84. Absalom

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Absalom

Since I've been thinking in terms of "nations" reaping what they've sowed, first in the case of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, now in the case of the U.S. of A; it struck me just now that the same applies to the American South. If the whites of the South had suddenly come to the conclusion that their Peculiar Institution of slavery was not only doomed, but wrong -- if they had done the "right thing" -- it would not have been justice. The ordeal of the War of Northern Aggression was the least they needed to pay.

I can't think of a more oddly told tale than Absalom, Absalom! I'm 133 pages in and so far the story has been narrated by one character we know nothing about to another character we know nothing about. Perhaps these people are part of Faulkner's greater tale set in these parts, I wouldn't know, but coming in just here is like joining the boating party in Heart of Darkness at the last minute, perhaps as the house guest of one of the others but not knowing anyone else.

Postscript

Alas, it seems that those introductory 133 pages were merely to set the stage for the next 40 some pages of letter(?) which I'm now in the middle of. Curiouser and curiouser.

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