What do you think?
Rate this book
Columbia Critical Guides
William Faulkner: The Sound and the Fury and As I Lay Dying
Now recognized as two of Faulkner's greatest novels, "The Sound and the Fury" (1929) and "As I Lay Dying" (1930) were commercial failures in the decade following their publication. By the end of the Second World War, however, the reputation of both novels had grown and Faulkner's great fictional creation, Yoknapatawpha County, had become as much a part of America as any real area of the Mississippi landscape.
This "Guide" explores the wealth of critical material generated by these two exceptional works of modernist fiction. From the initially mixed critical responses to the novels in the early 1930s, the "Guide" follows the enormous growth of interest in Faulkner's work across six decades. New writings shaped by a range of critical theories are discussed, offering the reader a clear view of the place now given to one of America's most innovative and influential novelists.
- GenresFiction
192 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2000
5 people are currently reading
65 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
April 26, 2008
My five year old had randomly pulled this off the shelf and asked me to read it to him. I didn't think to look at the title, I just assumed it was one of his books. Fortunately it was way over his head, and I was able to distract him with something more suitable pretty quickly.
November 21, 2011
First off, I only read The Sound and the Fury but by accident selected an edition that included As I Lay Dying, too. So this review only concerns the first novel, to be clear.
I am not sure where to start: it's Faulkner, what more can you say? If you know not of Faulkner there's a million things to read about him and to get started instead of this little review. It is at points confusing and difficult to get into, and the iconic, lenthy, progression of familial history is also in places a little overpowering. Still, when you meet Faulkner on his terms and get a grasp in your mind for the characters and their stories, you're good and the book is one of the most rich and vivid novels I've ever read.
I don't know how to really articulate what the book is "like" as a narrative beyond that, but to try to explain how the multiple narrators and their combined narratives function, consider in example if you've watched all of a television series—Star Trek, the Next Generation, in example—and then start talking with a friend about it: the characters, specific events, all make sense because you and your friend know the show very well. You're inside the narrative of Star Trek. Well, that's a lot what it's like reading this book: you feel like you've been dropped down into something much larger and longer already in full swing and you have to piece things together together to come to an understanding. You've entered not only a novel, but it feels like a whole canon or franchise.
No matter your expertise or involvement in literature—and in my case, I am a writer and currently write book reviews for two publications—I encourage you to approach this novel as a novel, not as a study in modern lit or whatever else. Approach it as a something to enjoy. Also, consider it a very nuanced look into the modern era of the new South. Faulkner offers some real gems in discerning how the South reconstructed itself on the family level here. You may deal with some very odd characters, but I stress Faulkner was as much if not more interested in presenting real, tangible, people as characters and looking into their lives in context as doing any types of modernistic literary experiments. He was grounded in the South and it shows in this novel.
There is no doubt in my mind this is easily one of the greatest novels of the modern era of English-language literature.
I am not sure where to start: it's Faulkner, what more can you say? If you know not of Faulkner there's a million things to read about him and to get started instead of this little review. It is at points confusing and difficult to get into, and the iconic, lenthy, progression of familial history is also in places a little overpowering. Still, when you meet Faulkner on his terms and get a grasp in your mind for the characters and their stories, you're good and the book is one of the most rich and vivid novels I've ever read.
I don't know how to really articulate what the book is "like" as a narrative beyond that, but to try to explain how the multiple narrators and their combined narratives function, consider in example if you've watched all of a television series—Star Trek, the Next Generation, in example—and then start talking with a friend about it: the characters, specific events, all make sense because you and your friend know the show very well. You're inside the narrative of Star Trek. Well, that's a lot what it's like reading this book: you feel like you've been dropped down into something much larger and longer already in full swing and you have to piece things together together to come to an understanding. You've entered not only a novel, but it feels like a whole canon or franchise.
No matter your expertise or involvement in literature—and in my case, I am a writer and currently write book reviews for two publications—I encourage you to approach this novel as a novel, not as a study in modern lit or whatever else. Approach it as a something to enjoy. Also, consider it a very nuanced look into the modern era of the new South. Faulkner offers some real gems in discerning how the South reconstructed itself on the family level here. You may deal with some very odd characters, but I stress Faulkner was as much if not more interested in presenting real, tangible, people as characters and looking into their lives in context as doing any types of modernistic literary experiments. He was grounded in the South and it shows in this novel.
There is no doubt in my mind this is easily one of the greatest novels of the modern era of English-language literature.
May 3, 2008
This has to be THE most challenging novel in fiction today. So . . . if you want a challenge, read this book. There are 4 narrators who all give part of the story, and like in "As I Lay Dying" it is up the reader to try to figure out what really happened. The whole novel is written in the "stream of consciousness" voice (this technique is what makes it so hard to read Faulkner, Woolf and Toni Morrison!) so there is no sequential order to events and it's hard to figure out who is who at times. Nevertheless, Faulkner, like Shakespeare, gives us a glimpse at human nature that we might not have seen or thought about otherwise.
August 23, 2012
If you can see past the lack of punctuation (which is more to be considered a brilliant use of an obscure technique) the personal development of character is considerably enhanced. Each character has their own voice which you learn to recognise (even if they share the same name at times), and it's comparable to the rambling that you experience whether it's in conversation with others or the thoughts in your own head, and no one besides Faulkner has ever described that so seamlessly (and with so little appearance of effort). these books are absolutely brilliant!!
January 24, 2008
I only read The Sound and the Fury and it is possibly the most difficult book I've ever read. It is tough. I'd probably do better with it now that I know the story line, but when I started, I didn't have a clue what the book was even about, so I was hopelessly lost for about half the book and only then did I start to figure stuff out. Plus, I was in high school, I mean, come on.
March 18, 2008
I have only read As I Lay Dying. I haven't read The Sound and the Fury. But if you want some white trash entertainment, this is it! Very well written and creative. The stream-of-consciousness writing can be a little hard to understand at times, but it is very intriguing. Too weird to truly love. I can sum it up in five words: "my mother is a fish."
March 5, 2008
I enjoyed it on a visceral level, though I had a very hard time following who was who and what was really going on. Good experiment in writing, but I would have liked to have been able to grasp the meat of the story.
March 31, 2008
This is my brother's favorite book. It is very hard to get through w/o remembering it is just a book and Faulkner has a morbid sense of humor - so everything that keeps going wrong is supposed to be funny....
November 22, 2008
not as good as As I Lay Dying...BUT it might be smarter and with more depth and insight into people's intentions and whatnot. it's a must read if you're a Faulkner fan...but if you're not...try As I Lay Dying and become one.
February 24, 2008
I read it and it was very similar to as I lay dying. Overall was a good book, read it to know about more writing tools like faulkner's.
March 18, 2008
i really just wanted "as i lay dying" but that's not an option. i really loved it, as far as "the sound and the fury," idk man, it made me mad.
April 30, 2008
The Sound And The Fury -- really oblique, but if you can get through the narration the pay off is awesome.
May 22, 2011
the last two chapters sucked me in
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews