Help me understand the greatness of "The Sound and the Fury."

[Redleg]

For the sake of Jeebus, I just can't get into this book. Are the rest of Faulkner's books as inaccessible as this?

[PrpgndBrdcstingSystm]

1. faulkner

One thing that Faulkner did was advance the state of the art of narration. He had this groundbreaking alienation thing, with a sort of stream of conciousness thing going, which was kind of new (he pioneered it, along with James Joyce).

I guess one reason you have to read that crap is because he was one of the first to deal with the ugly side of the South. Kind of like some sort of anthropologist, he was.

So, he gave a picture of the culture, and he dealt with issues no one else would, and he had this groundbreaking technique, sort of.

Lots of his books/stories are the same.

There is however one short story that was pretty commercial: "A Rose For Sister Emily" (or what it Miss Emily?) Anyway, great read....

Just be glad you are not reading Henry James. Ten times worse.....

[BigMcLargehuge]

2. oh man, James

his prose bounced off my head like ping-pong balls. I tried Portrait of a Lady, and some other, but just could not get it.

[PrpgndBrdcstingSystm]

5. huge, ornate sentences with the main verb buried deep in the sentence

The man was some sort of walking psychological case study. Why would anyone deliberately write that way?

[flamingyouth]

7. Great description

Ah, memories of high school literary torture.

[Fenris]

3. It's just "A Rose For Emily"

I dislike Faulkner, but some people like him. It's just a matter of taste.

But you're right, James is ten times worse.

[sleipnir]

6. Woolf is the the master of SOC.

Check her out.

Faulkner is also quite good.

The thing is that you bring yourself to the novel, it not just the writer's words. You have to participate, read between the lines, understand later dialogue might explain confusing earlier chapters.

Also, each character, no matter how small or even inanimate might have their own chapter. Woolf's "To the Lighthouse" the damn Lighthouse speaks and talks in it's own chapter (as much as a Lighthouse can talk in a SOC novel.)

Grand stuff, it's the ultimate intellectual drug because it requires you to think beyond what is usually required of a NYT Bestfuckseller.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

4. Benji's part is a bit difficult to get into.

Once it changes into Quentin and then just some omnipotent, it gets easier to read. Benji also gets easier to read as you go along.

I agree, A rose for Emily is my favorite Faulkner short story.

[KT2000]

8. Found the book impossible

but the movie was terrific. I am always on the hunt for it on CD or videotape.

[WindRavenX]

9. try "as I lay dying"

A bit more easy to digest. Even then it's a mindfuck.
<--English major