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Title: Big Woods : The Hunting Stories by William Faulkner ISBN: 0-679-75252-8 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 26 April, 1994 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (3 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: his most accessible
Comment: The essence of political conservatism is the yearning for the best of the culture and moral clime of the past--the sense that something of value to our souls has been lost in the headlong rush of human social progress. Political liberalism, on the other hand, assumes that bureaucrats and technocrats can improve upon centuries old social structures, cultural inheritances and moral codes. But there is one area where the roles of the two are reversed and that is when it comes to the environment. The American Left has a long standing love affair with nature; from Jefferson to Thoureau, Teddy Roosevelt to Al Gore, there is a pastoral strain to liberal politics, a kind of religious belief in an Edenic past and a nearly Biblical sense that man's attempts to control nature have a corrupting influence.
This sentiment has perhaps never been treated more beautifully in our Literature than in Faulkner's great short novel, The Bear. The story of a succession of hunting seasons is basically a warning from Faulkner that as we destroy the wilderness we threaten the traditions and values of our society. Nature is symbolized by the cagey ancient ursine, Old Ben. Most of the tale is told by Ike McCaslin, who is 10 years old as it begins. Initially he flounders through the woods, but as he surrenders himself to the primordial forces of Nature, he is able to sense the bear's presence. Another year, when he sets aside his gun and compass and other accouterments of civilization, he is finally able to see the bear. Gradually he earns his way into the aristocracy of the wild, until, together with Sam Fathers (part black, part Indian, he represents a kind of noble savage) and Boon Hogganbeck (a sort of elemental force of nature) and a suicidally fearless dog named Lion, he hunts down Old Ben after the bear violates the unwritten code of the woods by attacking a horse. But even as Old Ben succumbs, he will take some of them with him and his parting signals the end of a way of life.
Despite some too obscure interior monologue passages, this is Faulkner's most accessible work. It is the only Faulkner I've ever actually reread and it is so rife with symbolism and ulterior meanings, that you can always find something new in it. And, for whatever reason, it is further evidence that sports writing brings out the best in almost every author (see also "Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu" by John Updike), in fact, it is often anthologized in Greatest Sports Story collections. Regardless of where you find it, or which version you read, it is well worth a shot.
GRADE: B+
Rating: 3
Summary: Great stories, if incomplete
Comment: Of course the short stories here are excellent, but it is terrible that the origional Part Four of The Bear has been removed. Anyone who enjoys The Bear owes it to themselves to find a complete copy (it will have five parts) because Part Four is arguably the most important and meaningful portion of the entire story!
Rating: 5
Summary: Excellent stories hang together as a novel.
Comment: I'm re-reading this book and really enjoying the stories (read it as tales in a novel). The book really puts different views to various people's ways of looking at the same stories and family histories. Read this and know why Faulkner is considered one of the best American novelists of all time. His people ring true, and two stories, "The Old People" and "The Bear", are just fantastic.
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Title: The Reivers by William Faulkner ISBN: 0679741925 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 01 September, 1992 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: De Shootinest Gent'Man: And Other Tales by Nash Buckingham, Lea Lawrence, Brett Smith ISBN: 1885106521 Publisher: Wilderness Adventures Press Pub. Date: December, 1997 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: Intruder in the Dust by William Faulkner ISBN: 0679736514 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 29 October, 1991 List Price(USD): $10.95 |
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Title: The Wild Palms : [If I Forget Thee, Jerusalem] by William Faulkner ISBN: 0679741933 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 31 October, 1995 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: The Greatest Hunting Stories Ever Told : Twenty-nine unforgettable hunting tales by Lamar Underwood ISBN: 1585741418 Publisher: The Lyons Press Pub. Date: 01 September, 2000 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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