The Sound and The Fury by William Faulkner (1929)Although Faulkner is my favourite author, his books are hard work, and none have been harder than The Sound and The Fury. It's a bit like climbing Everest- difficult and slow, but hugely rewarding in the long run.
Set in the American deep south, the novel traces the tragic decline of the Compson family. The story is divided into four sections, each with a different narrator. Each section is like a new pass at the same story, and as you progress, you get a clearer, more vivid idea of what is going on. The first narrator is the mentally handicapped Benji, and this section in particular is pretty baffling at first. But as each subsequent section unravels, the pieces start to fall into place, and you realise the amazing accomplishment of skill that the book is.
An amazing book, difficult but worth the time and effort.
4 comments:
Arrrggg...just hearing the title, "The Sound and the Fury", lends certain weight on the reader's shoulders, and hints at the intense nature of the journey to come...
The title is from a Shakespeare quote. It does sound ominous though, I agree.
Have you read its prequel, Absalom Absalom! ?
I studied it last semester (haven't finished it.......)
Gosh, Soph it's nice to talk to someone who has read something by Faulkner... any time I mention him I get blank stares!
Yeah, I read Absolom, Absolom maybe a year or two ago. It was about as difficult as Sound and Fury. I remember it being really dense, and a lot of hard work, but I still loved it, and enjoyed it..in a painful kinda way!
What did you think of it?? It makes me happy to know it gets studied.
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