Absalom, Absalom

[Vronaqueen]

I've been on this forum for a few years now and the subject of William Faulkner has yet to appear. Shocking, I know. Anyway, I've recently been reading Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom and I've discovered that it is one of those novels that just begs for discussion. I don't think it would be as interesting otherwise.

What I've noticed is that none of these characters seem to be blaming the right person for their misfortunes. And I don't mean self-responsibility. The ill-fated demise of the Sutpen family doesn't seem to be coming for the father, at all, but from the terrible, and psychologically screwed up children. Specifically Charles, the son. (No need for spoiler alerts, this is all told in the first few pages by a very cranky old woman).

If anyone out there in cyber space has read this novel in any kind of context and would like to chat, post, by all means

[Black Flag]

If you'll scroll down the general literature posts to the one entitled "suggestions on an American novel" you'll find that I have, recently in fact, tried to get a Faulkner discussion going, so Ha! Faulkner has appeared! Just messin' around man.
Actually, though I used to be (for a short period) an avid Faulkner reader, Absalom, Absalom always remained on my "to read" list so I'm afraid I cannot contribute to this discussion. I quit reading Faulkner because he depressed the hell out of me, but lately I've been seriously considering picking up where I left off.

[Capnplank]

Yeeeah, I recall posting that Absalom, Absalom is the only Faulkner book so far that I've tried (multiple times) to read and never made it past the first page. One of these days I'll get through it, I swear!

[EAP]

LOL, 'A Rose for Emily' is among my favorite stories. 'Absalom, Absalom' is on my reading list though.

[Vronaqueen]

I'll admit, I haven't exactly been, "keeping up" on every single post, but a girl can only do so much. For those of you that have read Absalom, Absalom, or suffering through it, whatever the case may be, what do you think of it? I love it, despite the non-sensical sentence structure. I think it makes the story a little better in fact, because even though you already know what happens in a simplistic form, the how's and why's of it are revealed very slowly, changing your entire view of the situation as you go chapter by chapter.

I do get the feeling though that you will never truly understand what happened because you get the story from two people who were never physically present for the whole thing. Quetin's father is only repeating a story from his grandfather who heard it from Sutpen, and Rosa is a very bitter old woman who seems to let her personal feelings towards the family interfere with her narrative.

P.S. The first chapter is the worst of it because it makes absolutely no sense. You can skip it and still understand what's going on, all it does is set up the confusion that Quentin feels