FAULKNER, William. Intruder in the Dust. New York: Random House, 1948.
8vo. Original black cloth, spine and front cover titled in gilt with blue capitals; with McKnight Kauffer illustrated dust wrapper; pp. [vi], 247, [i]; slight bruising to head of spine and publishers device faded; a little very light rubbing to top corners of wrapper and bottom of spine, otherwise a near fine copy.
First edition of this novel about murder and the mass mind, the popularity of which was instrumental in gaining Faulkner the Nobel Prize.
Sometimes it's better to be blind and see with your heart, than to have perfect vision and a mind closed to the truth.
Based on true events witnessed by the author, Intruder in the Dust was written as Faulkner's response to the racial problems facing the South in Post-World War II America. Although it was written 12 years before To Kill a Mockingbird, the two stories have very similar parallels of racial inequality. The story revolves around an elderly black farmer arrested for the murder of a white man and under threat from the lynch mob. His hope lies with a young white boy who, with the help of a cynical lawyer, hatches a plan to prove the man’s innocence.
The book was the basis for the 1949 Clarence Brown, considered one of the most powerful films about racial prejudice ever made. It was filmed, fittingly, in Faulkner's home town of Oxford, Mississippi. A Haycraft-Queen Cornerstone title.
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