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The Corrected Text

El texto corregido

Addie Bundren, the mother figure of an impoverished Southern household, is gravely sick and predicted to pass away shortly. Her eldest son, Cash, using his adept woodworking skills, constructs her coffin within her sight. As Addie’s health deteriorates, two of her sons, Darl and Jewel, depart to run an errand for their neighbor, Vernon Tull. Following their departure, Addie passes away. Vardaman, the youngest of the Bundren children, equates his mother's death to the death of a fish he had caught and cleaned earlier that day. Upon Addie’s death, the family holds a funeral service where women sing hymns in their home while the men converse outside. The family, despite its hardships, is committed to fulfilling Addie's dying wish of being buried in the town of Jefferson.

Darl and Jewel return days later to find their home swarmed by buzzards, signifying their mother’s death. Despite the burdensome journey to Jefferson, Anse, Addie’s husband, insists on fulfilling her dying wish, influenced by his own desire for false teeth. The journey is tumultuous, marked by a mishap at a river where a stray log upsets their wagon, causing the coffin to be knocked out, reinjury to Cash's broken leg, and the drowning of their mules. With the help of their neighbor Vernon Tull, they manage to retrieve the coffin and continue their journey.

Their journey reveals more about the family's past and the various tribulations they face. Cora Tull, Vernon's wife, reveals Addie's past affair with the local minister, Whitfield, which resulted in Jewel's birth. During their journey, they face negative reactions from townsfolk repulsed by the smell from the coffin. Dewey Dell, Addie's only daughter and pregnant from a recent sexual encounter with a local farmhand, is denied a drug to abort her pregnancy. Amid their journey, Darl, disillusioned with their mission, attempts to burn their mother's coffin, only to be stopped by Jewel. Upon their arrival in Jefferson, the Bundrens bury Addie, declare Darl as insane to avoid litigation for the attempted arson, and commit him to a mental institution. The ordeal concludes with their father, Anse, introducing them to his new wife, a local woman he met while borrowing shovels to bury Addie.


As I Lay Dying

Mientras agonizo

Light in August

Luz en Agosto

The Sound and the Fury

El Ruido y la Furia

In the year 1833, an enigmatic and imposing figure, Thomas Sutpen, establishes his presence in Jefferson, Mississippi. He arrives with an entourage composed of slaves and a French architect, and promptly purchases a vast expanse of land stretching a hundred square miles from a local native tribe. He builds a mansion, cultivates cotton, weds the offspring of a nearby trader, and rapidly climbs the social hierarchy, establishing himself firmly within the local elite. He has two children - Henry and Judith - who enjoy a life of effortless affluence in the Mississippi countryside. Henry, while studying at the University of Mississippi, befriends a refined peer named Charles Bon, who eventually forms a romantic attachment with Judith. In a shocking revelation, Sutpen identifies Bon as his son from a past marriage which he abandoned upon discovering his wife's African ancestry. This prompts Henry to renounce his family ties and he, along with Bon, escapes to New Orleans. On the outbreak of the Civil War, they both join the Confederate forces.

The knowledge of Bon’s partial African heritage leads Henry to react vehemently, culminating in him killing Bon on the supposed day of Bon and Judith's wedding. Post-war, Sutpen returns to his ruined home and spirals into alcoholism. He also starts an illicit relationship with Milly, a fifteen-year-old white girl. This illicit relationship results in the birth of a daughter and subsequently leads to Sutpen's murder by Milly’s grandfather, Wash Jones, in 1869. 

Many years later, in 1909, a young man of twenty named Quentin Compson, the grandson of General Compson, Sutpen's initial confidante in the area, is preparing to depart Jefferson for Harvard. He finds himself entangled in the Sutpen saga after being summoned by Miss Rosa Coldfield, the sibling of Sutpen's spouse Ellen and briefly Sutpen's betrothed, to hear about how Sutpen caused the downfall of her family along with his own. The narrative of the Sutpen tragedy becomes embedded in Quentin's mind, causing him to revisit it frequently, even sharing it with his Harvard roommate Shreve. The tale reaches its climax when Quentin accompanies Miss Rosa to the Sutpen estate, where they find an elderly and dying Henry. Rosa's attempt to return for Henry ends in disaster when Clytie, Sutpen’s daughter with a slave woman, sets the mansion ablaze, ending her life and Henry's, and marking the tragic end of the Sutpen bloodline.

10 Best William Faulkner Books of All Time

As I Lay Dying

The Corrected Text

Light in August

The Sound and the Fury

Absalom, Absalom!

Sanctuary

The Unvanquished

The Hamlet

A Rose for Emily

The Reivers

Soldiers' Pay

Sources

What To Read Next

10 Best William Faulkner Books of All Time

As I Lay Dying

The Corrected Text

Light in August

The Sound and the Fury

Absalom, Absalom!

Sanctuary

The Unvanquished

The Hamlet

A Rose for Emily

The Reivers

Soldiers' Pay

Sources

What To Read Next

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