At the heart of this 1930 novel is the Bundren family's bizarre journey to Jefferson to bury Addie, their wife and mother. Faulkner lets each family member--including Addie--and others along the way tell their private responses to Addie's life. As I Lay Dying is the harrowing, darkly comic tale of the Bundren family's trek across Mississippi to bury Addie, their wife and mother, as told by each of the family members--including Addie herself.

The story of Thomas Sutpen, an enigmatic stranger who came to Jefferson in the early 1830s to wrest his mansion out of the muddy bottoms of the north Mississippi wilderness. He was a man, Faulkner said, "who wanted sons and the sons destroyed him."

Returning home to Jefferson, Mississippi, at the end of the First World War, young Bayard Sartoris grieves the loss of his twin brother, John. Despite the stabilizing influence of his marriage to the lovely Narcissa Benbow, young Bayard's recklessness grows as the days pass, and hastens the destruction of the Sartoris family, who are still living under the shadow of Bayard's deceased, heroic great-grandfather. A story of a decaying family confronting...

Faulkner examines the changing relationship of black to white and of man to the land, and weaves a complex work that is rich in understanding of the human condition.