''A Fable'' is a 1954 novel written by the American author

William Faulkner William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer. He is best known for William Faulkner bibliography, his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi, a stand-in fo ...

. He spent more than a decade and tremendous effort on it, and aspired for it to be "the best work of my life and maybe of my time". It won the

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

and the

National Book Award The National Book Awards (NBA) are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. ...

. Historically, it can be seen as a precursor to Joseph Heller's '' Catch-22''.

Synopsis

The book takes place in France during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and stretches through the course of one week in 1918. Corporal Stefan, who represents the reincarnation of

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

, orders 3,000 troops to disobey orders to attack in the brutally repetitive

trench warfare Trench warfare is a type of land warfare using occupied lines largely comprising Trench#Military engineering, military trenches, in which combatants are well-protected from the enemy's small arms fire and are substantially sheltered from a ...

. In return, the Germans do not attack, and the war stops when soldiers realize that it takes two sides to fight a war. The Generalissimo, who represents leaders who use war to gain power, invites his German counterpart to discuss how to restart the war. He then arrests and executes Stefan. Before Stefan's execution, the Generalissimo tries to convince the corporal that war can never be stopped because it is the essence of

human nature Human nature comprises the fundamental dispositions and characteristics—including ways of Thought, thinking, feeling, and agency (philosophy), acting—that humans are said to have nature (philosophy), naturally. The term is often used to denote ...

. Following the execution of the Corporal, his body is returned to his wife and his sisters, and he is buried in Vienne-la-pucelle. However, after the conflict has resumed, the Corporal's grave is destroyed in a barrage of artillery. The spirit of the Corporal has transferred to a British message runner, who eventually confronts the old Generalissimo.

Critical analysis

In his contemporary review of ''A Fable'', Philip Blair Rice noted that the novel returned Faulkner in subject matter to the one general subject that engaged him besides Mississippi: the First World War. Dayton Kohler, in his contemporary analysis of the novel, discusses an approach to the novel through myth. Ernest Sandeen has elaborated in detail on the parallels between the corporal and Jesus Christ. Julian Smith has noted similarities between ''A Fable'' and Humphrey Cobb's novel '' Paths of Glory''. Frank Turaj has examined opposing images and themes in terms of the dialectic in the novel. Thomas E Connolly has discussed the relationship of the three main plots of the novel to each other. Richard H. King has interpreted ''A Fable'' as the one major attempt by Faulkner to depict political action in his novels, and has characterized the novel as "Faulkner's failed political novel". Robert W Hutten noted Faulkner's reworking of material originally from the story "Notes on a Horse Thief" into ''A Fable''. William J Sowder has analyzed in detail the character of the Generalissimo.

Awards

*1955

Pulitzer Prize for Fiction The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It recognizes distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life, published during ...

"Fiction"
''Past winners & finalists by category''. The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved 2012-03-28. *1955 National Book Award for Fiction"National Book Awards – 1955"
National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2012-03-31. (With acceptance speech by Faulkner and essays by Neil Baldwin and Harold Augenbraum from the Awards 50- and 60-year anniversary publications.)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fable, A 1954 American novels National Book Award for Fiction–winning works Novels by William Faulkner Pulitzer Prize for Fiction–winning works Random House books Novels set during World War I Novels set in France