About this item
Highlights
- "Nothing less than spellbinding . . . It's an eye-opener.
- Author(s): Jay Parini
- 528 Pages
- Biography + Autobiography, Literary Figures
Description
Book Synopsis
"Nothing less than spellbinding . . . It's an eye-opener. Anecdotal without being tawdry, analytical without being academic, it captures the essence of Faulkner's life with the narrative drive of a novel." -- Houston Chronicle
"A splendid life of William Faulkner . . . Not only readable but downright enthralling." -- Seattle Times
William Faulkner was a literary genius, and one of America's most important and influential writers. Drawing on previously unavailable sources--including letters, memoirs, and interviews with Faulkner's daughter and lovers--Jay Parini has crafted a biography that delves into the mystery of this gifted and troubled writer. His Faulkner is an extremely talented, obsessive artist plagued by alcoholism and a bad marriage who somehow transcends his limitations. Parini weaves the tragedies and triumphs of Faulkner's life in with his novels, serving up a biography that's as engaging as it is insightful.
From the Back Cover
William Faulkner was a literary genius, and one of America's most important and influential writers. Drawing on previously unavailable sources -- including letters, memoirs, and interviews with Faulkner's daughter and lovers -- Jay Parini has crafted a biography that delves into the mystery of this gifted and troubled writer. His Faulkner is an extremely talented, obsessive artist plagued by alcoholism and a bad marriage who somehow transcends his limitations. Parini weaves the tragedies and triumphs of Faulkner's life in with his novels, serving up a biography that's as engaging as it is insightful.
Review Quotes
"Does everything a good literary biography should do...ONE MATCHLESS TIME is...a Faulkner biography for our time." -- Joseph Blotner, Sewanee Review
"Irresistible...Parini adds to our knowledge of Faulkner...a new understanding of how the novelist connected his violent, inchoate past with literature's perdurable future, how he turned the savagery of his own blood into the permanence of art.... This biography reads like a novel." -- Christian Science Monitor
"Parini's candid, personal, and extremely readable book is the place to send readers looking for an overview of an extraordinary sixty-four-year literary career." -- William H. Pritchard, Commonweal
"A splendid life of William Faulkner . . . Not only readable but downright enthralling." -- Seattle Times
"[Parini] has a fellow writer's appreciation for Faulkner's language, and expresses that appreciation vividly...His book pays eloquent tribute." -- J. M. Coetzee, New York Review of Books
"Irresistible...A new understanding of how [Faulkner] connected his violent, inchoate past with literature's perdurable future...Reads like a novel." -- Christian Science Monitor
"A worthy contribution to Faulkner scholarship . . . [Parini's] deft handling of biographical fact forms a riveting narrative." -- Victor Strandberg, Chicago Tribune
"Parini's candid, personal, and extremely readable book is the place to send readers looking for an overview of [Faulkner's] career." -- William H. Pritchard, Commonweal
"The heroic Parini hurries us directly back to THE SOUND AND THE FURY, LIGHT IN AUGUST, and ABSALOM, ABSALOM!" -- John Leonard, Harper's Magazine
"A matchless look at the writer... With his characteristic elegance, Parini captures splendidly Faulkner's... inestimable literary achievement." -- Atlanta Journal-Constitution
"Fine biography... Parini maintains a good balance of the man and his art. [His] analyses ring true." -- Tennessean
Parini--his prose crystalline, his interpretation proficient--brilliantly illuminates Faulkner's complex psyche... Engrossing and revelatory, this is a landmark biography. -- Booklist (starred review)
"The time is right for a biography like Jay Parini's ONE MATCHLESS TIME." -- Wall Street Journal
"An accomplished novelist and biographer, Parini . . . provides a brisk, engrossing account of Faulkner's life." -- Oregonian
"No living literary biographer, and few dead ones, surpass Jay Parini's skill...[He] renders a formidable giant of letters accessible. -- Ron Powers, Pulitzer Prize-winning critic and biographer of Mark Twain
"Told with literary grace, pacing, and narrative drive... Jay Parini's biography of William Faulkner easily tops all others." -- Frank Lentricchia, Duke University
"Nothing less than spellbinding . . . It's an eye-opener. Anecdotal without being tawdry, analytical without being academic, it captures the essence of Faulkner's life with the narrative drive of a novel." -- Houston Chronicle