The Long, Hot Summer



This is the first installment in the Snopes trilogy, which delves into the decline of Southern aristocracy in Faulkner's fictional Yoknapatawpha County. Simultaneously, it showcases the rise of capitalism through the devious, cold-blooded, and crooked Snopes family. The Hamlet explores the early years of the Snopes clan as they ascend to power, while the mainstay families like the Compsons and the Sartorises experience a decline in wealth and influence.



Abner "Ab" Snopes, the family patriarch, relocates his wife and two children to Frenchman's Bend from an unknown place. He starts his life as a tenant farmer on Varner property. It is discovered that Ab might have been a horse thief in the past, and the townspeople soon learn, to their dismay, that he is also a barn burner. Ab's son Flem, who could perhaps be considered the anti-hero of the trilogy, begins his upward climb in Volume I. He starts as a store clerk and eventually becomes a landowner and an entrepreneur trader.



A rather strange character in the story is Ike Snopes, a cousin. He is a dim-witted ne'er-do-well who develops an unrequited carnal attraction - thank goodness - for a cow.



This novel has piqued my interest enough to continue with the trilogy, although I don't have a strong sense of anticipation. Like most of Faulkner's works, except perhaps for Light in August, one has to be diligent and persevere to reap the rewards of reading.



An interesting fact is that I'm fairly certain this is the only Faulkner novel that was made into a relatively big budget film and achieved some moderate success. The film, titled "The Long, Hot Summer" (1958), starred Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, and Orson Welles. Welles, unfortunately, had the absolute worst Southern accent that has ever graced the silver screen.

Faulkner is truly one of a kind. His writing has the power to both astonish and perturb. In "The Hamlet," he takes readers on an emotional roller coaster that涵盖了各种情感，甚至包括令人捧腹大笑的时刻，信不信由你。然而，他也毫不避讳地展现了人类的丑恶一面，如尸体腐烂、兽行、谋杀、背信弃义、对女性的长期虐待等等，这些都是典型的福克纳式主题。

我给这本书打五星，因为它当之无愧。不过，我可能不会再读一遍了。尽管如此，那家伙确实很会写作！

我和戴夫一起读了这本书。在阅读过程中，我们都遇到了一些现实生活中的事情，这多少影响了我们的阅读体验，但我们还是坚持读完了，为此我们应该获得额外的功德分。现在我们都期待着读一些轻松的作品，比如达尔文的《进化论》之类的。

Faulkner is Faulkner.


And that means his writing is going to have a profound impact on you. It will both amaze and disgust you.


In "The Hamlet," he takes you on a wild ride of emotions, with moments of hilarity and also some rather disturbing scenes.


Five stars because he is a master of his craft. But I don't think I'll read it again.


Sholy, though, that feller could write!


Buddy reading with Dave was a great experience, despite the distractions of real life. We both deserve credit for finishing it. And now we're ready for something a little lighter.

The Hamlet is the first installment in William Faulkner's renowned Snopes Trilogy. This postbellum Southern novel is set in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the rural world of Frenchmen's Bend, a part of Faulkner's fictional Yoknapatawpha County. It lies twenty miles southeast of Jefferson and was once the site of a vast pre-Civil War plantation. Even though the mansion is now in ruins, it is still known as the Frenchman's place. Little is known about the Frenchman himself, not even by Will Varner, who now owns a significant portion of the original grant, including the site of the ruined mansion.

As the story begins, Abner Snopes rents a farm in Frenchman's Bend, but rumors suggest that fires follow him. Will and his son, Jody Varner, hire Ab's son Flem to work in their general store, hoping it will prevent any barn-burning. We are also introduced to Eula, the Varners' daughter, and Mr. Labove, the school teacher/administrator, and his difficulties with Eula in the classroom. As the narrative progresses, we encounter numerous characters, many of whom are Snopes. Although I initially struggled with the book, once I sorted out the Snopes characters and became immersed in the story, it proved to be quite engaging, with plenty of humor. Faulkner often dedicates many pages to describing a Snopes character, similar to James Joyce, before revealing who he is talking about. And yet another Snope enters the narrative. Much of the novel focuses on Flem Snopes' rise and fall as he plots various swindles in Frenchman's Bend. However, the key to the characters in The Hamlet is the presence of V.K. Ratliff, an itinerant sewing machine salesman and the true keeper of the county's history and news. The story unfolds through Ratliff's omniscient narration. It is proposed that The Snopes Trilogy is all about storytelling in a collective voice and from multiple perspectives. I eagerly anticipate the next book in the trilogy, The Town.

The Hamlet offers a rich and complex exploration of the Southern rural society, filled with memorable characters and engaging plotlines. Faulkner's masterful storytelling and vivid descriptions bring this world to life, making it a must-read for fans of Southern literature.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in exploring the themes of family, power, greed, and the human condition in the context of the postbellum South.

The time following the American Civil War (1861 - 1865) and Reconstruction (1865 - 1877), for a decade or two after that, the place of northern Mississippi in the quiet small village of Frenchman's Bend was in a state of decay.

In the post antebellum South, with the thick impoverished atmosphere of civilization's collapse, this land was drenched. Survival was everything. People scratched a living in little farms, barely putting food in their empty bellies, living in compact crumbling homes. Inside, dirty faced children with soiled clothes, and their parents were the same.

The big man in town and county was old Will Varner, the owner of a Mansion, which was a dilapidated plantation. The roof was full of holes, and there was an ugly sparse chandelier, if you could even call it that. There was no furniture, and he spent most of his time outside in a chair, which was the best part of the structure.

Things were changing even in the isolated hamlet. Jody Varner ran his father Will's store and hired a clerk, Flem Snopes, one of numerous in his family entering Yoknapatawpha County. Try pronouncing that name! The Varner's, who owned many worthless farms, had let suspected barn burner Ab Snopes rent one. Yes, Flem's father, and the two families would mix it up, but who ruled the town?

V.K. Ratliff, a very good sewing machine salesman, knew everyone. In his travels on back roads by a buckboard wagon pulled by two tired horses, a mismatched team, to towns, to cities, and mostly farms, he could make a dirt poor farmer buy a machine for his wife on installment. The state is still last today in wealth.

Ratliff, the wisest man in Frenchman's Bend, was frequently absent due to the need to eat. However, when there, he liked sitting outside Varner's store with others, bored local men whittling. However, news, gossips, and telling jokes were the main attractions, especially the witticism of Ratliff.

Ratliff, in my opinion, is the heart and soul of the novel. His quite wide knowledge of the four neighboring counties is priceless for information. This gives power and influence. If you want to sell things in these bleak times, it is a prerequisite. News, not just your ability but the opportunities for any success, is needed.

This is the first in the Snopes Trilogy by the renowned William Cuthbert Faulkner, a writer of the deep south, a Nobel prize winner, and a giant in literature. I can attest to his talents having read five novels from the author, and a sixth I'll consume soon (not literally), my friends. All are good, some better than others obviously since they were written by humans, not robots. Two are my favorites so far, The Reivers, a comedy, and As I Lay Dying, a mix of both the grotesque and a snippet of amusing scenes.

If you are planning to read Faulkner, you must be prepared to take your meat raw.

It has been decades since I initially read The Hamlet, and I had forgotten how coarse and unrestrained the writing could be at times.

It was as if Faulkner wanted you to never mistake this world for one in which there was any refinement or justice or sanity.

He seemed to mean to reveal how unendurable a life could really be.

The story, or rather stories as there are several told here with only the barest thread to hold them together, is violent and intense.

It has a broodiness that sometimes makes it difficult to turn the page and continue, yet equally impossible to stop reading.

I’m not sure there is a single character within these pages that is likeable enough to even elicit a sustained feeling of sympathy, let alone affinity.

It is a dirty, hot, sticky world where sweat-stained shirts cling to dirty backs, children run bare-footed, women are beaten or bartered by their husbands or fathers, and tobacco juice drips from nasty, uncombed beards.

There is a cow and an imbecile, and I am not even going there.

Life is cheap and entertainment comes in the form of misery and murder.

I hate the south of Faulkner’s novels, and yet I love it as well.

It is gritty and blank and a law unto itself.

Even the people at the top of this crumbling society seem trapped.

They are more survivors than rulers and must be wary every moment so as not to be usurped or displaced.

No villainy is intolerable and, in such a climate, no villainy is unpracticed.

Your only chance is to be a Snopes and have a clan at your back, but then be careful because the man at your back, who is not a Snopes, might be carrying a knife.

No one would accuse Faulkner of being easy or fun to read, but after you have parsed a sentence and gleaned the meaning, there is so much to admire.

His writing is complex and rich, filled with layers of meaning and emotion that require careful consideration.

Despite the harshness and brutality of the world he描绘s, there is also a strange beauty and a profound understanding of the human condition.

Faulkner’s novels are not for the faint of heart, but for those who are willing to engage with them, they offer a rewarding and unforgettable reading experience.

Published in 1940, "The Hamlet" holds a significant position as the first book of the novel trilogy on Snopes.

During a press conference, Faulkner revealed that he penned it in the late 1920s.

Similar to most of Faulkner's works, the action unfolds in the renowned county of Yoknapatawpha. However, what sets this novel apart is that the focus isn't solely on narrating a story. More precisely, it doesn't center around the decline of great families in the South as seen in other novels.

The Snopes family, especially Flem, lies at the heart of the stories. They are impoverished little white people, and Flem is a devious character hell-bent on achieving success by any means necessary. The book is set in a rural community, where Flem operates half by trickery and half by the fear he instills. Eventually, Flem manages to settle down and brings in a number of his family members. There, he discovers the first step of the social ladder, which paves the way for his remarkable ascent, a journey that will be further explored in the subsequent volumes of the trilogy.

The novel consists of four parts, which could almost be read separately like short stories. Yet, when read together, they assume an entirely different significance, illuminating and complementing each other, much like a melody with several voices. Firstly, we witness Flem's arrival and establishment, followed by the introduction of other family members. We also follow the destiny of Eula, the daughter of the local notable, Wille Varner, who will later become Flem's wife.

"The Hamlet" is a truly stunning novel, remarkable for its great richness in both construction and the themes it addresses. The human characters are described in a very endearing way, making it a captivating read.

Snopes is the very essence of the pitiless clan spirit that gave birth to America.

You can encounter him in soap operas, where he takes on the roles of JR Ewing and others. He can also be found among priests of the Elmer Gantry caliber, and in those who construct their lives and amass their fortunes through cheating, tricking, and操纵 the courts. He lurks wherever there is a wild west cowboy machismo spirit that he can exploit to his benefit. Wherever there is a man obsessed with gold and success, a Snopes will emerge to lead him astray and destroy him. For every Armstid who goes clinically insane, the Snopes clan laughs and enriches themselves, while the community looks on in silent, powerless fury.

It requires a Faulkner to present it in such a manner that the reader empathizes despite the rage building up like a conflagration in an overly dry forest. It takes a Faulkner to showcase the Spaghetti Western types in all their idiocy and, simultaneously, offer a brutally honest reflection on them. When Mrs Littlejohn speaks up after the incident with the wild horses, she is addressing the entire group of good-for-nothings, not just the wretched Armstid who ruined his family and himself in a moment of hubris:

"Go outside. See if you can't find something else to play with that will kill some more of you."

When Mrs Tull and Mrs Armstid are unable to obtain justice in court, they walk out with dignity, while the cowboys remain silent and thus complicit, even as they witness one Snopes lying in court with his fingers on the bible to safeguard the financial interests of another Snopes. Shamelessness prevails in the battle for power, but the women emerge victorious in the fight for the dignity and integrity of humanity.

Summing up the experience of the American Dream turning into a nightmare for the majority of people, Faulkner discovers the festering wound within the organism:

"I am stronger than him. Not righter. Not any better, maybe. But just stronger."

And so, he will do what he is capable of doing. And he does. Until someone even stronger comes along and plays the same game. Needless to say, there will be no shoes for the numerous children anytime soon, as the five dollars a mother earns through years of additional evening work can be squandered away in a fit of machismo and greed, time and time again.

Faulkner represents realistic tragedy. Until the women prevail in court, nothing will change.

Faulkner's first Snopes novel serves as a significant bridge from modernism to postmodernism. The narrator, while not entirely unreliable, is a rather crafty character. The story unfolds largely through hearsay, with the narrator knowing more than the average person but not much more than the town gossips who loiter on the store gallery, chewing tobacco, smoking pipes, and munching on crackers with cheese.

The Snopes family represents a cultural shift and a change in the way of life in this small Mississippi village at the turn of the 20th century. Barn burning and horse trading are still important, but everything is about to change. In this first book of the Snopes series, the reader can only sense the impending changes; they are not yet fully explicit.

Not all the Snopes are shrewd, diligent, and resilient, but the main family member, Flem, embodies all three qualities. He is not only clever but also downright mean. Most of the townsfolk are rather dry and terse, and their dialogue can seem a bit harsh. However, characters like Will Varner and the sewing machine salesman, Ratliff, bring at least some cheer.

This type of fiction is so rich in truth that the reader feels as if a real history is being told. We are introduced to a myriad of other Snopes, from a supposedly pious schoolteacher to a budding blacksmith to a mentally disabled cousin with rather unsavory predilections. Flem seems to conjure up a cousin whenever he ascends to a higher position in the community's primitive hierarchy, with the newcomer taking his old place, all to Flem's benefit as the top Snopes.

Faulkner discusses sex frankly without crossing into vulgarity, even by 1940 Southern Baptist standards. The novel also contains elements of murder, domestic violence, racism, and misogyny, which Faulkner skewers in a slick and subtle way, never resorting to preaching. The game of American Football is a new addition around the time the novel is set, and it is briefly discussed and described. We learn about the secrets of horse trading and how those traders gave rise to the used-car salesmen of later decades. These asides add unexpected interest to the narrative.

The Hamlet explores how some people take advantage of others, how pitiful those being exploited can be, and how miserable those doing the exploiting can also be. This has been a recurring theme in the world of humans since before writing and even before speaking. Some of those who are walked on deserve little pity as they are sickeningly weak. Men stand by and watch a woman being abused by her idiot husband, and they gather to witness the intellectually disabled Snopes' inappropriate behavior. Faulkner calls out his kin, his fellow Mississippians, Americans, and human beings in general. Varner and Ratliff are wise, but their wisdom is no match for Flem Snopes' shrewdness and cold perseverance. The book is a statement about a new era in America, where knowledge and decency are being overtaken by calculation, organization, and coldhearted conniving. It shows how a narrative with a narrow scope can touch on just about everything under the sun.

The Hamlet: Faulkner's Novel of the Snopes Trilogy

Reviewed by V.K. Ratliff

Things were eerily quiet down at Frenchman's Bend. Well, not up at the old Sutpen place. This was down south and east of town. Every man there knew the ins and outs of how things worked. It wasn't exactly the most idyllic place to live. Old Will Varner pretty much owned everything of any value. Most of the men farmed their cotton on shares on land owned by Varner. But at least a man could make a living on those shares and have a roof over his head, which he likely paid Varner for. And when they harvested their crop, Varner ginned it. Then they got their shares. Their credit was also good at Varner's store, but that came out of their shares too.

Now, I vividly remember the day Ab Snopes came to the Bend. I had known him since I was eight years old. He had been around Yoknapatawpha all the way back to the War Between the States, him and Granny Millard dealing in mules, mostly the same mules over and over. That whole business seemed to have soured the man.

Ab came into town and that darn fool Jody, Old Will's son, went and rented to him. Renting to a barn burner isn't a smart business move. It never has been. You can ask Colonel de Spain in town. Of course, nobody ever proved that Ab did that. Jody's eyes got as big as saucers when I told him what he had gone and done.

But Ab wasn't the worst of it. It was that son of his, Flem. And Flem got hired on as a clerk down at the store. It was kind of like a type of fire insurance if you get my meaning.

Then those Snopeses came crawling into the hamlet like cockroaches out of the woodwork. Except it was more like those locusts Moses called down on Egypt. That Flem. He had a real head for money. Better than Jody and as good as Will Varner. But he was like that catarrh that fills up your chest when you have the ague. You hawk and cough and it's stuck there until you can finally hawk it up. Then even when you spit it out, you still taste it. That was Flem.

Nobody could beat Flem. And he even did away with credit at the store. Will Varner had a daughter named Eula. A real pretty thing. I don't think she knew the effect she had on men, not for a while until all the boys came around. And then it was the older ones who showed up. She had more moving parts on her than a woman should be allowed. And when she got pregnant, it was Flem who married her. And then they were off to Texas.

There's a whole lot more you'll find out about those Snopeses. And I'm ashamed to say that me and Henry Armstid and Bookwright, without realizing it, made it possible for Flem and that crowd of his cousins to head to Jefferson. Good old V.K., the one everybody likes, nodding, smiling, selling sewing machines on notes, telling tall tales. And everybody would just laugh and laugh. But there's nothing to laugh about anymore. All that greed, all that's dishonest and untruthful is heading into town. Good God Almighty, what have I gone and done? That Flem, thinking a little tie and a white shirt and money can make a man respectable. I'm going to have to watch him and all of them. It's what I let loose. Surely.

Like his earlier work The Unvanquished, which introduced Ab, the very first Snopes in Yoknapatawpha County, The Hamlet is composed of approximately a half dozen short stories. It serves as the first installment in a trilogy that chronicles the rise and fall of Ab's son, Flem. However, in this book, you won't gain much insight into Flem's thoughts or feelings.

As the quote goes, "The first man Flem would tell his business to would be the man that was left after the last man died. Flem don't even tell himself what he is up to. Not if he was laying in bed with himself in a empty house in the dark of the moon."

Nor will you have a chance to look into the inner life of Eula, his wife. Nevertheless, her exterior is vividly and sensuously described.

The description such as "...her entire appearance suggested some symbology out of the old Dionysic times - honey in sunlight and bursting grapes, the writhen bleeding of the crushed fecundated vine beneath the hard rapacious trampling goat - hoof."

But the diverse cast of characters who surround and interact with these two, the men plotting against Flem for money and lusting after Eula's body, and the women attempting to clean up the resulting chaos, offer a wealth of entertainment that reminds one of Dickens and Twain.

I haven't completed the trilogy yet, and I'm not sure if Faulkner will convince me that the impoverished citizens of Frenchman's Bend were better off being mistreated by the feudal Varner family rather than the rising, capitalist Snopes clan he detests. But I have discovered an abundance of dark humor, pathos, and horror in this Southern Gothic masterpiece.

As the quote states, "I thought that when you killed a man, that finished it, he told himself. But it don't. It just starts then."

[3.4] This particular novel, which is a compilation of episodic stories centered around the townspeople residing in a Mississippi hamlet, truly let me down.

Especially when compared to the other novels I have had the pleasure of reading by Faulkner, which were nothing short of amazing.

Faulkner does manage to introduce some rich and humorous characters within the pages of this novel. However, the way the story skips around and only skims the surface of the characters and their lives makes it extremely difficult for me to become fully involved and invested in the narrative.

It feels as if there is so much potential that is left untapped, and I can't help but be disappointed by what could have been a truly great novel.

The Hamlet is a truly typical Faulkner work, being both brilliant and maddening simultaneously, often on the very same page. Just like most of his literary creations, it delves deep into the complexities of the South in the aftermath of the Civil War and Reconstruction. The story chronicles Flem Snopes' ascent to power in Frenchman’s Bend, that sleepy little corner of Yoknapatawpha county. It zeroes in on morality, greed, and the significant shift in power from the old-moneyed class to a new rapacious one. As always, the decline of the old aristocracy in the South is just beneath the surface, constantly palpable. Faulkner doesn't mince words when describing Flem:

“His eyes were the color of stagnant water......His face was as blank as a pan of uncooked dough”

As is his usual style, Faulkner's use of language is both clever and challenging:

“I don't know how he slept; I never listened to see”
“looking now and then toward the dark front of Varner's store as people will gather to look quietly at the cold embers of a lynching”

The various stories within the novel are held together by the thinnest strand of cotton, and are related by diverse characters, which enables the novel to unfold from multiple perspectives. It provides a wonderful portrayal of life in rural Mississippi. This isn't the absolute best novel that Faulkner penned, but it is very good indeed and serves as a great starting point for the Snopes Trilogy. A big thank you goes out to my friend Debi Cates for being such an outstanding reading partner for this one. I'm eagerly anticipating the next installment.