where Charles and Judith begin a romance. However, Sutpen reveals to Henry that Charles is actually his half-brother from a previous marriage in Haiti, causing turmoil in the family.
The story unfolds through various narrators, including Rosa Coldfield (Ellen's sister) and Quentin Compson, whose grandfather was Sutpen's friend. As the tale is retold, more details emerge about Sutpen's past, including his first marriage to Eulalia Bon and his discovery that she was of mixed race. This revelation led Sutpen to abandon his wife and son, Charles. The Civil War interrupts the family drama, with Henry and Charles enlisting in the Confederate Army. After the war, Henry kills Charles to prevent his marriage to Judith, then flees into exile.
Sutpen returns from the war to find his plantation in ruins. He proposes to Rosa but insults her, leading to her departure. Sutpen then has an affair with Milly Jones, a teenage girl who bears him a daughter. Disappointed at not having a male heir, Sutpen rejects Milly and the child, prompting Milly's grandfather to kill Sutpen. Years later, Quentin and Rosa visit the abandoned Sutpen's Hundred, where they find Henry and Clytie, Sutpen's daughter by a slave. The novel concludes with Clytie burning down the mansion, killing herself and Henry, leaving only Jim Bon, Charles Bon's grandson, as the last living Sutpen descendant.
Themes
• Legacy of slavery and racism in the American South
• Obsession with family lineage and dynasty
• Destructive nature of ambition and pride
• Unreliability of historical narrative and memory
• Complexity of truth and multiple perspectives
• Impact of the past on the present
• Tragedy of the American Dream in the South
Setting
Set primarily in the antebellum South, Absalom, Absalom! spans multiple decades, from the early 1800s through the early 20th century. The story unfolds against the backdrop of the American Civil War and its aftermath, capturing the dramatic changes in Southern society during this tumultuous period.
The novel's geographical focus is the fictional Yoknapatawpha County in Mississippi, a setting Faulkner used in several of his works. At the heart of this landscape lies Jefferson, a small town where much of the action takes place. The centerpiece of the narrative is Sutpen's Hundred, an expansive plantation carved out of the wilderness by the enigmatic Thomas Sutpen.
While rooted in the South, the story's reach extends beyond regional boundaries. Characters' journeys take readers to locales such as Haiti in the Caribbean and Harvard University in Massachusetts, broadening the novel's scope and highlighting the interconnectedness of seemingly disparate places in shaping the characters' destinies.
Characters
• Thomas Sutpen: The central figure of the novel, a poor white man who builds a plantation empire in Mississippi but is ultimately destroyed by his own ambition and ruthlessness.
• Quentin Compson: A young man from Jefferson, Mississippi, who narrates much of the story to his Harvard roommate. He is haunted by the Sutpen legacy.
• Rosa Coldfield: Thomas Sutpen's sister-in-law who provides her bitter perspective on Sutpen's story to Quentin.
• Henry Sutpen: Thomas Sutpen's son, who befriends Charles Bon at university and later kills him to prevent his marriage to Judith.
• Judith Sutpen: Thomas Sutpen's daughter, who falls in love with Charles Bon, unaware he is her half-brother.
• Charles Bon: Thomas Sutpen's son from his first marriage, who becomes engaged to his half-sister Judith before being killed by Henry.
• Ellen Coldfield: Thomas Sutpen's wife and mother of Henry and Judith.
• Clytemnestra (Clytie): Thomas Sutpen's daughter by a slave woman, who remains loyal to the family.
• Wash Jones: A poor white squatter on Sutpen's land who ultimately kills Sutpen in a rage.
• Shreve McCannon: Quentin's Harvard roommate who helps piece together the Sutpen story.
Quick facts
• Absalom, Absalom! was published in 1936, the same year William Faulkner became a screenwriter in Hollywood.
• Faulkner wrote the entire first draft of the novel in about six weeks in 1934.
• The title comes from the biblical story of King David's son Absalom in the Book of Samuel.
• The novel uses a complex, non-linear narrative with multiple narrators recounting and interpreting events. The story unfolds through flashbacks, retellings, and speculations, creating a layered and sometimes contradictory account.
• Absalom, Absalom! contains what was once considered the longest sentence in literature at 1,288 words long.
• Along with family dynamics and power struggles, the novel explores the legacy of slavery and racism in the South and the nature of historical truth and storytelling.
• Absalom, Absalom! shares characters with Faulkner's earlier work The Sound and the Fury, particularly Quentin Compson.
• Like other Faulkner works, Absalom, Absalom! is set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County in Mississippi.
• Faulkner considered Absalom, Absalom! his “most splendid failure.”
• The Canadian rock band Rush was inspired by the novel's title for lyrics in their song “Distant Early Warning."
• Absalom, Absalom! was influential in Faulkner’s being awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1949.
About the author
William Faulkner
William Faulkner (1897-1962) was one of the most influential American writers of the 20th century. Born and raised in small-town Mississippi, he was deeply influenced by the history and culture of the American South. Though he briefly joined the Canadian Royal Air Force during World War I, Faulkner's true calling was writing. He published his first poem in 1919 and went on to produce numerous novels, short stories, and screenplays over his prolific career.
Faulkner's literary reputation was built on his groundbreaking modernist novels, The Sound and the Fury (1929), As I Lay Dying (1930), and Absalom! Absalom (1936). Many of his works were set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, inspired by his native Lafayette County, Mississippi. Faulkner pioneered stream-of-consciousness techniques and nonlinear narratives to explore complex themes of Southern history, race relations, and human nature. His dense, poetic prose style was highly experimental and often challenging for readers.
Despite critical acclaim, Faulkner struggled financially early in his career. To support his family, he worked as a screenwriter in Hollywood in the 1930s and 1940s, contributing to films like To Have and Have Not. Faulkner's literary stature grew significantly after World War II. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1949 “for his powerful and artistically unique contribution to the modern American novel.” Faulkner used his Nobel Prize speech to speak on the role of the writer and the endurance of the human spirit.