Book excerpt: In Faulkner and the Modern Fable, Kiyoko M. T yama offers an array of personal responses to the writings of William Faulkner as well as to those of several other major writers. While her response to Faulkner and other writers is personal, her research is based on years of active reading, thinking and teaching Faulkner. As a Japanese woman scholar, T yama has seen in his enterprise certain religious and family themes that are not as apparent to many Western readers and are, more importantly, critical to the understanding of his work. The seeming eclecticism of this book is not a consequence of its contents having been casually assembled. It is, rather, a reflection of the writer's broad range of interests, and all the chapters are approached from the viewpoint of Words and Deeds, essentials that comprise our life. The book, a work of literary criticism, was ultimately written in answer to the personal questions which the author asked herself: "Where am I from? Where am I now? and Where am I going?" The volume has been inspired by a desire to bring unity to her Japaneseness, her Catholicism, and her love of literature.