Faulkner, William "The Sound and the Fury"

Faulkner, William "The Sound and the Fury" - 1929

For the Classics Spin #42, we received #17 and this was my novel. When I revealed this to the other bloggers, I got a lot of comments that people did not like the book at all. But I was determined to like it. After all, I loved "Light in August" by the same author.

However, this is not comparable to the first of his books that I read. I think I agree with most of the other readers.

But let's get to the book.

In one of the reviews (see here), I read "I appreciated the writer's skill a lot more than I enjoyed reading the novel." I think that hits the nail on its head. Another one compared it with "Look Homeward, Angel" which I could also agree on. Another Southern US writer whom you might only want to follow, if you are a Southerner yourself.

I'm sure you guessed it, this wasn't my favourite book of the year. But I appreciated having read it.

They mention "Ulysses" in the description. As you can see, I read that and said at the time "this is the most difficult book I have ever read". It still belongs on that list but I understood that better than this one. I also said "the longer I distance myself from this novel, the more it makes sense and the bigger an impact does it have on me." I doubt this will ever happen here but one can always hope.

I did understand the actions in the book but really didn't like a single character and couldn't follow any of their decisions.

It is also says in the description that "... in the next two sections ... the novel begins to reveal itself."

Nope, not really, it was still as confusing as before. If you're not a huge fan of stream of consciousness books, I wouldn't recommend it.

From the back cover:

"Ever since the first furore was created on its publication in 1929, The Sound and the Fury has been considered one of the key novels of this century. Although it is difficult, in the same way that Ulysses is difficult, it is rewarding. Few readers can fail to become absorbed in this imaginative creation of the degenerate und disintegrating Compson family.

Faulkner does not use characters as pawns in a plot: he is interested in minds and emotions, in the interaction of characters and the way incidents and events affect individuals and their relationships. This is done by dividing the novel into four sections: the first is 'told by an idiot' - Benjy, for whom time does not exist. It is in the next two sections, when the reader hears the tale told by Benjy's two brothers, that the novel begins to reveal itself.

In essence this is a novel about lovelessness - 'only an idiot has no grief; only a fool would forget it. What else is there in this world sharp enough to stick to your guts?' It is a novel about intense and passionate family relationships wherein there is no love, only self-centredness.

The cover shows a detail from 'The Scarecrow' by Andrew Wyeth in the National Collection of Fine Arts, Washington."

William Faulkner received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1949 "for his powerful and artistically unique contribution to the modern American novel."

I contribute to this page: Read the Nobels and you can find all my blogs about Nobel Prize winning authors and their books here.

Here are all the books on my original Classics Club list.
And here is a list of all the books I read with the Classics Spin.