This past December, I went to Barnes & Noble and bought a handful of books. Among them was a William Faulkner anthology called “Collected Stories.” I have personally been a fan of the author since I read “As I Lay Dying” in my early 20s and found the potential for literature cracking open. Given the girth of the volume, I knew it would be intimidating to just read the 42 short stories front to back, so instead I’ve decided to take my time. In doing so, I plan to cover one a week until completed. I will be using this space to share my opinions of each piece as well as any stray observations I may have picked up from the greater world of Faulkner mania.
With “Shall Not Perish,” the first leg of the Faulkner journey has officially come to a close. For reasons not made clear going in, the author-curated anthology broke his 42 stories into five themed sections. The first six entries are part of “The Country.” Now the question emerges of what makes any of these resonant or important to that theme. Besides the literal location, it does feel like another piece of his Yoknapatawpha County mythology coming to light. There are of course the themes that have been an exemplary piece of his work. With that said, there’s such a diverse range of characters who all feature somewhere in the middle-to-lower class, finding stories exploring the struggle to stay afloat… or at least not burn a barn down. They may not all happen in a linear fashion (The Grier Family saga here is shared out of order), but it is interesting to see the range of topics that interest Faulkner. In some respect, ending with the story he did feels like the perfect button for all of it.
While Faulkner’s work is highly serialized, there hasn’t been a direct sequel shared that shows the obvious growth of characters. “Shall Not Perish” is the first time that suddenly the audience gets to see how a family deals with events established in “Two Soldiers” in ways only fit for a Southern Gothic tale. As evident by most of the characters here, they all owe some of their livelihood to farm life, and thus to mourn for any length of time threatens to set them back. Similar to “The Tall Men,” there’s the moral quandary of the worker’s worth as a person. Unlike that one, this isn’t some grand metaphor for Franklin Roosevelt-era politics. It’s simply a story of trying to survive during World War II.
In “Two Soldiers,” the Grier family finds two brothers struggling to deal with the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The older one, Pete, enlists to the dismay of his much younger and more helpless brother. For most readers, there’s no surety that they will either be reunited or find Pete dead from combat. After all, “Two Soldiers” references a relative who died in a previous conflict. Similarly, Faulkner cleverly shows how the military, even unintentionally, tears apart families and threatens the ecosystem by taking away farmers. It’s ambiguous, likely due in part to WWII being a complicated matter, but it’s one that eviscerates even if one imagines a happy fate.
Of all stories to make a sequel to, this one actually makes sense. Most of “Collected Stories” so far has benefited from brevity, of relying on quick set-up and payoff stories that serve as whimsical allegories. I don’t know that I would want to spend more time with the characters of “Barn Burning.” It feels perfectly contained. “Two Soldiers” is an ellipses, and “Shall Not Perish” finishes that sentence with some clear-cut answers. While it works as a finale of sorts, it’s also impressive to think of it as a conclusion of “The Country.” It’s a story of farmers once again trying to break through the bad times and keep moving forward while, quite aptly, tying many elements of these six stories together rather ingeniously.
The story is much more straightforward than many of the tales that have come before. It’s a story that starts with a bit of nostalgia, recalling the day that The Grier Boys were around Old Man Killegrew’s radio learning about Pearl Harbor. There’s the painful reality of watching innocence float away. Alas, Pete is officially gone. The moments in “Two Soldiers” were indeed the last that he was seen alive, and that’s painful no matter who this story centers on. Mrs. Grier lost a son. The unnamed boy lost a brother. The farm at Frenchman’s Bend isn’t likely to be as prosperous as it used to be. For this family, it’s the end of an era, played out in tragedy.
What makes Faulkner particularly unique when covering WWII is his ability to emphasize not just the grief, but where the guilt ultimately goes. Because of Pearl Harbor, there are many characters who blindly accuse Japanese soldiers of murdering Pete. Racism is present in a lot of their language with era-appropriate epithets appearing in the text. The feeling of a world collapsing in on them, of outside forces attacking them becomes apparent. It’s one thing when America was attacked. It was personal, but there was distance. In “Shall Not Perish,” there is no safety net or distance. The danger has hit home.
Another way that this is unique to Faulkner is how he incorporates imagery of the south. Supporting character Major De Spain also has been affected by the war. His son, an aviator, died in an attack. He was perceived as a hero and given medals. This isn’t to discredit Pete’s accomplishments, but the parallels allow for certain connections. The Griers are noticeably poor where The De Spains have a wealthiness to them, showing that everyone has been impacted by the war. Also, given that there are references to indentured servitude in the story, Faulkner is likely tying the events back to a legacy that includes the Civil War, questioning who is just in combat.
Again, the theme of farming impacts the trajectory of events. Ever since “Barn Burning,” these stories have centered around the inability to do something productive for society. Even for The Grier Family, “Shingles for the Lord” found them having a comical misfire that caused significant setbacks. They were never well off, mostly ending their stories with some sense of loss. What’s funny is that despite all of this, “Shingles for the Lord” ends with the punchline of Res Grier proudly declaring himself an arsonist. It’s the sense that no matter what, you can’t keep this family down. It’s what’s been wading through all of these stories and comes to a head here.
Many would suggest that Faulkner has written this story in the shape of three one-act stories. There is the exposition and discovery of events. They are then followed by the funeral and eventually a bunch of people gathering together to drink and try to see past the pain. After all, this is their rare moment off from farming. They need to get their spirits back up in order to plow and grow crops. There are tears, but there’s also playful poking at everyone. In keeping with The Grier stories, there’s irony. This is a sad story, but there’s still something hopeful about it. The southern spirit is one of the few things that refuses to die in this story.
I am unsure if this is the end of discussing The Grier Family, but it has been interesting to look at in the context of “Collected Stories” and Faulkner’s own publishing career. According to The Digital Yoknapatawpha Project, “Shall Not Perish” is actually part of a trilogy that was released out of order. As expected, “Two Soldiers” is followed by “Shall Not Perish” chronologically. However, the story goes that it was rejected by eight magazines before appearing in a “War Story Issue” of Story magazine that paid him $25 in July-August 1943. Because of this release order, the third entry “Shingles for the Lord” actually came out in the middle. It has been considered worth comparisons to The Snopes Family since both focus on rural families whose lives were explored through trilogies (in The Snopes’ case, it’s a trilogy that includes “The Hamlet”).
With that said, it also feels right to briefly mention other characters that have appeared here that haven’t been as covered in Short Stop. There’s Old Man Killegrew, who is almost parallel with The Grier Family in terms of appearances. He has a wife, Mrs. Killegrew, who shares appearances throughout these three stories. Of what hasn’t been covered yet, there’s also Hampton Killegrew in “Knight’s Gambit.”
Then there’s Major De Spain, who also has made a few appearances throughout “Collected Stories” so far. As of now, The De Spain family has appeared in “Barn Burning,” “A Bear Hunt,” and “Shall Not Perish.” What’s even more interesting is that while they too have a rich family life that expands many stories, their presence so far has been at odds with other relatives. Over four texts (including “The Town,” "The Mansion,” and “The Reivers”), there are two Major De Spains referenced who are reflected of different generations. In “Shall Not Perish,” this is present by having the elder De Spain alive and interacting with The Griers while discussing his son. They have a history of military figures with only one having served as a Confederate Major in the Civil War. In some respect, Faulkner is paying tribute to the lengthy history of family and their belief of a noble death.
So the question comes back to: why did Faulkner include this story? When starting this project, it felt like there wasn’t enough evidence to suggest a thematic order to everything. While I could look at “Barn Burning’ and “Shingles for the Lord” and see the theme of tragedy and comedy, I wondered if there would ever be some greater purpose. At most, Faulkner was a master at creating atmosphere, allowing himself to dig into a juicy character with a rich dialect that challenged the narrative style. What becomes even more brilliant is moments like in “A Bear Hunt” where narration works as subtext of some greater meaning of social and racial class differences.
These stories serve as the reader’s introduction to Yoknapatawpha County, of what Faulkner saw southern life to be. It’s one of sadness and tragedy, but he also could find the humor in everyday life, undercutting moments that initially felt like they held this grander levity. If this is “The Country” as he puts it, it’s people who exist outside of the urban lifestyle, who work hard to take care of their families. In almost every case, they center on farmers who are trying to get through everyday life without going crazy. There are morals mixed in, reflecting sympathy and rejoice of what it means to be alive and seeing the world not for what you don’t have, but what you do, which is usually family.
“Shall Not Perish” isn’t necessarily the most illuminating of the stories referenced here, but it does feel like the perfect button. On a thematic level, it’s allowing everyone to stop their day of work to think about their own lives in greater detail. There’s an effort to present their struggles in three dimensions, placing them in a contemporary context and suggesting that the America that Faulkner knows is capable of persevering, making the most of its sometimes miserable state. It may be imperfect, but as Res Grier would do, it’s one thing to get lost in the awfulness and quite another to just celebrate life and try to start again tomorrow with a better attitude, hoping that all of the calamity eventually works itself out.
Coming up next is “The Village.” Assuming that it’s anything like “The Country,” it will be a portrait of city life, where characters spend their days in the hustle and bustle. Given how lively farming is, where everything is tied to some richer mythology, I am curious to see where the road from here goes. We’ve seen parts of “The Village” in several stories before, but they’ve been more detours into the main plot. With that said, the opening selection is easily Faulkner’s most renowned short story: “A Rose for Emily.” Given its place as a commentary on the south’s undying love (quite literally) of the Confederacy, it’ll be interesting to see what groundwork it lays for the 10 stories going forward.
Coming Up Next: "A Rose for Emily"
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