Knight's Gambit
Knight’s Gambit is a 1949 short story collection by the American author William Faulkner, and contains a short story of the same name. The book collects six of Faulkner’s stories about attorney Gavin Stevens, who also takes a leading part in his novel Intruder in the Dust.
Gavin Stevens is the county attorney in Jefferson in Faulkner’s fictional Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi.
He is shrewd, observant and tolerant of the quirks and foibles of his fellow Southeners. He takes part in the detection and prevention of crime in the county community, and in handling the human passions released by violence in the community. The stories are narrated by his nephew, who calls him Uncle Gavin. He finally marries the Widow Harris, the sweetheart of his youth.[1]
The first five stories were published in various magazines; the six stories published together in 1949 can be regarded as a novel.[2]
Short stories with Gavin Stevens
- Smoke (1932) (Harper’s, April 1932; also in Dr Martino)
- Monk (1937) (Scribner’s, May 1937)
- Hand Upon the Waters (1939) (Saturday Evening Post, November 4, 1939)
- Tomorrow (1940) (Saturday Evening Post, November 23, 1940)
- An Error in Chemistry (1946) (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, June 1946)
- Knight’s Gambit (1949)
References
Kirk, Robert W. (1965). Faulkner’s People: A complete guide and index to characters in the fiction of William Faulkner. Los Angeles: University of California Press.