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Books for sale at

The following editions of The Town are available for purchase online:

The Town

Vintage books

Paperback

ISBN: 0394701844

Published 1973

Snopes: The Hamlet, The Town, The Mansion

Modern Library

Paperback

ISBN: 0679600922

Published 1991

Novels, 1957-1962: The Town, The Mansion, The Reivers

Library of America

Hardcover

ISBN: 1883011698

Published 1999

Published May 1, 1957, by Random House.

Volume 2 of the “Snopes” trilogy, The Town continues the exploits of Flem Snopes where The Hamlet left off. Flem moves from Frenchman’s Bend to Jefferson, where he begins an ambitious attempt to take over the town, securing a job at the power plant and later a position at the bank, and planning to avenge his wife’s infidelity.

Faulkner incorporated two previously published short stories into the novel. “Centaur in Brass” (first published in American Mercury in February 1932) became Chapter 1, and “Mule in the Yard” (published in Scribner’s in August 1934) became Chapter 16.

The novel is narrated by three characters: Gavin Stevens, Charles “Chick” Mallison, and V. K. Ratliff. The plot covers a period from 1909, when Flem, his wife Eula, and Eula’s daughter (and Flem’s step-daughter) Linda arrive in Jefferson, to about a year after Eula kills herself in 1927.

A Fable

The Mansion

How to cite this page (MLA style):

Padgett, John B. “The Town: Commentary.” William Faulkner on the Web.