Philip M. Weinstein

In this compact biography Philip Weinstein relates Faulkner's life and his art to provide an innovative take on both. The result of Faulkner's difficulties yielded fertile results in novels, the best of which display unusual tropes of language and resulting depths of meaning. His style is unique as is his literary territory. All is analyzed with great care in this fine addition to Faulkner criticism.

I am new to literary biography, if that is how you refer to this work. I have read most of Faulkner’s novels, which helped, since much of what Weinstein covered were themes across groups of Faulkner’s novels. I felt I learned quite a bit and this book provided me some perspective on Faulkner’s work, but I can’t say I enjoyed it that much. I found the literary analysis a bit overdone and pretentious even while finding some value in it. I enjoyed more the segments of biography and how show more Faulkner’s life affected his novels and his themes. I haven’t read enough of this type of work to know if it is the genre or the execution that left me unsatisfied and a bit bored. Reading about Faulkner’s and other authors’ lives does make you wonder if often gifts of this type come with significant troubles in dealing with life’s normal challenges. show less