I have been reading a lot of Faulkner lately; after seeing the movie ‘As I Lay Dying’ and my students reading ‘A Rose for Emily’ and ‘Barn Burning’ I sought out to read the book ‘As I Lay Dying.’ Perhaps one of the most important quotes that I have ever read in any novel came from this book:

The reason for living was to get ready to stay dead for a long time.

As a Christian, I obviously do not embrace that; certainly believe in life after death, but the quote, and the book, shook me to the core in understanding the plight of the poor and those lesser fortunate. Having read ‘As I Lay Dying’ I decided to start working on what some call his masterpiece: ‘The Sound and the Fury.’ And then I read this:

It was Grandfather’s and when Father gave it to me he said I give you the mausoleum of all hope and desire; it’s rather excruciating-ly apt that you will use it to gain the reducto absurdum of all human experience which can fit your individual needs no better than it fitted his or his father’s. I give it to you not that you may remember time, but that you might forget it now and then for a moment and not spend all your breath trying to conquer it. Because no battle is ever won he said. They are not even fought. The field only reveals to man his own folly and despair, and victory is an illusion of philosophers and fools.

Time is one of those funny things that we are often trying to conquer – or ignore by wasting. No man may be able to conquer time, but we as a culture are sure very good at wasting it with radio shows and talk show hosts and CNN and football games and baseball games and endless hours working for the man so we can go on buying things we don’t need with money we’ve borrowed. What is fascinating about Faulkner is how he writes in a stream-of-consciousness fashion that few today employ and even fewer truly understands.

My biggest problem as a writer is not the lack of time, but the desire to write some epic masterpiece that simpletons in this world in this day and age won’t be able to appreciate or understand. When I was younger I wrote in stream of consciousness until some teacher or authority figure who couldn’t be successful at his or her own craft told me to knock it off. I don’t know why I listened to him; it wasn’t the first time someone told me I wouldn’t amount to anything with my writing, and it won’t be the last.

Okay, enough of that, as much as I enjoy writing in that fashion. It takes a lot to understand Faulkner’s works, but perhaps an introductory piece would be ‘A Rose for Emily.’ ‘Barn Burning’ is complex, and while we might fault Faulkner for his writing style (there are those who do), we cannot argue with his place as one of America’s greatest novelists.

I will be starting my next novella perhaps tonight; it is about a wedding party where each of the family members present gives their internal monologue. It will be written from the perspective of each of the characters, and each has their own deep, dark secret that will come out throughout the night.