The Sound and
the Fury
1949 Nobel Prize in Literature
William Faulkner (1897-1967)
RG Gold Medal 1998
18th May 1998 at Sam's House
Synopsis
Ever since the first furore was created on publication day
in 1929 The Sound and the Fury has been considered
one of the key novels of this century.
In essence this is a novel of about lovelessness - "only
an idiot has not grief; only a fool would forget it. What
else is there in this world sharp enough to stick to your
guts?" It is a novel about intense passionate family relationships
wherein there is no love, only self-centredness.
First lines
Through the fence, between the curling flower spaces,
I could see them hitting. They were coming toward where the
flag was and I went along the fence. Luster was hunting in
the grass by the flower tree. They took the flag out, and
they were hitting. Then they put the flag back and they went
to the table, and he hit and the other hit. Then they went
on, and I went along the fence. Luster came away from the
flower tree and we went along the fence and they stopped and
we stopped and I looked through the fence while Luster was
hunting in the grass.
Published reviews
Faulkner at his best - even sometimes at his worst - has
a power, a richness of life, an intensity to be found in no
other American writer of our time.
Malcolm Cowley
Faulkner has inexhaustible invention, powerful imagination,
and he writes, generally, like an angel.
Arnold Bennett
Faulkner belongs to the full-dressed post-Flaubert group
of Conrad, Joyce, and Proust.
Edmund Wilson
For all the range of effect, philosophical weight, originality
of style, variety of characterization, humor, and tragic intensity
[Faulkner's works] are without equal in our time and country.
Robert Penn Warren
For all his concern with the South, Faulkner was actually
seeking out the nature of man. Thus we must return to him
for that continuity of moral purpose which made for the greatness
of our classics.
Ralph Ellison
Our comments
An incredible book. Very difficult to read and difficult to
get into. It is narrated by several different people and the
story takes place over several different times. Written as
"stream of consciousness", the book is a literary
tour-de-force. But while being impressive in terms of the
literary skill, it is also very moving.
Related Resources
A
reading group guide to this book
Nobel
Prize for Literature Citation
Biography
on Pegasos site
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