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³¢³Üòõ's Reviews > The Hamlet
The Hamlet
by
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³¢³Üòõ's review
bookshelves: recommendations, william-faulkner, 2022-readings, e-4, american-literature
Dec 26, 2022
bookshelves: recommendations, william-faulkner, 2022-readings, e-4, american-literature
Published in 1940, The Hamlet is the first book of the novel trilogy on Snopes; at a press conference, Faulkner said he wrote it in the late 1920s.
Like most of Faulkner's books, the action takes place in the famous county of Yoknapatawpha, but unlike in other novels, the focus here is not on telling the story and, even more precisely, the decline of great families in the South.
At the center of the stories are the Snopes, destitute little white people, and, first and foremost, Flem, a devious character determined to get there by all means. The book takes place in a rural community, half by ruse and half by the fear it inspires. Finally, Flem settles down and brings in a certain number of family members; there, he finds the first rung of the social ladder, allowing him his remarkable ascent, which will be seen in the following volumes of the trilogy.
It has four parts. You could almost read them separately like short stories, except that read together, they take on an entirely different meaning, illuminating and complementing each other, like a melody with several voices. First, we discover Flem's arrival and installation, followed by other family members. We also follow the destiny of Eula, daughter of the local notable, Wille Varner, who will become Flem's wife.
It is a stunning novel of great richness, both in construction and in the themes addressed, and the human characters describe them in a very endearing way.
Like most of Faulkner's books, the action takes place in the famous county of Yoknapatawpha, but unlike in other novels, the focus here is not on telling the story and, even more precisely, the decline of great families in the South.
At the center of the stories are the Snopes, destitute little white people, and, first and foremost, Flem, a devious character determined to get there by all means. The book takes place in a rural community, half by ruse and half by the fear it inspires. Finally, Flem settles down and brings in a certain number of family members; there, he finds the first rung of the social ladder, allowing him his remarkable ascent, which will be seen in the following volumes of the trilogy.
It has four parts. You could almost read them separately like short stories, except that read together, they take on an entirely different meaning, illuminating and complementing each other, like a melody with several voices. First, we discover Flem's arrival and installation, followed by other family members. We also follow the destiny of Eula, daughter of the local notable, Wille Varner, who will become Flem's wife.
It is a stunning novel of great richness, both in construction and in the themes addressed, and the human characters describe them in a very endearing way.
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Reading Progress
August 26, 2021
– Shelved
August 26, 2021
– Shelved as:
to-read
August 26, 2021
– Shelved as:
recommendations
December 21, 2022
–
Started Reading
December 21, 2022
–
6.36%
"Two miles further on dusk overtook him, the shortening twilight of late April, in which the blanched dogwoods stood among the darker trees with spread raised palms like praying nuns; there was the evening star and already the whipporwills. The horse, travelling supperward, was going well in the evening's cool, when Varner pulled it to a stop and held it for a full moment.
(...)"
page
26
(...)"
December 21, 2022
–
13.45%
""Sho now," Ratliff said. The plow went on. Ratliff watched it. He never said, Come back again, he thought. He lifted his own reins. "Come up, rabbits," he said. "Let's hit for town.""
page
55
December 21, 2022
–
17.85%
"Two months later Flem Snopes built a new blacksmith shop in the village. He hired it done, to be sure, but he was there most of the day, watching it going up. (...)"
page
73
December 22, 2022
–
24.69%
""I passed them two horses and the buggy tied to the Old Frenchman fence this morning," the fourth man said. He, too, leaned and spat carefully over the gallery edge. Then he added, as if in trivial afterthought: "It was Flem Snopes that was setting in the flour barrel.""
page
101
December 22, 2022
–
34.23%
"The house the heatless room in which he had lived for six years with his books and bright lamp was between the store and the school. He did not even look toward it when he passed. He returned to the schoolhouse and closed and locked the door. With a brick fragment, he drove the nail into the wall beside the door and hung the key on the nail. The schoolhouse was on Jefferson road. He already had the overcoat with him."
page
140
December 22, 2022
–
41.56%
"'Who are you?' he says, choking and gasping and his eyes a-popping up at him, setting there with that straw suitcase on the Throne among the bright, crown-shaped flames. 'Take Paradise!' the Prince screams. 'Take it! Take it!' And the wind roars up and the dark roars down, and the Prince scrabbling across the floor, clawing and scrabbling at that locked door, screaming."
page
170
December 23, 2022
–
50.37%
"(...)
When he reaches her, she has already begun to lie down. First, the forequarters, then the hinder ones, lowering herself in two distinct stages into the spent ebb of the evening, nestling back into the nest-form of sleep, the mammalian attar. They lie down together."
page
206
When he reaches her, she has already begun to lie down. First, the forequarters, then the hinder ones, lowering herself in two distinct stages into the spent ebb of the evening, nestling back into the nest-form of sleep, the mammalian attar. They lie down together."
December 23, 2022
–
55.26%
"(...)
"Except that somebody would owe Eck three dollars and twenty cents change," Ratliff said.
"What?" I.O. said. But he immediately turned back to his cousin or nephew. "And you got the meat and the hide," he said. "Can't you even try to keep from forgetting that?""
page
226
"Except that somebody would owe Eck three dollars and twenty cents change," Ratliff said.
"What?" I.O. said. But he immediately turned back to his cousin or nephew. "And you got the meat and the hide," he said. "Can't you even try to keep from forgetting that?""
December 23, 2022
–
58.92%
"(...)
His eyes, still open to the lost sun, glazed over with a sudden well and run of moisture which flowed down the alien and unremembering cheeks too, already drying, with newness as of tears."
page
241
His eyes, still open to the lost sun, glazed over with a sudden well and run of moisture which flowed down the alien and unremembering cheeks too, already drying, with newness as of tears."
December 24, 2022
–
69.93%
"(...)
Then with one accord, they turned and rushed toward the stairs, and he heard the slow steps too; then he smelled the food, and he clung to the bars, trying to see the stairhead. Are they going to feed them niggers before they do a white man? he thought, smelling the coffee and the ham."
page
286
Then with one accord, they turned and rushed toward the stairs, and he heard the slow steps too; then he smelled the food, and he clung to the bars, trying to see the stairhead. Are they going to feed them niggers before they do a white man? he thought, smelling the coffee and the ham."
December 24, 2022
– Shelved as:
william-faulkner
December 24, 2022
–
72.37%
""Yes. And another two bits for that ere toy one."
"You bought him that too?"
"Yes. I felt sorry for him. I thought maybe anytime he would happen to start thinking, that ere toy one would give him something to think about."
page
296
"You bought him that too?"
"Yes. I felt sorry for him. I thought maybe anytime he would happen to start thinking, that ere toy one would give him something to think about."
December 25, 2022
–
86.8%
"(...)
I never made them Snopeses and I never made the folks that can't wait to bare their backsides to them. I could do more, but I won't. I won't, I tell you!"
"All right," Bookwright said. "Hook your drag up; it ain't nothing but a hill. I said it's all right.""
page
355
I never made them Snopeses and I never made the folks that can't wait to bare their backsides to them. I could do more, but I won't. I won't, I tell you!"
"All right," Bookwright said. "Hook your drag up; it ain't nothing but a hill. I said it's all right.""
December 26, 2022
–
90.22%
"(...)
But he was not listening to that either; he had not only turned his back to the Court to look out into the crowded room, but he was also speaking himself even before the Judge had ceased continuing to talk. At the same time, the Judge hammered the desk with his gavel and the two officers and three bailiffs converged upon the prisoner as he struggled (...)"
page
369
But he was not listening to that either; he had not only turned his back to the Court to look out into the crowded room, but he was also speaking himself even before the Judge had ceased continuing to talk. At the same time, the Judge hammered the desk with his gavel and the two officers and three bailiffs converged upon the prisoner as he struggled (...)"
December 26, 2022
– Shelved as:
2022-readings
December 26, 2022
– Shelved as:
e-4
December 26, 2022
–
Finished Reading
August 11, 2023
– Shelved as:
american-literature
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Dec 26, 2022 02:01PM
I like your review!
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Pam wrote: "I like your review!"Thank you, Pam!
