View Poll Results: 'The Sound and The Fury': Final Verdict

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  • * Waste of time. Wouldn't recommend it.

    2 7.69%
  • ** Didn't like it much.

    3 11.54%
  • *** Average.

    0 0%
  • **** It is a good book.

    4 15.38%
  • ***** Liked it very much. Would strongly recommend it.

    17 65.38%
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Thread: April/Faulkner Book: The Sound and the Fury

  1. #1
    Pièce de Résistance Scheherazade's Avatar
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    April/Faulkner Book: The Sound and the Fury

    We are reading The Sound and the Fury in April. Please post your thoughts and questions on the book in this thread.



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  2. #2
    Vincit Qui Se Vincit Virgil's Avatar
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    HoooraAAAAY!!!!!!!!!! I got my wish. Thanks all who voted.
    LET THERE BE LIGHT

    "Love follows knowledge." – St. Catherine of Siena

    My literature blog: http://ashesfromburntroses.blogspot.com/

  3. #3
    RyDuce Ryduce's Avatar
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    I just checked it out today.

  4. #4
    freaky geeky emily655321's Avatar
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    I just discovered that the edition I bought also contains As I Lay Dying!! I'm so excited! Yay! I hadn't noticed, because the cover is so faded, but I checked in the back today because it seemed too thick for just TSATF, and there it was!

    But that has nothing to do with TSATF.

    First-time readers: Spark Notes. I cannot stress enough. Here, also, is a good commentary on the novel. (Be forewarned, it's one massive spoiler.) My edition also contains the Appendix by Faulkner himself, which is essentially just a geneology of the Compson family, but also outlines a lot of the story. If your copy has it, definitely read it first.
    If you had to live with this you'd rather lie than fall.
    You think I can't fly? Well, you just watch me!

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  5. #5
    RyDuce Ryduce's Avatar
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    Faulkner always kicks my ***,but I'm exicted about trying TSATF again.Help from all of you would be highly appreciated.

  6. #6
    My American Lit. professor let us pick a book, out of three choices, and I picked TSATF. It'll be on the final but we won't get to discuss it in class. I'm a bit freaked out, I don't know what to expect on the final. I'm about 5/8 of the way through it, and I like it, but I'm not following the "geneology" very well. I'm planning on rereading some of it before my final, rather than Sparknotes. I can't stand spoilers.

  7. #7
    Vincit Qui Se Vincit Virgil's Avatar
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    Just so everyone can avoid the helpless feeling that some have when reading TSATF for the first time I thought I'd give a little orientation. These thoughts are not organized, so I'll write them as I think them.

    It is a novel of family, a dysfunctional family, the Compsons. There is the father Jason (III) and a mother Caroline whose maiden name is Bascomb. They have four children, Quentin, Candice (Caddy), Jason (IV), and Benjy (originally named Maury but changed to Benjamin because Caroline's brother's name is Maury and when the family realized that the child was retarded they didn't want the association with Caroline's brother).

    The novel is divided into four parts of four different days. Three of the days are of the Easter weekend in 1928. The fourth day is the day of Quentin's suicide on June 2, 1910. The first three parts are told in the voice (dramatic monologue) of the three brothers: Benjy (April 7, 1928), Quentin (June 2, 1910), and Jason IV (April 6, 1928). The fourth section is in third person, mostly limited to Dilsey's (the old black servant) point of view, and it takes place on Easter Sunday, (April 8, 1928).

    Each section presents it's own reading difficulties. All the sections flashback to previous times, so when a flashback occurs it does jar the reader.

    The first section is told through Benjy monologue, through the mind of a severely retarded man. His flashbacks are mostly connected to sensory experience. When a similar touch or sound recalls something similar from the past, his mind goes back to that experience. And Faulkner glides from one experience to another without warning, simulating Benjy’s mind.

    I don’t think you need to know exactly which scenes are what to appreciate the novel. There are handbooks which detail that if you are interested. I think you just need to keep in mind the different category of scenes. Benjy’s recalls can be divided into several categories, and this is according to me, so take it for what it’s worth.

    Present:
    With Luster (Dilsey’s grandson) mostly in a pasture that was sold to become a golf course.

    From 1910 to Present:
    References to Quentin's suicide, Jason III's death, and some others.

    From 1905 to 1910
    Scenes of Caddy’s promiscuity, her wedding, and Benjy’s castration.

    From Benjy’s infancy to 1905 (born in 1898):
    Damuddy’s (Caroline’s mother) death, his name change, and a cold Christmas.

    I hope this helps as a start. If anyone wishes, I’ll do a second for the Quentin section.
    LET THERE BE LIGHT

    "Love follows knowledge." – St. Catherine of Siena

    My literature blog: http://ashesfromburntroses.blogspot.com/

  8. #8
    RyDuce Ryduce's Avatar
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    30 pages through the first section and I'm pretty happy because I'm not confused at all,but by page 50 I'm lost.

  9. #9
    Vincit Qui Se Vincit Virgil's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ryduce
    30 pages through the first section and I'm pretty happy because I'm not confused at all,but by page 50 I'm lost.
    Ry - What passage are you stumbling on? Do you have the Vintage paperback edition? Who is in the scene that you're having trouble with?
    LET THERE BE LIGHT

    "Love follows knowledge." – St. Catherine of Siena

    My literature blog: http://ashesfromburntroses.blogspot.com/

  10. #10
    RyDuce Ryduce's Avatar
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    This is what I know so far.........


    Somebody died.
    Luster is looking for a quarter to go to a show.
    There on a golf course.
    Caddie smells like trees.
    Mrs. Patterson is having an affair???



    I just realized I know nothing.

  11. #11
    Vincit Qui Se Vincit Virgil's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ryduce
    This is what I know so far.........


    Somebody died.
    Luster is looking for a quarter to go to a show.
    There on a golf course.
    Caddie smells like trees.
    Mrs. Patterson is having an affair???
    Did you read my orientation above?

    Somebody died: Three people die though the course of the novel: Quentin, Jason III, and Roskus, Dilsey's husband. [Edit: Damuddy also dies.]

    Luster is looking for a quarter: yes, but not all that important to the story. When Luster is looking for that quarter, it just signals that Faulkner has shifted to the present.

    They're on a golf course: Yes, it was the pasture owned by the Compson family that was sold to send Quentin to harvard. Notice that when they call for the golf caddy, it reminds Benjy of his sister.

    Caddie smells like trees: Yes, this is how Benjy remembers his sister. But it probably contains more significance than that, and perhaps at some point we should discuss it.

    Mrs. Patterson is having an affair: Yes, with Uncle Maury. I'm not sure that it's that significant. It tells us something about Maury and the Bascomb family.
    Last edited by Virgil; 04-02-2006 at 12:59 PM.
    LET THERE BE LIGHT

    "Love follows knowledge." – St. Catherine of Siena

    My literature blog: http://ashesfromburntroses.blogspot.com/

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Ryduce
    Somebody died.
    Luster is looking for a quarter to go to a show.
    There on a golf course.
    Caddie smells like trees.
    Mrs. Patterson is having an affair???
    Besides the three people that Virgil mentioned, the death of Damuddy is also described (in flashback). I think this is probably the death you have in mind. Apologies to the book club for cheating a little and posting without having re-read the novel yet.

  13. #13
    Vincit Qui Se Vincit Virgil's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by bluevictim
    Besides the three people that Virgil mentioned, the death of Damuddy is also described (in flashback). I think this is probably the death you have in mind. Apologies to the book club for cheating a little and posting without having re-read the novel yet.
    Oh, thanks. You are quite right.
    LET THERE BE LIGHT

    "Love follows knowledge." – St. Catherine of Siena

    My literature blog: http://ashesfromburntroses.blogspot.com/

  14. #14
    freaky geeky emily655321's Avatar
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    Oops, should really read all posts before I reply.
    If you had to live with this you'd rather lie than fall.
    You think I can't fly? Well, you just watch me!

    ~The Dresden Dolls

  15. #15
    Springing Riesa's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Virgil
    Just so everyone can avoid the helpless feeling that some have when reading TSATF for the first time I thought I'd give a little orientation. These thoughts are not organized, so I'll write them as I think them.
    argggghhhh....I haven't finished yet!

    Is everyone else finished? There are bits that are very uniquely observant, for example, when he describes the old man and the mule which he sees from the train. p.57 of my copy, in June Second. I feel at times like I'm reading a poem, not a novel. and boy, does he like looong sentences.
    "Don't matter who they are, anybody sets foot in this house, they are company and don't let me catch you remarking on their ways like you were so high and mighty."

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