BREAKING WITH TRADITION
from a line in Shakespeare’s The
Tempest—a vision of a dystopian
future, set in London around the
year 2540. A world totalitarian
state represses individual freedom
and self-expression, including
emotions. Genetic engineering and
brainwashing are used as tools
of control, and recreational drugs
(“soma”) and sex are freely available.
Consumerism is rampant (“ending
is better than mending”), while
spiritual values have shriveled to
nothing. Even the terms “mother”
and “father” are outlawed. A
rebellious spirit, John the Savage,
sets himself against the system
and does battle with the World
Controllers. The book is admired for
its prophetic insights as well as for
its moral outlook and vivid writing.JOURNEY TO THE
END OF THE NIGHT
(1932), LOUIS-FERDINARD CÉLINERadically experimental in style and
treatment, Journey to the End of The
Night is a partly autobiographical
novel by French writer Dr. Louis-
Ferdinand Auguste Destouches(1894–1961), who wrote under the
pseudonym Céline, which was
also his grandmother’s first name.
Characterized by black-comedic
invective, the mood is darkly
pessimistic, even misanthropic.
The story traces the protagonist
Ferdinand Bardonee’s journeys from
France at the beginning of World
War I, via colonial Africa to the US
and back to Paris. Focusing on
human stupidity, Céline has
challenging things to say about
war, empire, and the ruling classes.TROPIC OF CANCER
(1934), HENRY MILLERBanned for its explicit and
deliberately shocking sexual content,
Tropic of Cancer was the debut
novel of American writer Miller
(1891–1980). A sprawling, plotless,
semiautobiographical masterpiece,
it describes life and love at the
extremes of existence in 1930s’
Paris. Publication in the US and UK
was delayed until censorship laws
were overturned in the 1960s. The
book inspired a new wave of writers,
such as the “Beat Generation.”of the American South. The setting
is Jefferson, Mississippi. The first
section is a disjointed narrative told
by Benjy, a 33-year-old, cognitively
disabled man. The second section
is narrated by his older brother, a
suicidal Harvard student 18 years
earlier; the third, by Benjy’s hard-
nosed younger brother; and the
last section is narrated by one of
the family’s black female servants.
Using stream of consciousness and
radical time shifts, Faulkner creates
a complex jigsaw of imagination
and insight, and writes with an
unparalleled understanding of race,
grief, family dysfunction, and the
decay of old Southern values.THE MAN WITHOUT
QUALITIES
(1930, 1933, 1943), ROBERT MUSILUnfinished and written in three
volumes (the third was published
posthumously), The Man Without
Qualities was the life’s work and
masterpiece of Austrian novelist
Musil (1880–1942). Eschewing plot-
driven momentum, Musil presents
a complex social vision and exposes
modern values and political folly.
Set in the twilight of the Austro-
Hungarian Empire, which is satirized
with heavy irony, the rambling
story encompasses many characters
in its more than 1,000 pages: a black
page, an aristocrat, the murderer of
a prostitute, and a hero who serves
as a detached commentator on
a collapsing society.BRAVE NEW WORLD
(1932), ALDOUS HUXLEYEnglish writer Aldous Huxley
(1894 –1963) presents in Brave New
World—whose ironic title comes243
William Faulkner
American Nobel Prize winner,
Faulkner, chronicled the South of
his country. He was born in 1897,
in New Albany, Mississippi. In
1902 his family moved to Oxford,
Mississippi, where his father
was business manager of the
university. This was where
Faulkner would spend most of
his life, and the surrounding
Lafayette County was the
inspiration for his fictional
Yoknapatawpha County, the
setting for most of his novels. He
first wrote poetry, and it wasnot until 1925 that he tackled a
novel. He also trained in Canada
as a pilot in the Royal Air Force.
Faulkner’s books often depict the
decline of the upper echelons of
society, addressing controversial
themes such as slavery; but he
also wrote about the poorer
classes. He died in 1962 at 64.Key works1929 The Sound and the Fury
(see left, opposite page)
1930 As I Lay Dying
1931 These 13 (short stories)
1936 Absalom, Absalom!US_240-245_FR_CH5.indd 243 08/10/2015 13:08