Criticism > Contemporary Literary Criticism > Faulkner, William (Cuthbert) - Calvin S. Brown

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CALVIN S. BROWN

Mayday itself is not, as one might expect, a fumbling piece of apprentice-work, but a skillful and amusing exercise in a very minor literary genre which might be described as a lightly allegorical medieval pastiche. It is the story of Sir Galwyn of Arthygal, who, accompanied by Hunger and Pain, rides forth as a new knight, kills "a small dragon of an inferior and cowardly type," seduces three beautiful princesses in three consecutive days and immediately abandons each of them, and finally, with the help of St. Francis, seeks and finds little sister Death in the river. On the way he encounters various figures, including Time, with whom he has philosophical discussions; and the whole work operates in a spirit of cheerful and unportentous nihilism. The manner and style are essentially those of Cabell, and the archaic language is remarkably well handled, especially in view of the fact that Faulkner was no scholar. Much of the amusement comes from...

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1. Introduction
2. Wyndham Lewis
3. Alfred Kazin
4. Clifton Fadiman
5. Michael Millgate
6. Robert Penn Warren
7. Arthur F. Kinney
8. Calvin S. Brown
9. Malcolm Cowley
10. Sean O'Faolain
11. Cleanth Brooks
12. Copyright

1. William Faulkner