Absalom, Abaslom! Episode 5—What Kind of a Title Is Absalom, Absalom!?!

In this fifth episode proper of Summer Reading with the Diehls Season 1, Adam Diehl and his wife Whitney discuss the original and final titles of William Faulkner’s 1936 novel Absalom, Absalom!. What does an Old Testament story have to do with Thomas Sutpen & co.? How does the Civil War parallel the story of David, Absalom, Amnon, and Tamar? For a title so brief and mysterious, it is surprisingly fitting for the content (and design!) of the novel.

 

This episode also considers this question: could this have been the same novel if Faulkner had stuck with his original title: The Dark House?