The Sound and the Fury and As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner (Modern Library)

Hardcover. Condition: Fine, Dust Jacket: Very Good-/Good+. 1946. Random House (The Modern Library)

With Appendix and Foreward by author.

The Sound and the Fury

first published in 1929, is perhaps William Faulkner’s greatest book. It was immediately praised for its innovative narrative technique, and comparisons were made with Joyce and Dostoyevsky, but it did not receive popular acclaim until the late forties, shortly before Faulkner received the Nobel Prize for Literature.
 
The novel reveals the story of the disintegration of the Compson family, doomed inhabitants of Faulkner’s mythical Yoknapatawpha County, through the interior monologues of the idiot Benjy and his brothers, Quentin and Jason. Featuring a new Foreword by Marilynne Robinson, this edition follows the text corrected in 1984 by Faulkner expert Noel Polk and corresponds as closely as possible to the author’s original intentions. Included also is the Appendix that Faulkner wrote for The Portable Faulkner in 1946, which he called the “key to the whole book.”

As I Lay Dying

Considered one of the most influential novels in American fiction in structure, style, and drama, 'As I Lay Dying' is a true 20th-century classic. The story revolves around a grim yet darkly humorous pilgrimage, as Addie Bundren's family sets out to fulfil her last wish-to be buried in her native Jefferson, Mississippi, far from the miserable backwater surroundings of her married life. Narrated in turn by each of the family members-including Addie herself-as well as others, the novel ranges in mood, from dark comedy to the deepest pathos.