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.
As the journey through “Collected Stories” enters “The Wasteland,” it appears that the scope continues to narrow. After two sections that were only thematically tied together by geography, the recent run has narrowed in on family and events that reflect Faulkner’s personal interests. The characters depicted in “Ad Astra” are not necessarily standalones like they were in “The Wilderness,” but they reflect a perspective that has been on the periphery of most of this anthology. Almost every character is indebted to a battle between forces, good and evil duking it out for a sense of American liberty. Along with exploring what justice means from an ethical standpoint, there’s been an impressive amount of attention focused on the fallout of war, including how death and trauma can impact generations for decades to come.
It was found in stories like “Shall Not Perish” where two families bond over death, or “Death Drag” and how combat can traumatize one into addiction. The main difference between these tales and “Ad Astra” is that this one focuses on The Great War, or more commonly known as World War I. Whereas most writers tend to focus on the later war, Faulkner appears to be interested in the one that’s often forgotten in public discourse. Even then, there’s a lot of significant, life changing substance to exploring what is commonly referred to as “The Lost Generation.” While many would look to Ernest Hemmingway as a more definitive voice on the subject, the fact is that a generation looking for meaning and identity is a subject that anyone worth their merit should explore.
The other thing that separates everything that came before with “Ad Astra” is the fact that it’s a military story set in France. A group of characters journey to Cloche-Clos to commemorate the end of the war. As the opening line will suggest, there is an uncertainty about what surviving this war makes any of the characters. They may have started as Americans, but were they also in the midst of dying, fading into irrelevance as they plan a return trip home? This is a cross-section of characters in a fairly muddled story listening to a conversation between an Indian sabadar and a Prussian aviator captured during the battle. Even the narrator once again remains invisible until the very end, revealing how much everyone is searching for their identity in this strange moment of their lives.
One of the most effective parts of this story is how Faulkner depicts the various backgrounds who have been assembled to fight this war. Much like Rick’s in Casablanca (1942), there is something compelling about seeing people from elsewhere forced to observe other people and interact. They all had a shared goal, and yet they all wanted different things. In the other stories, the heroic perspective is predominantly American, making the world feel small and insular. There may have been a lot of problems, but they were solved by people within the same land mass. Everyone fought in the Civil War amongst themselves. Here in WWI, there are different corners wanting to restore peace and, as readers now will realize, this was only a temporary solution. World War II was about to thrust the entire globe into one of the most notorious conflicts known to mankind.
Among the simpler conflicts surrounding what it takes to be American is Bland’s wife. As a Rhodes scholar in the Royal Flying Corps. who is suggested to have not even engaged in combat. He is almost passive, which would make him an easy hostile target. Despite his high intellect, he seems to be allusive, even suggesting that he has a wife back home. Even as Mrs. Bland is referenced in the closing paragraph, there is little to suggest that he is married, making the search for identity even more enigmatic. Everyone wants that stability and belief that everything will work out, and yet maybe that’s disingenuous. Everyone could be annoyed at Bland, but to leave Europe healthy is an outright dream, albeit with more valor in tow.
Another example is Sartoris, believed to be Bayard Sartoris III, whose part in the war is trying to cope with the loss of his twin brother in the air force. He doesn’t talk much and there’s a suggestion that no amount of revenge will fix this situation. Given that Faulkner would explore this relationship in greater detail in the novel “Flags in the Dust,” there’s the suggestion of how much The Lost Generation sacrificed for their freedoms. Elsewhere, there is Monaghan from an “Irish shanty” who self-made his wealth and thus symbolizes another dream of growing from the lower class to an upper one. Everyone is doing what they can to build a substantial life, and it appears like no amount of wealth, family, or education stands to save them.
“Ad Astra” is a story about immigrants, of families being torn apart by what is sold as a patriotic sacrifice. Much like “Shall Not Perish,” there is a subtext that Faulkner is questioning why anyone would give up their lives for war. It may be sold as a patriotic duty, but when a loved one is lost, it stands to tear apart functions within the family unit, even as in “Two Soldiers” a sense of economy in everyday life. There is an implicit sense of tragedy in everyone’s lives, and the struggle to feel like their victory is just that is a confounding search for meaning.
As an introduction to “The Wasteland,” it does feel like a story fitting of the larger title. The Lost Generation was named such because of how psychologists believed The WWI Era produced people that were directionless in life, searching for meaning and not always being successful. The title has a perfect sense of false promises, of feeling disillusioned by what is found on the other side. While many of the characters in “Collected Stories” features some sense of disappointment, one stands to reason that “Ad Astra” is starting off this section with a deep exploration of how complicated it was to live through WWI and try to act like your patriotic duty was a worthwhile accomplishment.
The title “Ad Astra” ties perfectly with the subject matter. Derived from the Royal Ari Force slogan “to the stars,” it’s the sense that gazing into the galaxy will produce something wondrous and new. As expansive as it is, it’s also isolating and can leave one feeling puny and insignificant. Nothing puts one’s life into perspective quite like placing themselves in some place, like France, where you’re not the primary identity. While everyone is a soldier, they are not all from America nor are they all able to communicate in a manner that is comforting. Maybe Bland making up a relationship is what’s necessary to sleep at night, to feel connected to something more tangible. Everyone believes these ideologies will make life easier, but who’s to say it actually will?
One of the more interesting things about Faulkner’s “Ad Astra” is that this is theoretically not the only story with that title. The other one is rumored to be lost to time while the published one was written in late 1930. It first appeared in American Caravan in 1931 and was revised for “These 13.” As evident by his other stories, the author’s love of aviation informs his perspective and reflects the individuals who flew planes as being complex, noble heroes. Their bravery among the stars makes them mythic, but also distant from others. It also explains why this one text inspired a whole array of stories, both in short fiction and novels, that includes the five WWI tales gathered in “The Wasteland.”
Breaking down the different connections, the easiest one to start with is Bayard Sartoris III, who is from one of the most prominent families in Faulkner’s Yoknapatawpha County lore. In this case, he and his win brother are the central subjects of the “Flags in the Dust.” In the novel, the twin brother is named Johnny, and his fate is further explored. Between the two, they are also featured in stories that include “There Was a Queen” and the novel “The Mansion.” Other characters from “Ad Astra” that also appears in “Flags in the Dust” include Monaghan and Comyn. In “The Sound and the Fury,” Bland is given the first name of Gerald Bland where he is a Harvard contemporary and a staunch womanizer.
As an introduction to “The Wasteland,” this is a bit subdued and wandering. It has all of the rich themes of isolation baked into every character, managing to find these narratives having just enough holes to make them seem like they’re lacking something in their lives. It’s an introduction to The Lost Generation, which will be interesting to see if Faulkner shares any sympathy for them, especially as a member of that generation. He’s written plenty of contemporary stories, but here he feels like he’s psychoanalyzing and trying to find a sense of self within these figures that would soon become mythic. Given how few truly know the complicated nature of war, Faulkner’s effort to explore those lost among the stars may be just as fruitful as him attempting to explore colonization through the eyes of one Native American family.
For now, “Ad Astra” is a decent enough start and further evidence that “Collected Stories” is a lot more fulfilling to read as a giant canvas of how he saw the world. This is a story that’s spanned centuries and identities. It’s now crossed continents and found ways to prove that Faulkner was never wanting to explore solely how America came to be. Sometimes it was about how the individual desired to survive and find meaning within their own lives. As everyone waits for the next phase of their life in a bar, they wallow in thought. They may not all understand each other culturally, but they can on a human level. It may be what defines the characters that follow, who have done so much for freedom and lost so much to get there. Is this going to be the ultimate portrait of Faulkner’s vision of The Lost Generation? If anything, it already feels far more personal than the other sections and I can only hope it continues to progress that way.
Coming Up Next: "Victory"
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