If I Forget Thee Jerusalem

"If I Forget Thee, Jerusalem" is a novel by the American author William Faulkner published in 1939. The novel was originally published under the title "The Wild Palms", which is the title of one of the two interwoven stories. This title was chosen by the publishers, Random House, over the objections of Faulkner's choice of a title. Subsequent editions have since been printed under the title "If I Forget Thee Jerusalem" (1990, following the "corrected text" and format of Noel Polk), and since 2003 it is now usually referred to by both names, with the newer title following the historically first published title and in brackets, to avoid confusion: "The Wild Palms [If I Forget Thee, Jerusalem] ".

Wild Palms/Old Man is a blend of two stories, a love story and a river story, entitled "Wild Palms" and "Old Man", respectively. Both stories tell us of a distinct relationship between a man and a woman. The novel starts with the first chapter, "Wild Palms", and continues, alternating the two stories chapter by chapter, until ending with the final chapter, "Old Man".

In an interesting example of literary tribute, Jorge Luis Borges translated the complete novel into Spanish as "Las palmeras salvajes" (1940), a work that influenced a good number of leading Latin American novelists.

References

*cite book|last=McHaney|first=Thomas L.|title=William Faulkner's" The Wild Palms: "A Study"|publisher=University Press of Mississippi|year=1975|location=Jackson