Go Down, Moses by William Faulkner

Go Down, Moses (Vintage International) (William Faulkner Manuscripts)

by William Faulkner

“I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance.” —William Faulkner, on receiving the Nobel Prize
 
Go Down, Moses is composed of seven interrelated stories, all of them set in Faulkner’s mythic Yoknapatawpha County. From a variety of perspectives, Faulkner examines the complex, changing relationships between blacks and whites, between man and nature, weaving a cohesive novel rich in implication and insight.

Reviewed by jamiereadthis on

4 of 5 stars

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“The Bear” is one of my favorite short stories and the only thing I knew going in to Go Down, Moses was that it would be here surrounded by six more to make a loose kind of novel. OK then. Let’s do this. But what Faulkner does is just dunk you headfirst underwater and as you paddle back up— the loose stories over your head, jumping around like waterbugs with time and characters— all of a sudden “The Bear” comes along and in one masterful lunging stroke swipes you all the way back to dry land. Panting, soaked, gutted. So it’s not exactly six more stories filling in around one of my favorites, it’s “The Bear” being the heart and soul and key and consummation of all the rest.

It isn’t perfect but I’d like it less if it was.

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  • Started reading
  • 13 August, 2011: Finished reading
  • 13 August, 2011: Reviewed