福克纳 | As I Lay Dying我弥留之际

The novel begins with Addie Bundren, wife to Anse Bundren and mother of their children, on her deathbed. The rest of the family waits around for Addie’s impending death and vaguely discuss their eventual plans to cart their mother’s corpse forty or so miles to the town of Jefferson, where she has requested to be buried alongside her family. The oldest son, a level-headed carpenter named Cash Bundren, spends the days preceding Addie’s death outside her window, dutifully constructing a coffin. This gesture upsets Jewel, who thinks the rest of his family is vindictively rushing Addie to her death. Despite initial reservations from Anse, who believes Addie is going to die any minute, Darl and Jewel leave home to run an errand for their neighbor Vernon Tull. Anse’s fear comes true, and Addie dies just after the two leave. After Addie’s death, Anse orders his children to make preparations – Cash to finish the coffin and Dewey Dell to prepare the fish that the six-year-old Vardaman caught earlier that day. Vardaman cannot help but confuse his mother and the fish, as he understands that the fish is no longer alive, and hence explains Addie’s death through comparison. Yet Vardaman still does not have a full grasp of the material realities of death, and worries that his mother won't be able to breathe nailed into her coffin. In the night Vardaman drills holes in Addie’s coffin in an attempt to provide her with air. Inadvertently in the process, Vardaman bores holes in the face of Addie’s corpse. As the family members mourn and make preparations for their journey to Jefferson, Dewey Dell finds herself distracted by her potential need for an abortion, as she fears her recent intercourse with a farmer named Lafe got her pregnant.