Guardian Newspaper 1000 Novels discussion

In July we will be reading The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner for our Family & Self category - who's in?

I'm definitely in for this one--I've been circling it for several years now, and the time never seemed right. It's almost gotten to the point where it's on my bucket list, let alone the Guardian's

I look forward to the discussion, Darren. It should be a good one. I love Light in August and Faulkner’s short stories, but even though I respect The Sound and the Fury’s greatness, I have struggled to like it.

Frances wrote: " even though I respect The Sound and the Fury’s greatness, I have struggled to like it. ..."

That's how I felt about As I Lay Dying. Several of his other novels, though, I thought were fantastic

I hesitated and didn’t say it, Bryan, but that was my reaction to As I Lay Dying, too. And yet, Faulkner’s short story Barn Burning is one of the most stunning short stories in all literature. Have you or the other members read Barn Burning? I can go over its last paragraphs again and again; they read like music.

Frances wrote: "Have you or the other members read Barn Burning?..."

I don't remember reading any of his short stories before, though I have a collection around somewhere. I remember reading somewhere that one of his stories (The Bear I think), was shortened in the collected stories, but expanded somewhere else, and since I wasn't sure, I had kind of avoided reading them until I was able to do some more research.

I'm now into the second section of Sound and the Fury, and I've now resorted to reading the synopsis / plot on Wikipedia. I'd recommend everyone do so - the plot isn't the point, but the method of telling.

I got so confused as to who was who and what and when during Benji's section that I wish I'd fine this right at the start.

Anyone saying this is like Finnegans Wake is wrong - it's more like Virginia Woolf's The Waves, because of the lack of context for the dialogue and description.

I'm enjoying it, but I'm not sure yet that I agree with its reputation (but then, I didn't like Confederacy of Dunces either).

the only Faulkner I have read so far is Light In August which I thought was excellent, so I will be reading The Sound and the Fury, but probably starting in the latter half of the month...

Phil, I think you have found the secret for understanding The Sound and the Fury: It is similar to Woolf's The Waves, in that there are different narratives which, combined, tell the story. Thank you for that reference.

wow, what a dysfunctional family this is.

It's my first Faulkner! I'm only just into it and I'm loving it it so far. The disjointed telling of this first section has really sucked me in :-)

the good news is that it get easier to follow from chapter three onwards.

the bad news is that that's over 65% is the way through the book :D

Phil wrote: "the good news is that it get easier to follow from chapter three onwards.

the bad news is that that's over 65% is the way through the book :D"

I'm loving it coming towards the end of chapter one. Because I read so many books there are only a few a year I get really excited about and so far this is one of them. I'm really enjoying picking up the clues as it shifts and starts. However, I was really excited about Blindness and everyone else was very "meh it's OK" so it may just be me........

Started last night. I read a little about Benjy's section before I started and that really made a lot of things clearer right from the start. I stopped before I read too much about it, because I wanted to have a little of the mystery still--but I wanted to be able to actual perceive the mystery...not like when I tried this years ago and gave up before page 3. Anyway, I thought it was really intriguing and captured my attention. Looking forward to reading more (and I had kept putting this off from fear of it being over my head, especially after my first attempt about 35 years ago)

Finished Benjy's section. I'm of two minds about this--I wonder how much I'd have been able to pick up on my own without reading the few notes I did beforehand. The notes gave a very general outline--(view spoiler)[of Caddy's affair, of Quentin's suicide, of Benjy's castration and renaming (hide spoiler)] plus a few other hints as to what the section talked about. It also discussed the characters that would appear. Armed with all that ahead of time, I was able to get through the section pretty easily.

But I wonder if it would have had a different impact if I'd tried to read it without any knowledge of what was going on. That and I still have the rest of the novel to get through--from what I understand, a lot of what is referred to in Benjy's section gets elaborated on further. So maybe there would have been those little reading pleasures that happen when things suddenly click into place.

I think I wish I'd had at least given the section, and the rest of the novel, a chance without any explanation first. Still, that doesn't have much to do with the overall enjoyment so far of the book. I'm liking it a lot--partly because I felt like I was able to follow what was going on, and partly from relief, thinking that it might still be as challenging for me as when I tried reading it so many years ago.

I finished a few days ago--I really, really enjoyed this, both the story and the style. I had the Norton Critical Edition, so I'm reading some critical essays now on it.

Has anyone here read Absalom, Absalom!? It seems to me a lot of the same themes are present, and it also features Quentin Compson. Actually, it would be better to say that it's a story that Quentin is part of and affected by, making it a further delving into his psyche, even though the larger events follow a different family.

I am puzzled by Quentin's suicide. One of the things that the critical essays suggested (spoilers ahead!--I know this is a spoiler thread, but still) was the idea that Quentin didn't commit suicide because of Caddy's loss of innocence: his despair springs from his reaction (or non-reaction) to it. That he didn't act in a manner that he thought was appropriate as the offended brother. (This is by-passing for the moment whether he had anything to be offended by)

Thinking of it in this light got me to thinking about Absalom, Absalom!, and the way that the story arc following the Sutpen family was told not as a story in and of itself, but as a story that Quentin had to absorb and resolve in his mind according to his belief structure.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that my take on it is that Quentin wasn't a well-adjusted person who was psychically damaged when his sister took off and got pregnant by Dalton Ames; he was damaged already--by a disposition which interpreted his culture in a way that left him unable to fulfill its demands. Caddy's actions just happened to be the thing that triggered this reflex, but it could have been other things. In Absalom, we see him just as tormented, though I don't remember Caddy being mentioned (though she could have been--I probably wouldn't have picked up the reference then, not having read S&F)

Thank you so much for the thoughtfulness with which you wrote, Bryan.

started this last night - 14% way in - enjoying style, but jury out wrt substance...