William Faulkner – Michael A. Kahn

Opening Passages to Greatness

Posted on April 25, 2018September 23, 2021 by Michael Kahn

The other day I stumbled upon The Heart, a wonderful series in the online version of The Atlantic in which authors discuss their favorite passages in literature. Browsing through the collection, I came upon John Rechy’s discussion of his favorite, which is the opening sentence of William Faulkner’s short story, “A Rose for Emily,” which also happens…

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A Truly Challenging Question for Me (and You)

Posted on August 1, 2017February 16, 2019 by Michael Kahn

I received an email from the folks at Goodreads asking for me to answer the following question: “If you could travel to any fictional book world, where would you go and what would you do there?” What a great question! And one you should ask yourself as well. Here’s how I answered it: I started…

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Bringing Up the Rear: The Literary Mic Drop

Posted on February 23, 2017February 23, 2017 by Michael Kahn

Many years ago, my agent offered me the following advice: “The most important sentence of your novel is the first one. The second most important sentence is the last one.” There certainly have been vivid, memorable first lines, many of which we can quote by heart–from “Call me Ishmael” in Herman Melville’s Moby Dick to “It was a bright…

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Mystery #4 for Literary Snobs: Absalom, Absalom by William Faulkner

Posted on February 20, 2013 by Michael Kahn

Faulkner flirted with the mystery genre throughout his career — Knight’s Gambit and Intruder in the Dust, for example, along with the screenplay for The Big Sleep,which he wrote. But his finest mystery also happens to be his finest novel. Absalom Absalom is, quite simply, a superior detective story and a great work of literature. The novel…

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