The Sound and the Fury

The Sound and the Fury is one of my favorite stories of all time. Which is incredibly odd considering I had to read it for school and generally do not prefer books that I have to read for school over those that I chose to read. But, this is one of those books that stuck with me, and not always for a good reason. While the idea of a loving and caring family (taking care of Benjy is something that most families would not have done in those days) really captured my heart, but the other ways that the Comptons love each other... well that wasn't in my heart so much.

The Sound and the Fury was also one of the first books that I was confused pretty much up until the end of the book. The third person narrator that appears at the end clears a lot of things up, but it wasn't until my second reading that some of the clues Faulkner slips in really make sense. The sense of confusion is not something that classifies Faulkner as a bad writer (as I would bestow on some of the writers of the current generation) but rather speaks to his masterful skills. Keeping track of the interweaving story lines in the first section of the book alone speaks to his briliance. It also makes me wonder about the process writers have to go through in order to write a book like that. Obviously he was one of the great masters of the stream of consciousness technique, but how did he become one of the masters. How does anyone?