Overview

Faulkner’s final novel, The Reivers, has been gently dismissed by scholars and critics as no more than its subtitle claims, A Reminiscence. Although the new millennium has seen a new appreciation for Faulkner’s later novels, The Reivers is still perceived as a slightly fictionalized comic memoir romanticizing the early life of the author in the pre-civil rights American South. This volume takes this dismissal of The Reivers to task for failing to appreciate its employment of the Apuleian narrative of life-altering metamorphosis to offer, as his literary farewell, hope for humanity’s self-redemption. Vernon L. Provencal studies the reception of The Golden Ass in The Reivers as comic novels of moral katabasis (wilful descent into the lawless underworld) and providential anabasis (societal and spiritual redemption). As the independent basis of the reception study, The Reivers receives its first ever detailed reading, while The Golden Ass is read anew from the teleological perspective offered by the (undervalued) prophecy that in the end the comic hero would become the book itself.

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9781350005983

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Reviews

A timely and insightful clarification on the largely unexamined assumption of the centrality of The Metamorphoses of Apuleius in the American novelist’s last published novel. By painstakingly offering new readings of both works, which can be read independently, Provencal constructs a comparative context for the close scrutiny of the receptions and how they contribute to a better understanding of Faulkner’s message of stoicism and hope to his readers. This triple effort will no doubt arouse the genuine interest of William Faulkner’s and Apuleius’ scholars alike, as well as those actively engaged in giving precise critical assessments in the wider field of reception studies. * Bryn Mawr Classical Review *

Author Information

Vernon L. Provencal is Professor of Classics at Acadia University, Canada. His previous book, Sophist Kings, is published by Bloomsbury (2015).

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