He has been fired from his job at Doane's Mill and moved to Mississippi, promising to send word to her when he has a new job. Bunch bittet Hightower im Beisein der Großeltern Christmas’, diesem ein falsches Alibi auszustellen. [14], Light in August has 21 chapters, as does the Gospel of St. John. Christmas wurde als Kind am Heiligabend an der Tür eines Waisenhauses aufgefunden. Comments by Bob Corbett July 2013 After reading this novel it is hard for me to imagine how much I’ve deprived myself in the past 60 years. . Joe Christmas is an orphan who is convinced he is of biracial descent and has been tortured by this belief for his whole life. [29], Last edited on 21 February 2021, at 10:27, 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Light_in_August&oldid=1008061424, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Die Erzählperspektive wandert zudem wiederholt von einer Person zur anderen, wodurch es Faulkner gelingt, authentische Innensichten der handelnden Personen darzustellen. Introduction : Light in August (1932), Faulkner's seventh novel, is remarkable for the depth at which it explores the relationships between race, religion, and sexuality in the American South. Eine Neuübersetzung von Helmut Frielinghaus und Susanne Höbel erschien 2008 im selben Verlag. Die Handlung wird nicht chronologisch erzählt, sondern von zahlreichen Rückblenden durchbrochen. In Mottstown, he is arrested and jailed, then moved to Jefferson. In William Faulkner’s Light in August Lena Grove, a woman who is on the search for the father of her unborn child, meets Byron Bunch at a planing mill, mistaking him for her boyfriend. The sheriff at first suspects Joe Brown, but initiates a manhunt for Christmas after Brown claims that Christmas is black. Einige Geschehnisse werden aus unterschiedlichen Perspektiven geschildert und entsprechend der Überblendtechnik im Film verbunden. Short, Music | Video 20 December 2010 Add a Plot » Director: Michael McCallum. Joe is Brown deserts Lena once again, but Byron follows him and challenges him to a fight. Eupheus "Doc" Hines – the grandfather of Joe Christmas. Mrs. McEachern Joe's foster mother who … He has a sexual relationship with Joanna Burden, an older woman who descended from a formerly powerful abolitionist family whom the town despises as carpetbaggers. Christian imagery such as the urn, the wheel, and the shadow, can be found throughout. Published in 1932, Light in August is William Faulkner’s seventh novel. Before Christmas' escape attempt, Hightower delivers Lena's child in the cabin where Brown and Christmas had been staying before the murder, and Byron arranges for Brown/Burch to come and see her. When she arrives in Jefferson, Lucas is there, but he has changed his name to Joe Brown. Gavin Stevens – an educated man and district attorney who lives in Jefferson and offers commentary on some of the events at the end of the novel. Light in August is a 1932 novel by the Southern American author William Faulkner. [22], In Light in August, as in most of the other novels set in Yoknapatawpha County, Faulkner focuses mainly on poor white Southerners, both from the upper and lower classes, who struggle to survive in the ruined post-war economy of the South. Characters. The novel is set in the American South during prohibition and features an ensemble cast of characters who grapple with alienation, … These works initially met with approval from the Nazi censors and received much attention from German literary critics, because they assumed that Faulkner was a conservative agrarian positively depicting the struggle for racial purity; soon after, however, Faulkner's works were banned by the Nazis, and post-war German criticism reappraised him as an optimistic Christian humanist. I’m not sure. Lucas Burch/Joe Brown – the young man who fathered Lena's child in Alabama and ran away when she told him she was pregnant. This page was last edited on 21 February 2021, at 10:27. The writer reveals his interests in history and its significance to the present by arriving at a novel which illuminates Mississippi in August, which seems to come from the far past; hence the symbolism of the title. Faulkner commented later that Joe “didn’t know what he was, and so he was nothing. Zahlreiche Motive des Evangeliums finden sich in Licht im August. eNotes plot summaries cover all the significant action of Light in August. Byron Bunch, though more accepted in Jefferson, is still viewed as a mystery or simply overlooked. He is a devout Presbyterian and tries to instill religion in the young orphan he has adopted. Christmas flieht, bevor der Mord entdeckt wird. Joe Christmas – a man who came to Jefferson three years prior to the events in the novel. . Chapter 6 begins with the oft-cited sentence: "Memory believes before knowing remembers," and gives an account of the five year old Christmas amongst the uniform denim of the other children. in Brown is Christmas' business partner in bootlegging and is leaving Joanna's burning house when a passing farmer stops to investigate and pull Joanna's body from the fire. It begins with the journey of Lena Grove, a young pregnant white woman from Doane's Mill, Alabama, who is trying to find Lucas Burch, the father of her unborn child. It lasts just for a day or two, then it’s gone. Das Motiv der „Bewegung“ zieht sich ebenfalls durch den Roman. Due to its naturalistic, violent subject matter and obsession with the ghosts of the past, Light in August is characterized as a Southern gothic novel, a genre also exemplified by the works of Faulkner's contemporary Carson McCullers, and by later Southern writers like Flannery O'Connor, and Truman Capote. Der Großvater erschoss den Vater, ließ zu, dass seine Tochter bei der Geburt starb, und brachte das Kind zum Waisenhaus. The vision always occurs in "that instant when all light has failed out of the sky and it would be night save for that faint light which daygranaried leaf and grass blade reluctant suspire, making still a little light on earth though night itself has come. [16] Christmas has light skin but is viewed as a foreigner by the people he meets, and the children in the orphanage in which he was raised called him "nigger." [26] Some reviewers saw Faulkner's narrative techniques not as innovations but as errors, offering Faulkner recommendations on how to improve his style and admonishing him for his European modernist "tricks". Der Roman besteht aus 21 Kapiteln, die in weitere Unterkapitel aufgeteilt sind. The surly, psychopathic Christmas has been on the run for years, ever since at least injuring, perhaps even killing his strict Presbyterian adopted father. . Das vorletzte Kapitel schildert das Leben Hightowers, der so in seine eigene Geschichte verstrickt ist, dass daran seine Ehe und seine Tätigkeit als Pastor scheiterten. Although he has light skin and is an orphan with no knowledge of his family background, he believes that one of his parents is of African-American ancestry, and this secret has caused him to be a habitual wanderer. She has been told that a man named Bunch works at the mill and assumes it is Lucas Burch, because the name sounds similar. August 1931 und beendete ihn am 19. Joanna Burden and Reverend Hightower are hounded by the people of Jefferson for years, in a failed effort to make them leave town. [2] However, critics like Diane Roberts and David R. Jarraway view Faulkner's use of Southern gothic genre tropes, such as the dilapidated plantation house and the focus on mystery and horror, as self-conscious modernist commentary on man's "warped relationship with the past"[3] and the impossibility of determining true identity. Powerfully entwining these characters' stories, "Light in August vividly brings to life Faulkner's imaginary South, one of literature's great invented landscapes, in all of its impoverished, violent, unerringly fascinating glory. He is also perceived as neither male nor female,[18] just as Joanna Burden, whom Faulkner portrays as "masculinized," is also neither male nor female and is rejected by her community. Burch versucht, die 1000 US-Dollar Belohnung zu erhalten, die zur Ergreifung Christmas’ ausgesetzt sind. Auch das Symbol „Holz“ kehrt in vielen Varianten wieder, bezugnehmend auf die Kreuzigung.[1]. Faulkner verwendet zahlreiche Symbole. He has been living in Jefferson with Joe Christmas in a cabin on Joanna Burden's property under the name Joe Brown and working with Christmas and Byron at the planing mill. Light In August Summary Light In August tells many stories, but at its center are the story of Joe Christmas and the story of Lena Grove. She has never seen Christmas after the night of his birth and travels to Jefferson to ensure that her husband does not successfully have him lynched, because she wants to see him again once more before he is tried for murder. filled with loners,isolated figures who choose or are forced to inhabit the fringesof society. Detailed Summary & Analysis Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Themes All Themes … Due to its naturalistic, violent subject matter and obsession with LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Light in August, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work. Die unbewussten Gedanken der handelnden Personen werden durch Kursivschrift dargestellt, die bewussten Gedanken durch einfache Anführungsstriche. The manhunt is fruitless until Christmas arrives undisguised in Mottstown, a neighboring town; he is on his way back to Jefferson, no longer running. LIGHT IN AUGUST By William Faulkner New York: The Modern Library, 1968 479 pages. My rating: 5 of 5 stars Light in August, published in 1932, is Faulkner’s seventh novel and generally considered one of the major works of his best period—roughly the 1930s—alongside The Sound and the Fury (1929), As I Lay Dying (1930), and Absalom, Absalom! Mrs. McEachern – the adoptive mother of Joe Christmas. Die Rolle des Byron Bunch ist der des Joseph vergleichbar. Though his grandfather wants Christmas lynched, his grandmother visits him in the Jefferson jail and advises him to seek help from Hightower. Those who help her along her four-week trek are skeptical that Lucas Burch will be found, or that he will keep his promise when she catches up with him. Joanna is murdered soon after: her throat is slit and she is nearly decapitated. Der Roman ist stark beeinflusst von der europäischen, literarischen Moderne, speziell von der Erzähltechnik des Bewusstseinsstroms. Byron Bunch – a bachelor who works at the planing mill in Jefferson, who meets and falls in love with Lena when she arrives in town. Hightower lehnt dies ab, da er annimmt, dass Bunch eigene Interessen verfolgt. [6] The narrative is not structured in any particular order, as it is often interrupted by lengthy flashbacks and constantly shifts from one character to another. [12], There are a variety of parallels with Christian scripture in the novel. The characters in Light in August—who are mostly from the lower classes, with the exception of Reverend Hightower and Joanna Burden—are united by poverty and Puritanical values that cause them to regard an unwed mother like Lena Grove with disdain. Faulkner begann den Roman unter dem Titel The Dark House („Das dunkle Haus“) ohne festen Plan[2] am 17. He lives in a cabin on the property of Joanna Burden and has a secret sexual relationship with her. Added to Watchlist. There she expects to find Lucas working at another planing mill, ready to marry her. Er nähert sich wiederum Lena Grove an. Themes and Colors Key. Light in August is a 1932 novel by the American Southern author William Faulkner. He deliberately evicted himself from the human race because he didn’t know which he was . Why? He disapproves of Christmas's growing disobedience and is presumably killed by his adopted son when the boy is 18. Der Roman beschreibt die Schicksale mehrerer Personen, die teilweise verwoben sind und unterschiedliche Handlungsstränge im Roman bilden. The secret of his blackness is one that he abhors as well as cherishes; he often willingly tells white people that he is black in order to see their extreme reactions and becomes violent when one white Northern woman reacts nonchalantly. While there, she gets pregnant by a man named Lucas Burch, who runs out on her but not before saying that he'll send for Lena once he finds a town in which they can settle down. Als Burden Christmas zum Beten überreden will, ist es mutmaßlich er, der sie ersticht und fast köpft. Gail Hightower – the former minister of Jefferson, forced to retire after his wife was discovered to be having an affair in Memphis and committed suicide. The crucifixion occurs in John 19, the same chapter in which Christmas is slain and castrated. [25], According to Michael Millgate, though it is not typically considered Faulkner's best novel, Light in August was recognized early on as being "a major text, central to any understanding or evaluation of his career as a whole. Milly Hines – the teenage mother of Joe Christmas. Names and Identity. Simon McEachern A righteous farmer who adopts Joe and then brutally beats him whenever Joe shows an independent spirit. One is Lucas Burch, alias Brown, the father of Lena's child, the man who shares the cabin with Joe Christmas before Joanna's murder. The life and death of Joe Christmas is reminiscent of the passion of Christ, Lena and her fatherless child parallel Mary and Christ,[13] and Byron Bunch acts as a Joseph figure. It belongs to the Southern gothic and modernist literary genres. Er liebt die erheblich ältere Prostituierte Bobbie. Überblick über die Handlung und Erläuterungen, Interpretationen des Romans (Archivversion), https://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Licht_im_August&oldid=205588297, „Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike“. Having redeemed himself at last, Hightower is then depicted as falling into a deathlike swoon, his whole life flashing before his eyes, including the past adventures of his Confederate grandfather, who was killed while stealing chickens from a farmer's shed. 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