William Faulkner: The Making of a Modernist (Fred W. Morrison Series in Southern Studies)

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing and meandering
Review: Prof. Singal has an interesting thesis here, one well worth exploring, but his book needs more focus. Singal wanders from psychobiography (including some ill-fitting speculation into Faulkner's neurological problems!) to literary analysis to critiques of other Faulkner critics. Singal ends his study when it reaches the midpoint of Faulkner's career, essentially saying that Faulkner did not write anything interesting after 1942 or so--and while this well may be a valid opinion, asserting it without substantiating it is a cop-out. At times I felt I was reading the work of a talented undergrad rather than that of a tenured professor.

Readers interested in more rigorous studies of Faulkner's life and works should stick with Blotner's *Faulkner: A Biography*, Brooks's *WF: The Yoknapatawpha Country*, and Frederick Karl's relatively recent *WF: American Writer*.