Son of Dust
By H.F.M. Prescott

448 Pages • $13.95

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
AND REFLECTION

Son of Dust
By H.F.M. Prescott

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Use the following questions as guides to deeper individual understanding of the novel or for group discussion.

1. Fulcun’s love for Alde has a strongly obsessive quality. In the course of the story, does it become something more than an obsession?

2. Fulcun says he does not dread God’s anger but “his love itself, which greedy, bitter, insatiable as any hate, would allow no other object but itself” (317). Is this a fair description of Fulcun’s own love for Alde? How does his view of God’s love change?

3. The harsh world of ­eleventh-­century Europe is moderated by bonds of loyalty—feudal, familial, marital. Discuss how Prescott’s story illustrates the consequences of violating these bonds and the importance of upholding them.

4. One of the key passages in the book is the following exchange between Abbot Osbern and Fulcun. Fulcun says, “It was a monk that told me a man should care for nothing else but God only.” Osbern replies, “Well, he was wrong. The more creatures we love the better. They’re all his” (370). Do you agree with Osbern? Why or why not?

5. Discuss the four clerical characters: Herfast the priest, the monk Raol, Bishop Ivo, and the abbot Osbern. How do they represent the church? How do they speak of God?

6. Fulcun is tormented by the conviction that his love for Alde is holy but also a sin. Are his feelings for Alde truly love, and does God truly condemn it?

7. Discuss the relationships between husbands and wives in the novel: Geroy and Alianor, Robert and Aelis, Hernaut and Emma. What is the emotional quality of these relationships?

8. At the very end of the story, Alde decides to stay with Fulcun. Did this surprise you? Is this decision consistent with the kind of person we understand Alde to be? If she had left Fulcun, would the meaning of the story change significantly?

9. The novel ends with Fulcun and Alde beginning a life together. How do you imagine this life? Will they be happy?

10. What does the title of the book, Son of Dust, mean?

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