Episode 64: Absalom, Absalom!

If you’ve been listening to Better Read for a bit, you’re probably aware that Megan’s favorite genre of novel is "brother hearts sister but in a distressing sex way." In that vein, we present one of the absolute classics of the genre, William Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom!, which is 300 pages but feels longer. A lot longer. The novel features an upwardly-downwardly mobile Scots-Irish bigamist and his children, both “legitimate” and “illegitimate,” and the problem of racial panic in the 19th-century US. We talk about race, colonization, incest (of course), property, and style. In lieu of a game we induct some very special novels and films into the Literary Incest Hall of Fame.

We read the Vintage edition. We sort of recommend the midcentury books on Faulker like Irving Howe’s William Faulkner: A Critical Study, but suggest first checking out Toni Morrison’s article “The Color Fetish” from the September 14, 2017 issue of The New Yorker.

*Note to our listeners -- Katie is off this episode. She’ll be back next week.

Find us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook @betterreadpod, and email us nice things at [email protected]. Find Tristan on Twitter @tjschweiger, Katie @katiekrywo, and Megan @tuslersaurus.