Modernist Literature: William Faulkners As I Lay Dying Plot summary
William Faulkners As I Lay Dying tells the story of the death of Addie Bundren and her last journey to her hometown, Jefferson, Mississippi. The novel opens with the dying Addie watching her son Cash construct her coffin. The ominous sounds of his carpentry echo around the house, forming an aural backdrop to the familys hushed conversations about their mothers imminent death. The summer heat is oppressive, but the night after Addie dies the expected rainstorm breaks, washing out the bridges and fords that lay on the long road to Jefferson. Undetermined, infinitely stubborn, the family set out with Addies body on the back of the wagon. The journey is of biblical proportions, with the family having to overcome trials of fire and flood. As I Lay Dying is Faulkners masterpiece, a virtuoso epic that is one of the most extraordinary novels I have read in a very long time. The task of doing it justice in a review is daunting, so rather than trying to explore every aspect of its astonishing variety and so
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