SOLDIERS' PAY

SOLDIERS’ PAY was the first novel published by American writer, WILLIAM FAULKNER, released by Boni & Liveright, Inc. in 1926. It is unclear if Soldiers' Pay is the first novel written by Faulkner. It is however the first novel published by the author. Faulkner was working on two other manuscripts while he was finishing Soldiers' Pay. Horace Liveright agreed to pay Faulkner $200.00 for the manuscript, which was originally titled Mayday. Editor and chief at Boni & Liveright T.R. Smith is likely the source of the title change. The first print run of Soldiers' Pay was 2,500 copies. Soldiers' Pay was a commercial failure, selling only 1,200 copies after its initial release. The plot of Soldiers' Pay revolves around the return of a wounded aviator home to a small town in Georgia following the conclusion of the First World War. He is escorted by a veteran of the war, and a widow. The aviator himself suffered a traumatic brain injury, and is in a state of perpetual silence, and blindness. Several conflicts revolve around the aviator's return including the state of his engagement to his fiancée, the widow's desire to marry the dying aviator herself, and the intrigue surrounding the fiancée who had been unfaithful to the aviator during his absence.