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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.52
EAN: 9780679741930
ISBN: 0679741933
Label: Vintage
Manufacturer: Vintage
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 304
Publication Date: 1995-10-31
Publisher: Vintage
Product Release Date: 1995-10-31
Studio: Vintage

Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Of floods and "hemingwaves"
Review: Originally published in 1939, it was not until 1990 that readers were finally able to read this novel as Faulkner intended. Prior to the Library of America edition, The Wild Palms was published as two separate short stories ("Wild Palms" and "Old Man") and the texts were not alternated as they are in the new edition; furthermore, this new edition resurrected Faulkner's original title for the work, If I Forget Thee, Jerusalem. To read the novel in both its manifestations is a strange experience. Read separately, the two stories are only marginally successful, have a number of loose ends and bare absolutely no resemblance to one another; read in the Library of America edition, the reader begins to see that the stories act as each other's counterpoint by juxtaposing the story of man battling society against man battling against nature. Neither man wins their battle and the theme of alienation predominates.

Viewed from an elemental viewpoint, these two stories concern themselves with the basic struggle between man and woman. One has to really do some hard searching throughout all literature to come up with two male characters that match Harry Wilbourne and the Prisoner for pure unmitigated naivety and botchery. Harry is finishing the last few weeks of his residency at a New Orleans hospital when he meets Charlotte Rittenmeyer. He is putty in the hands of Charlotte (already married with two children) who convinces him to run away together to seek a notion of love that does not die and "only leaves you when you are not good enough, worthy enough." He is deluded, seduced and brainwashed by his aggressive lover and proves to be a complete failure. Much to Charlotte's chagrin, he does not fit in with the bohemian lifestyle she seeks and spends inordinate time worrying about financial matters and respectability; more importantly, his libido does not match that of Charlotte and he is continually being attacked by his sexually insatiable partner leaving him spent and questioning his masculinity. Although Harry is very close to becoming a doctor, he gives the impression that he does not fully understand the act of conception and birth control is haphazard; eventually Charlotte becomes pregnant which leades to Harry's most serious blunder.

Whereas Harry is tempted by Charlotte and succumbs to a lifestyle of romantic platitudes and sex, the Prisoner, the main character of "Old Man", finds himself at the mercy of nature and trapped into caring for a pregnant woman he has saved from the great Mississippi flood of 1927. The event interrupted his all male existence as a convict in a prison labor camp, and exposed him to a wild world of devastating flood waters and destruction. His only goals are to survive, to protect the woman and child from death, and to fulfill his responsibiliites and oath to the prison officials to return with the rescued woman. Faulkner depicts the Prisoner as an insect floating on a raging river who has no control over his situation and only survives by his wits. There is simply no time for romance or romantic posturing. And even though he helps to deliver the woman's child and provides for their welfare, she is seen only as a burden and no romantic (or sexual) feelings develop between the man and woman. He only wants to "turn his back on her forever, on all pregnant and female life forever and return to that monastic existence of shotguns and shackles, where he would be secure from it all." The Prisoner is a simple realist - he harbors no romantic delusions and because he is dealing with the natural world he is able to succeed while Harry and Charlotte, living amongst their romantic delusions, fail. The last words of the Prisoner (now safely back in prison), which ends the novel, make it clear that he has had no second thoughts. "Women, _____! (Faulkner's blanked out word of the earlier editions is finally printed in the Library of America edition!).

Many readers have come to the conclusion that this is Faulkner's A Farewell to Arms. Indeed, there is a similarity between the names of the main characters in that novel (Catherine and Frederic Henry) and in Wild Palms (Charlotte and Harry) and some of the settings are similar: the lake and the snowy mining camp in Wild Palms, and the Lake Country of Italy and a Swiss chalet in Hemingway's novel. Also, the birth of a child leads to the death of both women characters. Faulkner even throws in a Hemingway reference in his novel. In a response to a toast, "Drink up, ye armourous sons. Keep up with the dog", McCord, a reporter friend of Harry, says, "Yah. Set ye armourous sons, in a sea of hemingwaves." But Faulkner is not one to spend much time sympathizing or sentimentalizing with his silly lovers. By interlacing one story of altruistic love with another dealing with survival in the real world, Faulkner lets the reader know where his feelings lie.

I am probably short changing this work by giving it only a three star rating, but I feel that once Faulkner leaves the safe confines of Yoknapatawpha County his work suffers. It is as if, in an attempt to apply the themes developed in that mythological county onto a more cosmopolitan canvas, he is no longer working with the same palate, but with one with fewer colors and maybe bought in a Hollywood five and dime.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: If it doesn't have punctuation in the title, it's not really Faulkner
Review: I supposed this was not a major work because I hadn't heard about it before. Nope, it's major. The most popular form of this book is to rip it in half and such that Old Man is by itself as a short novel. That's really a shame. Old Man, is a rollicking story of a man swept away on the Mississippi during the flooding of New Orleans in 1927 (Hoover's deft handling of the crisis is a large part of the reason that he became president). However, the story doubles its power when it is juxtaposed with the story of two lovers flooded out of civilization by their aching need for each other. You get two uncontrollable forces of nature, both horrifiying to encounter, and both demolishing the prisons within which the protagonists of each story are previously held (let's say the medical career path of one, and actual prison for the other). A primary question in each is whether it's better to be back in the prison or not, and there's a strong case for yes in each.

Both stories are good, but what makes this spectacular is simply the fact that the experiment is attempted. Who does things like this? There's a thematic link between the stories, but it's fairly loose. However, the back and forth interspersion paces the stories perfectly. In non-stop presentation, I think the tone of either of these would be too much to take. As it is, though, this is actually a page turner. More impressively, these aren't two stories that were slapped together (a la the Golden Slumbers medley (God forgive me) or Scenes from an Italian Restaurant) but were written at the same time after a major heartbreak. There's also the greatest two word last line of any novel that I'm aware of. I won't spoil it.

This isn't a great introduction to Faulkner, but it's a fantastic example of why people who love him love him. Milan Kundera singled this one out, maybe not as a favorite, but as a book that should be more highly recognized. I couldn't agree more. Faulkner has the problem of too many masterpieces. At this stage of his career, it's hard to ignore any of them.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Modernist Faulkner
Review: Wild Palms

This is a Faulkner must-read, but not without some problems. "Wild Palms" is as modernist a novel as anything by Virginia Woolf. The alternating stories - which seem to have no surface relationship whatsoever, is daring and artsy stuff. But does it work? The "Wild Palms" portion tells the story of two lovers, one who is married, who cast everything to the wind in order to live a bohemian life devoted to Love. I noticed one reviewer commented that theirs was a selfless love. Quite the contrary. Oh, within their bubble, Charlotte and Harry are as devoted to each other as Dante's Paolo and Francesca. And like those two, Harry and Charlotte are immolated within their own choices, their own lusts. The impact on others is never a real consideration, as they act out, with heroic resolve, their devotion - to Love. There are passages within the Wild Palms portion that are simply soaring in their beauty. It will have you recalling, A Farewell to Arms, especially the part that takes place in the Western mountains.

Old Man, which is much anthologized and thus regrettably removed from the context of this novel, in contrast to the tragic Wild Palms, is almost like low comedy - Faulkner style. There is of course powerful writing - especially the great descriptions of the Flood, that sounds like a King James appendix from Genesis. What's interesting is how the characters of Old Man are never really revealed as they are in Wild Palms. The poor convict, who shepherds the woman and her infant child along, is always having bad stuff happen to him. And he deals with it. And the woman herself, you hardly even know. She's a presence, a responsibility, a reminder if you will, of perhaps a higher order that we as humans should respond to. The two operate as archetypes more than multi-faceted characters, but archetypes have great power, as any reader of the Bible knows. On the other hand, Charlotte and Harry serve only themselves, and we are intensely aware of every shift in emotion -- and its cause. Faulkner clearly was aware of this contrast, and how you chew on it will determine what you think of the novel - and it is a novel, not just two separate stories. Faulkner links the two with Hope, as Harry makes a choice while looking through the prison bars at the end: Grief is better than nothing, which is a no-brainer for the convict of Old Man. What is also interesting is how Faulkner timed the portions. Wild Palms, which starts the book, takes place in 1937. Old Man takes place in 1927. Only ten years separates the two, but the time of Old Man is already nearly a mythic one, much like the Old Testament. The 1937 portion is hardly New Testament, and more likely an indictment from Faulkner. The modern world, with all its dehumanizing aspects, presses down and around Harry and Charlotte. There is No Exit - except the one they've sworn to as a couple. And there is something in that, however charged with Right and Wrong such a choice may be. At least Harry and Charlotte are still human. Read it.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: "The Wild Palms"--used as a meditation by Thomas Merton
Review: This book was recommended to me a few months ago by Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk who died in 1968. How this happened is as follows: I was looking through some book cases in the back of a local Catholic church, when I found some audiotapes of lectures given by Thomas Merton to monks in training during the early 60's. I had read his biography, "The Seven Storey Mountain," and wanted to hear his voice and get an idea of what he was like. I listened to many of his tapes--some were good, some not so good--but one of the tapes, titled "The Deluge," was particularly interesting to me. It discussed how the monks could use the writings of William Faulkner as inspiration for meditation on the eternal Truths of the human condition. Most of Merton's discussion was about Faulkner's book "The Wild Palms." I recommend Merton's tape "The Deluge" for those who want an interesting perspective about this book.

As for my comments about this book, I believe it is one of the most pro-life books I have ever read, particularly with its theme of abortion in "Wild Palms" contrasted with the theme of the birth of a thriving infant during the flood in "The Old Man." Also, this book shows that you never know where you will encounter virtue. The convict displays great virtue in "The Old Man" while the modern, educated people in "Wild Palms" show an obvious lack of it.

In summary, if you liked "The Wild Palms," you should listen to Merton's tape, "The Deluge." You can probably still get this through the Merton Society.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Buy it, read it
Review: This is the 4th or 5th Faulkner novel I've read. I think it should be better known. The tile of the novel is important, The Wild Palms: [If I FORGET Thee, Jerusalem]. Memory is an important theme of the novel. Pay attention to it. "The Wild Palms" is a New Testament parable, of sorts. The other novella, "Old Man," is an Old Testament parable. Escape is an important theme. Wilbourne (=Will Born, Still Born) and Charlotte travel to New Orleans, San Antonio, Chicago, etc. trying to escape. From what? From whom? On the flip side, the convict can't escape, he's a convict. But he gets an opportunity to escape in the big flood (Noah) but doesn't. Why doesn't he try to escape? Charlotte should be compared to the woman with child the convict "saves" in the flood. Abortion is a theme. Mysogony may also be a theme. Is it? Willbourne is weak, Charlotte is strong. The convict is stupid--his girlfriend, is she smart, in a calculating way? In the end, is Faulkner obliquely saying the wrong people "hooked up," that Willbourne should have ideally met the woman who has the baby, and the convict should have met Charlotte, who in the beginning of the novel just want to "escape" with Willbourne?

If you keep the above points in mind as you read the novel, perhaps it will draw you in, then you too can drown in the flood of myriad meanings and multiplicity of inferences. Overall, a good, if not great novel. Dark, brooding, nihilistic--very tasty, though! Enjoy!!

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