William Faulkner. As I Lay Dying.

New
York: Jonathan Cape and Harrison
Smith, 193.
Faulkner said in his "Introduction" to the 1932
Modern Library publication of Sanctuary that
". . . I wrote As I Lay Dying in six weeks
without chan!in! a word." Later he said he
could do this because he knew fro" the first
how the catastrophes of flood and fire would
affect the #undren fa"ily. $e had written
so"e of the tale in the short stories of "Father
%braha"" and "&l"er" and his the"es of e'il
and the folly of "en were si"ilar to those he
had probed before. (he holo!raph "anuscript
also re'eals an ease in creation unlike his
other no'els) fewer canceled passa!es
"ar!inal inserts and paste*ins. (he title pa!e
is dated +ctober 2, 1929 and by -anuary 12
193. the typescript was ready to "ail to
publisher $arrison /"ith.
William Faulkner. As I Lay Dying.
!Harmondsworth, "n#land$:
%en#uin &ooks, 19'3.
(he co'er of this edition is particularly
effecti'e in su""ari0in! both plot and
character. %ddie #undren has died and her
fa"ily is cartin! her coffin to -efferson to be
buried with her people. (he "acabre funeral
1ourney faces natural catastrophes of flood and
fire as well as an intense fa"ily stru!!le. $er
husband 2%nse3 and her children 24ash 5arl
-ewel 5ewey 5ell and 6arda"an3 all ha'e
their own a!endas as they tra'el toward the
burial. 4ash "akes the coffin and carries his
tools with hi"7 -ewel8s treasured horse ser'es
se'eral sy"bolic functions in the story7 and
they tra'el coffin and all in a wa!on drawn
by a tea" of "ules.
William Faulkner. As I Lay Dying: The
Corrected Text. New York: (inta#e
&ooks, 19)*.
(he publisher $arrison /"ith recei'ed
Faulkner8s typescript for As I Lay Dying in
-anuary 193. and published it with 'ery few
editorial chan!es on +ctober 9 193.. (hat text
re"ained the sa"e throu!h 'arious reprints
until 199: when ;ando" $ouse brou!ht out a
new edition that was corrected in accordance
with the ori!inal "anuscript and typescript. For
the "corrected text" shown here scholar <oel
=olk used Faulkner8s own ribbon typescript
settin! copy corrected to account for his
re'isions in proof his typin! errors and other
clear inconsistencies and "istakes.
%lthou!h /"ith did not hesitate to publish this
no'el the critical reception was 1ust as 'aried
as it had been with earlier Faulkner no'els. (he
fifteen strea"s of consciousness and the fifty*
nine "onolo!ues a!ain pro'ed too co"plicated
for so"e one critic callin! it "a psycholo!ical
1i!*saw pu00le." %nd e'en thou!h the plot is
not difficult to follow the #undrens were
si"ply too stran!e for so"e &astern re'iewers
to co"prehend. (he initial printin! of 2,22
copies was >uite enou!h for the no'el8s li"ited
sales.