  '''''As I Lay Dying''''' is a novel by the American author William Faulkner. He claimed to have written the novel in six weeks and that he did not change a word of it. Faulkner wrote it while working at a power plant, published in 1930, and described it as a &quot;tour-de-force.&quot; It is Faulkner's fifth novel and consistently ranked among the best novels of 20th century literature.The Modern Library lists it among the [ top 100 recent novels], accessed Jan. 2, 2009, as does [ best 100 novels of all times lists it], accessed Jan. 2, 2009.The New Lifetime Reading Plan: The Classical Guide to World Literature by Clifton Fadiman and John S. Major, Collins, 1999.[ The Western Canon: The Books and School of the Ages] by Harold Bloom, Riverhead Trade, 1995.Peter Ackroyd. Foreword to ''1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die'', Peter Boxall (Editor). Universe Publishing, 2006. ISBN 0-7893-1370-7. The title derives from Book XI of Homer's ''The Odyssey'', wherein Agamemnon speaks to Odysseus: &quot;As I lay dying, the woman with the dog's eyes would not close my eyes as I descended into Hades.&quot;  The novel is known for its stream of consciousness writing technique, multiple narrators, and varying chapter lengths; in fact, the shortest chapter in the book consists of just five words, &quot;My mother is a fish.&quot;  ==Plot summary==  The book is narrated by 15 different characters over 59 chapters. It is the story of the death of Addie Bundren and her family's quest and motivations—noble or selfish—to honor her wish to be buried in the town of Jefferson.  As is the case in much of Faulkner's work, the story is set in Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi, which Faulkner referred to as &quot;my apocryphal county,&quot; a fictional rendition of the writer's home of Lafayette County in that same state.  ==Characters==  *Addie Bundren – Addie is the wife of Anse and the mother of Cash, Darl, Jewel, Dewey Dell, and Vardaman. She had an extramarital affair with her preacher Reverend Whitfield which led to the conception and birth of her third child, Jewel. *Anse Bundren – Anse is Addie's widower, the father of all the children but Jewel. After suffering a severe enough sunstroke at the age of 22 to have a doctor called, it is likely he developed anhidrosis (the physical inability to sweat). It is unlikely that the various accounts of his sweatless shirts and brow are metaphorical--in the hot Mississippi heat, anyone begins sweating even if they're just sitting outside. This disease, along with Anse's hunchback, splayed, nailless toes, and toothless mouth, are all corporeal markers of his economic status and life of labor (before we encounter him in the novel, before the sunstroke, Anse had cleared his own farm and fixed up a house on his own so that he could start building a family, and all of these characteristics are consistent with common maladies suffered by rural farmers in harsh conditions.  *Cash Bundren – Cash is a skilled and helpful carpenter and the eldest son of the family, in his late twenties, who builds Addie's coffin. *Darl Bundren – The second eldest of Addie's children, Darl is about two years younger than Cash. Darl is the most articulate character and objective narrator in the book, and therefore narrates 19 of the 59 chapters.  *Jewel Bundren – Jewel is the third of the Bundren children, and is most likely around nineteen years of age. A half-brother to the other children and the favorite of Addie, he is the illegitimate son of Addie and Reverend Whitfield.  *Dewey Dell Bundren – Dewey Dell is the only daughter of Anse and Addie Bundren, and is seventeen years old, the second youngest of the Bundren children. Her name is a yonic allusion to her archetypal role as the embodiment of female sexuality in the novel. *Vardaman Bundren – Vardaman is the youngest Bundren child, somewhere between seven and ten years old. *Vernon Tull – Vernon is a good friend of the Bundrens, who appears in the book as a good farmer, less religious than his wife. *Cora Tull – Cora is the wife of Vernon Tull, a neighbor of Addie's who is with her at her death. She is very religious and this shows in her language. *Peabody – Peabody is the Bundren's doctor; he narrates two chapters of the book. Anse sends for him shortly before Addie's death, but this is far too late for Peabody to do anything, and he is able to do nothing more than watch Addie die. *Lafe – Lafe is a farmer who impregnates Dewey Dell and gives her $10 to get an abortion. *Whitfield – Whitfield is the local reverend with whom Addie had an affair, which results in the birth of Jewel. *Samson – Samson is a local farmer who lets the Bundren family stay with him the first night on their journey to Jefferson. Samson's wife, Rachel, is disgusted with the way the family is treating Addie by dragging her coffin through the countryside.  ==Literary techniques==  Throughout the novel, Faulkner presents fifteen different points of view, each chapter narrated by one character, including Addie, who after dying, expresses her thoughts from the coffin. In 59 chapters titled only by their narrators' names, the characters are developed gradually through each other's perceptions and opinions, Darl's predominating.  Like James Joyce and Virginia Woolf, Faulkner stands among the pioneers of stream of consciousness. He first used the technique in ''The Sound and the Fury'', and it gives ''As I Lay Dying'' its distinctly intimate tone, through the monologues of the tragically flawed Bundrens and the passers-by they encounter. The story helped found the Southern Renaissance and directs a great deal of effort as it progresses to reflections on being and existence, the existential metaphysics of everyday life.  The one chapter narrated by Addie Bundren helped bring issues of feminism and motherhood in literature to the fore, as her voice is clearly expressed only after her death. Except for Jewel and Cash, Addie either dislikes or acts dismissively toward all her children. Jewel and Cash are profoundly affected by her regard for them.   Addie's chapter helps to understand Addie as more than a traditional portrayal of a woman as &quot;villainous, incompetent, unfulfilled, or dead,&quot; and portrays her as revengeful and deliberate. The chapter discusses her hatred of the students she teaches and her disloyalty and lack of love for her husband Anse. Therefore Addie's requests as she dies including her desire to be buried in Jefferson (which was quite far away) represents her deceit and her ability to control her family on her death bed and in death. This portrays Addie as a feminist figure and more than a traditional literary woman. Stereotypical, but revengeful and defiant: Addie Bundren in Faulkner's As I Lay Dying by Amado Chan  ==Importance== ''As I Lay Dying'' is consistently ranked among the best novels of 20th century literature.[ The Western Canon: The Books and School of the Ages] by Harold Bloom, Riverhead Trade, 1995.''1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die'' by Peter Ackroyd (Foreword), Peter Boxall (Editor) Universe Publishers, 2006. The novel has been reprinted by the Modern Library,[ Modern Library's list of the top 100 recent novels], accessed Jan. 2, 2009. the Library of America, and numerous other publishers, including Chatto and Windus in 1970,ISBN 0-7011-0665-4 Random House in 1990,ISBN 0-679-73225-X Tandem Library in 1991,ISBN 0-8085-1493-8 and Vintage Books in 1996.ISBN 0-09-947931-1 Faulkner was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1949 for his novels prior to that date, among them this book.  The novel has also directly influenced a number of other critically acclaimed books, including British author Graham Swift's 1996 Booker Prize-winning novel ''Last Orders''[ &quot;A Swift rewrite, or a tribute?]&quot; by Chris Blackhurst, The Independent (London), March 9, 1997. and Suzan-Lori Parks's ''Getting Mother's Body: A Novel'', which is a reimagining of Faulkner's novel from an African American point of view.&quot;Review of Getting Mother’s Body by Suzan-Lori Parks&quot; by Dan Schneider, Cosmoetica, 2005-04-30, accessed Jan. 2, 2009.''Women Pulitzer Playwrights: Biographical Profiles and Analyses of the Plays'' by Carolyn Casey Craig, McFarland, 2004, page 270.  In 1998, the Modern Library ranked ''As I Lay Dying'' 35th on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.  The Grammy-nominated band As I Lay Dying derived its name from this novel.  