In the tradition of Albert Camus, J. D. Salinger, and Osamu Dazai, the archetype of the savage young man at the precipice returns in Ben Faulkner''s hypnotic debut, The Agonies. Armand Bernal is breaking apart. The trials of youth become a torrential odyssey of dislocation and disorientation. In this bildungsroman for our modern age—an age of collapse—Ben Faulkner has created an unforgettable character wary of work, college, relationships, and the world at large, becoming an unstable young man moving toward an act of terrifying violence. Will he survive the gothic America of The Agonies? Â