# Faulkner: WTF? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 24, 2008, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faulkner-wtf/464941 "2008-09-24T04:13:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2008, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faulkner-wtf/464941/1 "2008-09-24T04:13:25Z")
Just started reading _The Sound and the Fury_. It’s jumping all around and I can barely follow it. Is the whole book going to be like this? Is Faulkner another Joyce? All I can think of is the sketch from last week’s SNL on the undiscovered end to _Of Mice and Men_. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2008, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faulkner-wtf/464941/2 "2008-09-24T04:27:17Z")
I always thought of Faulkner as Joyce with a twang. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2008, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faulkner-wtf/464941/3 "2008-09-24T10:39:23Z")
I’d never heard of Faulkner until I moved to TN from OH, and _every_ goddamned English professor I had crammed Faulkner (and Flannery O’Connor) down our throats. I _love_ Joyce. Faulkner is **no** Joyce. Faulkner isn’t worthy to lap up Joyce’s vomit from one of his all night drinking binges with Hemingway. There _are_, I will admit, occassional flashes of brilliance in Faulkner’s writing, but you have to wade through some much **shit** to get to them, that its not worth the effort. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2008, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faulkner-wtf/464941/4 "2008-09-24T12:52:55Z")
> [@DanBlather](#): > > Just started reading _The Sound and the Fury_. It’s jumping all around and I can barely follow it. Is the whole book going to be like this? Is Faulkner another Joyce? All I can think of is the sketch from last week’s SNL on the undiscovered end to _Of Mice and Men_. \*\*DanBlather \*\*- you _do_ know that TSatF’s first 1/3 or so is written from the perspective of Benjy, a mentally-disabled member of the family? For him, the passage of time doesn’t mean much, so his thoughts ramble from youth to present day without much clarity and his perception of the world is reduced to simpler perceptions. Not to mention that he was born with a different name (starts with an M I think) and is referred to with both names. The execution of the section is masterful - kinda like Daniel Day-Lewis technically executing the role of a physically disabled character. But few people can just read that cold - you should get a Cliff’s Notes or equivalent analysis - read the book but use the analysis to connect the dots. And \*\*Tuckerfan \*\*- I hear you: Joyce is a master on many levels and in many literature forms. But I don’t see a need to diminish Faulkner to elevate Joyce - Joyce’s work elevates him just fine. Faulkner is brilliant in his own way - As I Lay Dying is my personal favorite - it is technically brilliantly rendered and it’s satiric-yet-sentimental portrayal of a white trash family is complex, layered and ambitious… ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2008, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faulkner-wtf/464941/5 "2008-09-24T13:15:37Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > Joyce’s vomit from one of his all night drinking binges with Hemingway. That describes my experience reading Joyce pretty well. I preferred The Sound and The Fury to Joyce and the Joyce imitations I’ve read over the years because at least some of the time, I knew what was going on, and more importantly, cared what was going on. The whole book is not written from Benjy’s point of view. That’s one section out of four, and the others are much more linear. Once you read those, and maybe a study aid - even a single short SparkNotes-y thing helps a lot - the beginning section makes a lot more sense. Or at least its significance is clearer. **WordMan** , you’re correct about Benjy’s name. It was Maury. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2008, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faulkner-wtf/464941/6 "2008-09-24T13:25:04Z")
Not everything by Faulkner is as difficult as _The Sound and the Fury_. Some of his writings are a lot more straightforward than others. Of course, the same is true of Joyce. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2008, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faulkner-wtf/464941/7 "2008-09-24T18:14:00Z")
> [@DanBlather](#): > > Just started reading _The Sound and the Fury_. It’s jumping all around and I can barely follow it. From the title, what did you expect? “Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more: it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of **sound and fury** , Signifying nothing.” – Macbeth ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2008, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faulkner-wtf/464941/8 "2008-09-24T18:39:05Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > And \*\*Tuckerfan \*\*- I hear you: Joyce is a master on many levels and in many literature forms. But I don’t see a need to diminish Faulkner to elevate Joyce - Joyce’s work elevates him just fine. Faulkner is brilliant in his own way - As I Lay Dying is my personal favorite - it is technically brilliantly rendered and it’s satiric-yet-sentimental portrayal of a white trash family is complex, layered and ambitious… Sorry, but I can’t stand Faulkner in any shape or form. 99% of what he writes is so hamfisted and telegraphed so far ahead that he might as well write “THE END” immediately after the title. ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2008, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faulkner-wtf/464941/9 "2008-09-24T18:40:15Z")
> [@DanBlather](#): > > Just started reading _The Sound and the Fury_. It’s jumping all around and I can barely follow it. Is the whole book going to be like this? Is Faulkner another Joyce? All I can think of is the sketch from last week’s SNL on the undiscovered end to _Of Mice and Men_. I’ve got one Faulkner novel somewhere in the lower reaches of my bookshelves, and over the decades I’ve started it two times. Both times I gave up in amazed laughter after five pages. My mental review was, “This contest to write a short story illustrating the concept of _Lugubrious_. And please use a trowel.” Absalom, Absalom, maybe? ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2008, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faulkner-wtf/464941/10 "2008-09-24T18:45:00Z")
I read _theSandtheF_ for AP English. I can honestly say I don’t remember much of it, except for a dysfunctional Southern family. The rest of it lived up to its referential quote: it signified nothing to me. 🙂 I also read Joyce–better, but he’s still admiring himself in the mirror as he types, or so it seems to me. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2008, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faulkner-wtf/464941/11 "2008-09-24T18:45:33Z")
> [@](#): > > Faulkner: WTF? Heh. That nicely sums up my first semester of college Literature. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mississippienne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Mississippienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mississippienne)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2008, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faulkner-wtf/464941/12 "2008-09-24T18:50:18Z")
I love Faulkner, but I’m a Mississippian so it’s encoded into my DNA. Anyway, if you’re having trouble with his novels, I suggest trying some of his short stories first to get a feel for him. When I first read Faulkner, his writing style perplexed me so much I had to read a story three and four times to understand what happened. When I got it, it was a ‘Eureka!’ moment. Check out “That Evening Sun” and “A Rose for Emily”.