Sanctuary, one of Faulkner’s early novels, focuses on the dark side of Southern society in post-Civil-War America. It is one of Faulkner’s more readable works. It’s a more straightforward crime mystery that is still based on the convoluted Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi.
Like many (most/all?) of Faulkner’s characters, they appear aimless and uprooted from life. While in college, the daughter of a judge is raped and is kidnapped to Memphis. She eventually becomes a sex slave in a brothel.
Most of the story lacks a foundation as much as Faulkner’s characters do. Time, as always in Faulkner, plays a central role. Although time progresses in reality, time always seem as stuck as a dead watch to these characters. They lack a basic purpose and direction in life. They had a narrative which was centered around living an aristocratic life with slaves doing the manual work; now, they do not have a sense of self. Lacking a narrative that describes who they are, they also lack a central inspiration to seek something – anything – better.
Of course, Faulkner is sophisticated and heady as always. He is less verbose than he is in many other works (think The Sound and the Fury and Absalom! Absalom! with their page-long sentences). Faulkner claimed to have written this novel purely for profit, but some question this. This book is incredibly action-packed. If anything, the plot advances too quickly rather than too slowly.
Anyone looking for character development will be disappointed by this book. Its characters are run down. In the end, they are lynched, executed for crimes that they didn’t commit, disillusioned, and sexually tortured. They illustrate how precarious life can be – how even a judge’s daughter can end up a sex slave and unable to advocate for herself.
Sanctuary
by William Faulkner
Copyright (c) 1931
ISBN13 9780679748144
Page Count: 326
Genre: Fiction, Mystery
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