Scholars have previously looked at La Vita Nouva as a set of poems written in honor of a woman named Beatrice. Such scholarship dishonors Dante Alighieri memory because he himself was married and never a poem written in honor of his own wife. Yet, we are to believe he is said to have written of a woman he bearly ever spoke to. The New Testament warning is that if you covet with your eyes you have already sin. Scholars say Dante while submitting to the embrace of marriage he loved yet another woman. This is gross and the vilest kind of love. It not only debases him but is a continuous lie to his wife. Are we to declare that Dante is in constant sin during this time that he is writing La Vita Nouva and La Divina Commedia? Nay, I say that Beatrice represented the high ideal of the Church or even to declare that Beatrice was symbolically a representation of Dante's own soul. The love he speaks of is not carnal it is divine. Love of this kind never has to be passionate to be the deepest kind of love.

The mathematics in La Vita Nouva is rightly called The Vital Life because knowing is infinitely greater than believing.

There are 31 poems with 23 of them with only 14 lines and 8 of them have more than 14 lines. The #23 is reduced to 5 giving off a play on the numbers 8 & 5. In La Divina Commedia Dante has 13 base numbers ranging from 115-160. The central 5 numbers 136-148 have 13 or 16 cantos collectively totaling to 71 cantos leaving the other 8 base numbers to divide up the other 29 cantos. So we see that Dante uses this device in both La Vita Nouva & La Divina Commedia.

The First Chapter of Genesis has 31 verses as does La Vita Nouva have 31 poems. The First Four Days of Creation have 17 (8) verses and the rest of the First Chapter of Genesis has 14 (5) verses. The First Four Days of Creation are separated from the remainder of the First Chapter of Genesis because the 1st Day of Creation has 31 Hebrew words and the 2nd Day of Creation has 38. Both Days combined has 69 Hebrew words. The 3rd & 4th Days of Creation both have 69 Hebrew Words. This pattern of 3 x 69 breaks off at the 4th Day of Creation. The 207 words in the First Four Days of Creation has the same value as the word LIGHT does in gemetria in the 1st Day of Creation: "Let there be light."

The point being made here is that those that study La Vita Nouva will grasp that there is a greater love here than carnal love and that that love has to do with spirituality and the salvation of the soul.

There is of course a great deal more mathematics in Genesis, La Vita Nouva, and La Divina Commedia that correspond but this review was merely to point out that there is more to the 31 poems and their commentaries in La Vita Nouva than the agony of unrequited love. This is so perfectly clear to those that study the book rather than reading it at the speed of summer lightning.

As well as crime solving, these stories also offer a unique and vivid portrait of the South of the forties that Faulkner captures through his characteristically tactile and vernacular use of language and shifting narrative perspective. The impoverished farmers that persist, ageless and enduring, the occasional urban outsider or foreigner, and the rich landowner of mysterious circumstances, are some of the characters that populate these stories. Tradition, inheritance, and the looming presence of war shape Faulkner's candid and non-sensational rendering of this microcosm and his tacit exploration of time and mortality.

On its surface, Knight's Gambit is a collection of mystery stories that all feature Gavin Stevens, the county attorney for Yoknapatawpha county, who is sometimes considered Faulkner's spokesperson. Even though Knight's Gambit is not a major work, it is Faulkner and therefore worthwhile by definition to many serious readers.

The mystery at the heart of each story is not found in actions, though some of the plots are puzzling, as much as in the characters' hearts and souls. The tales in this collection range from the haunting "Tomorrow," which reminds us that no one ever knows where "love or lightning either will strike," to the title selection, in which Stevens (the Knight) captures his Queen after a twenty years' quest spent translating the Old Testament.

Any of these stories would be worth a close, scholarly look, and it does help to be familiar with Faulkner's canon to appreciate them fully. However, this volume does not require a critical approach. If you like Faulkner, take a break from the constant challenge of his major works and enjoy these stories. In Knight's Gambit, Faulkner enlightens, ennobles, and entertains in almost equal measure.

I found Faulkner's style and word choices difficult at first. He assumes the reader is not lazy and will keep up with him and his stream of consciousness approach. I must admit I read half the book, became disinterested and put it down for several weeks. I then made up my mind to give it a second chance and really enjoyed it.

The story is dark and slightly twisted. There are very few admirable characters but I found myself sympathizing with most of the characters. Everyone except maybe Temple Drake has reasons for their misdeeds. I felt Faulkner was trying to convey the injustice of the time and just plain bad luck as reasons for the poor behavior or lack of optimism of the characters.

I highly recommend this book. It is gripping and real. The story got to me.

Although not major Faulkner, it is still Faulkner, and is definitely worth reading. It is set in Yoknapatawpha county, and features many characters who either appear in other books or whose relatives appear in other books. Furthermore, the key female character in the book, Temple Drake, reappears as the major character in REQUIEM FOR A NUN, written twenty years after this one. While I do not rate this anywhere nearly as highly as many of his other books, being something of an oddity, it is nonetheless absolutely not a waste of time. While there are many sensationalist elements, there are still many magnificent sentences that read more like poetry than prose, and many of the characters are memorable.

If one is wanting to read only one or two books by Faulkner, I would not recommend this one. I would recommend instead AS I LAY DYING or, if one is feeling more ambitious, ABSALOM, ABSALOM. But if one is planning on reading all of the major works of Faulkner, then this is a book one should not skip. Minor Faulkner is better than the major works of many other writers.

My favorite section is Dilsey's, the Compson's aged black female servant. In the screwed up household, she is the only one who is normal. She is the only one there left who cares for Benjy, after his sister, Caddy, leaves, for one thing. She is also the only one who tries to take care of Quentin, Caddy's daughter whom she named such after her dead brother. Dilsey has such a grasp on life. "I've seen the first, and I've seen the last," is one quote that sticks with me. I wonder if she is merely talking about the rise and fall of the Compson family, or if it means more than that....

I am very disappointed with the people who bashed the novel. When I was frustrated with this novel, I did not blame it on Faulkner, but on my lack of ability to understand him. With help from my English instructor, however, I discovered one of the greatest American novels ever written.

The book deals with the saga (I hate to use that word but it applies very well in this case) of the Compson family of Jefferson, Mississippi, a once-proud clan now shamefully falling from grace, generation by generation. The story, which I will not divulge, is told four times- each time by a different character, comprising a separate section of the book. Each section is somewhat different, as different people often see the same event differently depending on their viewpoints, opinions, and experiences.

The first section is told by Benjy, a profoundly retarded man. The next is told by Quentin, his brother; the third by Jason (another brother); and the last is omniscient though it concentrates on the thoughts of the housekeeper. There is no narrative to speak of, and the thought patterns of the disturbed characters are very nonlinear, to say the least. All three brothers are, in one way or another, obsessed with their sister Caddy. The reader is never introduced to Caddy and is thus forced to paint a picture of her from the contradictory descriptions of her brothers' thoughts.

There are various tragic twists and turns and the reader is not sure what really happened until the end of the book (and sometimes not even then). But enough plot... read the book yourself for that. I want to talk about Jason-

It is often said that the sections become easier to read as the book proceeds. Fair enough, because the first section refers to events which the reader cannot know have taken place yet. However, it is concomitantly assumed that as the book continues, the character telling the story becomes more sane. Jason is considered as a mean but sensible character, who runs a tight ship. This is, to me, nonsense. Jason is completely psychotic. His interactions with ALL the characters in the book indicate this. He constantly claims that money is not important, and yet he hoards nickels and dimes in his room and steals from his own family... not just theft but an elaborate embezzlement scheme of forgery and pretending to burn checks. He claims that he would never bet on a team with Babe Ruth, even if he knew in advance that it would win- and then complains that his "jews" ie stock informers from New York are withholding market information from him just to ruin him. Paranoia is a definite sign of psychosis to me. Quentin, on the other hand, is completely neurotic.

A psychotic man thinks that 2+2 = 5. A neurotic man knows that the answer is 4, BUT IT BOTHERS HIM! Chew on that one for a bit...

As Faulkner himself admitted, the book was a failure in that it was unclear. This, however, leads to a thesis discussed in his next novel, that of.... can it possibly be revealed using our system? Are words adequate to reveal the story? Words get in the way sometimes, after all, clouding up communication. Either way, it's an interesting idea, no? It sure beats Grisham novels at least....By the way, don't use cliff's notes... instead, go to the site "William Faulkner on the Web" for help with the jump cuts through time in the first two sections.

Check it out!

The first part of the story is narrated by Benjy Compson, an idiot who relates incidents as they come to his mind, in his order, not chrnological, or any logical order. This is indeed frustrating at first, it is supposed to be- just like the life Benjy suffered. But don't stop, peel away the next layers of the story offered by Quinten Compson and Jason Compson. And then when you re-visit Benjy's narrative it unfolds into a fascinating exploration of his world. A pain-filled world where golfer's playing on the pasture that was once the family's and yelling for the "caddie" bring him bellowing like a wounded cow.

Read and feel the pain of Quinten's love for Caddy as he strools the streets of Cambridge looking for a place in the Cambridge river to catch his shadow that is always either ahead of him or behind him but never part of him until. . .. And finally there is the rage that is Jason Compson. A rage driven by the living ghost of Caddy and the family's impotence to change their life of arrested development in Yoknapatawpha County.

Don't read this because you have to. Read this because you love literature and find reward in the perserveance of peeling away layers until you find the core that Faulkner left for us.

i read. i read a lot. i majored in creative writing and english because i loooove books and criticism. (does this pre-qualify me for faulkner? hardly, i'm just giving myself a few wobbly stilts worth of "reading credentials"). i armed myself. i knew it'd be tough. i'm unafraid to ask for help/use cliff notes, etc., and that's what i did.

it didn't help. oh sure, i understood it, but once unraveled it's just another incestous, suicidial, land obsessed, southern novel. i'm just not into books that take every ounce of my stamina to keep reading, books that make sense to no one but the author, and readers who've used the assistance of a zillion critics, who've spent lifetimes pouring over every single itty-bitty word in order to make some sense of it.

hooray for those who find the genius, hooray for faulkner for opening up doors that lead into hallways filled with self-induldgent experimental drivel, and self-induldgent brilliance.

i still didn't enjoy it. but i have to give it 3 stars because of where it took literature.

just be warned.

To say I respect this book is an understatement. The Sound and the Fury was my Rosetta Stone. When I finally understood the degradation of the post-slave south, the swiftly eroding morality, the hypocrisy, and the questioning of the meaning of religion and human value... all books became easier to read. I have become a literary snob, reading only those books that attack my values and intellect, and I blame that torrid dypsomaniac William Faulkner. From the Macbeth Act V, Scene V quote that sets the stage to the reccurent symbols to the overwhelming pain of every carefully chosen word, I have never been so challenged since. Don't buy the one-star reviews. Great works of literature and art aren't great because they are pablum for the masses, they are great because they demand the reader to grow and question everything held dear. Emily Dickensen said the only poetry worth reading is that which lops your head off. This novel is the guillotine for anyone who believes intelligence is a matter of cleverness. Caveat Lector and enjoy.

As I Lay Dying is a tale of a poor, white family in the south. After the death of the mother, the family undergoes the task of traveling to her hometown to bury her. While the basic story may seem bland, it is actually far from it!!! Like most stories, there are obstacles that must be overcome, but what makes this story so wonderful is Faulkner's characterization. The story is told from the perspectives of various characters, each one explaining the same events from different points of views. Through this type of writing, Faulkner does not simply inform you of the characters, he lets you experience them. I can definitely say that each character touched my heart in one way or another. By the end of the story, I was cussing and crying. It was almost as though the characters and the story were based on real people and circumstances.

What else might I say that would explain how wonderful this book is? I suppose that what touched me most was how a family that people sterotyped as worthless revealed more honor, more devotion, and more heroism than could have ever been thought. It is an eye-opening book about life and responsiblity, about honor and pride. It is a book that everyone should definitely read at least twice.