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Book Description
A terrifying story that scandalised Faulkner's editor into rejecting the original manuscript
Product Description
Spolit, feckless Temple Drake, the daughter of a judge, runs away from school with an unsuitable man. Abandoned by him with a gang of moonshiners, Temple falls into the clutches of the psychotic Popeye, one of the most grotesque characters of Faulkner's imagination. A compelling, shocking tale of perverted justice in the Deep South, Sanctuary is also a moving plea for courage in the darkest of circumstances.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Sanctuary was written by William Faulkner in 1931, purely for money, according to Faulkner himself. It came in the wake of the commercial failure of The Sound and the Fury and As I Lay Dying, and was markedly more popular, though much criticised for violence and immorality.
Sanctuary, unlike its predecessors, has a linear narrative which is easy to follow, for the most part. The plot is set in motion when rich kids Gowan Stevens and Temple Drake crash their car and seek help in a bootlegger's house, where they are given accomodation for the night.
This house is inhabited not only by the bootlegger Goodwin and his wife but also by various acquaintances of his including the shadowy and threatening Popeye. The scenario at this point is somewhat reminiscent of Texas Chainsaw Massacre or other such movies. There is an atmosphere of simmering violence but the actual violence is never openly described.
Following the commission of a crime at the bootlegger's house, the focus widens to include local lawyer Horace Benbow, a mild and decent everyman who becomes involved in the case because he believes that the wrong man has been arrested( and the reader knows that he is correct in this) and possibly also because he has feelings for the defendant's wife. The action later moves to a brothel(the "sanctuary" of the title?) where members of the Snopes family, recurring characters in Faulkner, appear, and serve primarily as comic relief.
Overall this is a somewhat lurid and sensationalist tale, by 1930's standards, at least. The violence is not accompanied by any moral judgement by the author. As with most of Faulkner's books, he gives no clue as to where his sympathies lie; this is one of his great strengths, imo. This is a very readable book, suspenseful, sometimes funny, set in a dark, cruel and unsentimental world( most similar to Light in August). Though no masterpiece, this book is sure to appeal to all devotees of Faulkner and his particular worldview, and is also an accessible starting-point for those unfamiliar with this great writer.
Sanctuary, unlike its predecessors, has a linear narrative which is easy to follow, for the most part. The plot is set in motion when rich kids Gowan Stevens and Temple Drake crash their car and seek help in a bootlegger's house, where they are given accomodation for the night.
This house is inhabited not only by the bootlegger Goodwin and his wife but also by various acquaintances of his including the shadowy and threatening Popeye. The scenario at this point is somewhat reminiscent of Texas Chainsaw Massacre or other such movies. There is an atmosphere of simmering violence but the actual violence is never openly described.
Following the commission of a crime at the bootlegger's house, the focus widens to include local lawyer Horace Benbow, a mild and decent everyman who becomes involved in the case because he believes that the wrong man has been arrested( and the reader knows that he is correct in this) and possibly also because he has feelings for the defendant's wife. The action later moves to a brothel(the "sanctuary" of the title?) where members of the Snopes family, recurring characters in Faulkner, appear, and serve primarily as comic relief.
Overall this is a somewhat lurid and sensationalist tale, by 1930's standards, at least. The violence is not accompanied by any moral judgement by the author. As with most of Faulkner's books, he gives no clue as to where his sympathies lie; this is one of his great strengths, imo. This is a very readable book, suspenseful, sometimes funny, set in a dark, cruel and unsentimental world( most similar to Light in August). Though no masterpiece, this book is sure to appeal to all devotees of Faulkner and his particular worldview, and is also an accessible starting-point for those unfamiliar with this great writer.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The Penguin Classic cover states, 'no perceptive reader..will mistake it for a lurid narrative of violence'. Well, this review is being written by a non-perceptive reader.
A small gang of moonshiners live in the backwoods of Tennessee led by world weary Goodwin and his unnamed moll. A drunken young couple foolishly stray out of town to get more alcohol and despite warnings stay the night. For Temple, the teenage girl who is a wild-child way out of her depth, it becomes a nightmare culminating in rape and abduction by the emotionally disturbed gangster Popeye.
Temple is transferred to a brothel in Memphis run by the outrageous Miss Reba while Popeye acts as pimp and indulges in some disturbing sexual deviance. Quite how this got past the censors in 1931 is baffling. Goodwin discovers that another one of his gang has been killed when Popeye left and having reported the crime is wrongly arrested.
The core story then interlinks the search by small town lawyer Horace Benbow for Temple, as the only witness who can save Goodwin from the Chair, with Benbow's own covetous feelings for the gangster's wife. Benbow is central to the novel as he does what is 'right' in the face of prejudice but there are countless more convincing candidates for this role in American literature.
Faulkner's style can sometimes be difficult and he has an obsession with the words 'whirling' and 'whirled'. There are a couple of amusing scenes both revolving around the brothel but this is a dark unremitting tale.
This is not Nobel Prize-winning stuff. There is a 'rumour' that Faulkner deliberately courted publicity with this racy, violent pot-boiler for his later better-known works. Whether the 'rumour' is true or not, on this evidence I could well believe it.
A small gang of moonshiners live in the backwoods of Tennessee led by world weary Goodwin and his unnamed moll. A drunken young couple foolishly stray out of town to get more alcohol and despite warnings stay the night. For Temple, the teenage girl who is a wild-child way out of her depth, it becomes a nightmare culminating in rape and abduction by the emotionally disturbed gangster Popeye.
Temple is transferred to a brothel in Memphis run by the outrageous Miss Reba while Popeye acts as pimp and indulges in some disturbing sexual deviance. Quite how this got past the censors in 1931 is baffling. Goodwin discovers that another one of his gang has been killed when Popeye left and having reported the crime is wrongly arrested.
The core story then interlinks the search by small town lawyer Horace Benbow for Temple, as the only witness who can save Goodwin from the Chair, with Benbow's own covetous feelings for the gangster's wife. Benbow is central to the novel as he does what is 'right' in the face of prejudice but there are countless more convincing candidates for this role in American literature.
Faulkner's style can sometimes be difficult and he has an obsession with the words 'whirling' and 'whirled'. There are a couple of amusing scenes both revolving around the brothel but this is a dark unremitting tale.
This is not Nobel Prize-winning stuff. There is a 'rumour' that Faulkner deliberately courted publicity with this racy, violent pot-boiler for his later better-known works. Whether the 'rumour' is true or not, on this evidence I could well believe it.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A superb,sometimes disturbing,novel by the finest 20th century US writer. Causing a sensation on it's 1931 first publication, it's themes of murder,rape and abuse still resonate today. Set in the Deep South during prohibition the writer succeeds in conveying the seedy,violent world of the bootleggers.
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