Pylon is a novel by the American author William Faulkner

William Faulkner

William Cuthbert Faulkner was an American writer from Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner worked in a variety of media; he wrote novels, short stories, a play, poetry, essays and screenplays during his career...

. Published in 1935, Pylon is set in New Valois, a fictionalized version of New Orleans. It is one of Faulkner's few novels set outside Yoknapatawpha County

Yoknapatawpha County

Yoknapatawpha County is a fictional county created by the American author William Faulkner, based upon and inspired by Lafayette County, Mississippi and its county seat of Oxford, Mississippi...

, his favorite fictional setting, based on Lafayette County, Mississippi

Lafayette County, Mississippi

-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 38,744 people, 14,373 households, and 8,321 families residing in the county. The population density was 61 people per square mile . There were 16,587 housing units at an average density of 26 per square mile...

. Pylon is the story of a group of barnstormers

Barnstorming

Barnstorming was a popular form of entertainment in the 1920s in which stunt pilots would perform tricks with airplanes, either individually or in groups called a flying circus. Barnstorming was the first major form of civil aviation in the history of flight...

 whose lives are thoroughly unconventional. They live hand-to-mouth, always just a step or two ahead of destitution, and their interpersonal relationships are unorthodox and shocking by the standards of their society and times. They meet an overwrought and extremely emotional newspaperman in New Valois, who gets deeply involved with them, with tragic consequences.

The novel provided the basis for the 1958 film The Tarnished Angels

The Tarnished Angels

The Tarnished Angels is a 1958 American drama film directed by Douglas Sirk. The screenplay by George Zuckerman is based on the 1935 novel Pylon by William Faulkner.-Plot:...

, directed by Douglas Sirk

Douglas Sirk

Douglas Sirk was a Danish-German film director best known for his work in Hollywood melodramas in the 1950s.-Life and work:...

.

Main characters

• The Reporter - An alcoholic, dependent on loans from his editor. His interest in the familial and incestuous racing group—as a newspaper story—becomes fascination and finally obsession (including an unconscious and impossible attraction to Laverne.) He tries to help, but ultimately destroys the family group.
• Laverne - Mechanic and former wing-walker and parachute jumper. She is openly and bigamously involved with both pilot Roger Shumann and jumper Jack Holmes.
• Jack - Shumann's presumed child with Laverne. His actual parentage is undetermined. The reporter nicknames him "Dempsey" because of his willingness to fight anyone who asks him, "Who's your old man?"
• Roger Shumann - Racing pilot, and presumptive father of Jack, whose quiet competence and acceptance of great risk largely supports the family.
• Jack Holmes - A show jumper, also lover of Laverne and possible father to Jack.
• Jiggs - Main mechanic. Jiggs' obsession over a pair of cowboy boots in a store window opens the novel. His alcoholic binge (catalyzed by the Reporter) boosts the story toward its ultimate tragedy.

Minor characters

• Hagood - Newspaper editor.
• Matt Ord - Legendary pilot, known throughout the world of aviation and barnstorming. More or less retired from flying, he is part owner of Ord-Atkinson Aircraft Corp. Provides Roger Shumann with an airplane. (Probably a loose combination of both Matty Laird
  Emil Matthew Laird
  Emil Matthew Laird was an American aircraft builder and pilot. He is credited with putting the first commercial aircraft into production.- Early life :...
  
  and Jimmy Weddell of Weddell-Williams Flying Service of Patterson, La.)
• Dr and Mrs Shumann - Shumann's parents, who live in Myron, Ohio.
• Col. Feinman - New Valois mogul and chairman of the sewage board, who owns the airport where much of the novel's action takes place. (Probably loosely modeled after Levee Board president Abraham Shushan, for whom Shushan Airport—later New Orleans' Lakefront Airport—was originally named)