On the surface, Pylon is about the world on barnstorming airplane pilots of the 1930’s. On a deeper level, however, its theme is far more universal. Its nameless central character, the reporter, has been assigned to cover a series of air races and exhibitions marking the opening of an airport in the South. At the beginning, he is the model of a detached journalist. But before the end of this strange and gripping novel, he has become inextricably and fatally involved with a group of three people – a pilot, a parachutist, and the woman they share – and with their way of life.

Written with the breathtaking physical vividness that Faulkner at his best projects, the novel is an intensely dramatic portrayal of the relationship between society and “outsiders,” and of the fascination the life of action and of the senses holds for the intellectial. It brilliantly mirrored the author’s own complicated feelings.