Books: Saga's End

THE MANSION (436 pp.)—William Faulkner—Random House ($4.75).

U.S. literature registers a milestone this week: Flem Snopes is dead. His death in The Mansion closes a William Faulkner trilogy that stands alone in U.S. writing for its wild, weird comedy, its savage indictment of rapacity and greed, its haughty indifference to the reader's bewilderment as he tries to follow some of the most obscurely motivated characters in any literature. The Hamlet (TIME, April i, 1940) and The Town (TIME, May 6, 1957) proved that the Snopeses were never far from Faulkner's mind even as he...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!