 First edition cover (Random House) | |
| Author | William Faulkner |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Random House |
Publication date | 1948 |
| Pages | 247 |
Intruder in the Dust is a 1948 crime novel written by American authorWilliam Faulkner. Taking place inMississippi, it revolves around an African-American farmer accused of murdering a Caucasian man.
The novel focuses on Lucas Beauchamp, ablack farmer accused of murdering awhite man. He isexonerated through the efforts of black and white teenagers and a spinster from a long-establishedSouthern family. It was written as Faulkner's response as a Southern writer to the racial problems facing the South.[citation needed]
Intruder in the Dust is notable for its use ofstream of consciousness style of narration. The novel also includes lengthy passages on the Southern memory of theAmerican Civil War, one of whichShelby Foote quoted inKen Burns' 1990 documentaryThe Civil War.
The characters of Lucas Beauchamp and his wife, Molly, first appeared in Faulkner's collection of short fiction,Go Down, Moses. A story by Faulkner, "Lucas Beauchamp", was published in 1999.
The characterGavin Stevens appears as a protagonist in Faulkner's short story collectionKnight's Gambit (1949).
Intruder in the Dust was turned into afilm of the same name directed byClarence Brown in 1949 afterMGM paid film rights of $50,000 to Faulkner. The film was shot in Faulkner's home town ofOxford, Mississippi. In 1950, Faulkner was awarded theNobel Prize for Literature for "his powerful and artistically unique contribution to the modern American novel."[1] The Nobel Prize was not specifically for his novelIntruder in the Dust but for the enduring contribution of his writing as a whole.
In her contemporary review of the novel, Eudora Welty noted its humor.[2] Dayton Kohler's 1949 article noted the book's recognition of black Americans in the American south.[3] John E. Bassett has commented that this novel represents a "serious attempt to explore contemporary Southern racism through Gavin and Chick."[4] Jean E. Graham has discussed the contrasting rhetorical styles of Gavin and Chick throughout the course of the novel.[5] Ticien Marie Sassoubre has examined the novel in the context of the social issues related to lynching in the American South, and then-recent American federal law with respect to black Americans.[6]
D. Hutchinson has elucidated the unifying literary devices of the novel.[7] Peter J. Rabinowitz analyzed Faulkner's use of the detective story in the context of the "discovery novel" as compared toDostoyevsky.[8]
| Preceded by | Novels set inYoknapatawpha County | Succeeded by |
