|
The Sound and the Fury Posters
Photos Art
Search for Posters Art Prints, photos and get
results from all the many categories from Amazon including
books, videos, dvds, toys, video games, and more.
|
|
|
Posters Art
Prints Photos collectables |
|
|
|
|
|
|
If for some reason you can't find what the
poster or art print your looking for try using the search boxes
below
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Rating:  -
This novel shows the weakness of the star system. So many novels are getting five stars and probably deserving them, but only a mere handful can compare with The Sound and the Fury. It transcends the five star system. This novel is absolutely gripping, brilliant, fascinating, and charming despite being dark in the "Southern gothic" sort of way. In my opinion, The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner goes on the shelf with the greatest American novels--Moby Dick, The Great Gatsby, and a few others. No need to quibble.
I have not been a fan of Faulkner's and not read anything by him in decades. I came across The Sound and the Fury by accident as it were. I borrowed the CD from the local library for commuting. I soon realized that I could make no sense of it listening and so tried the book. Anyway I quickly became enthralled.
Faulkner's style is not easy, as is well known. Parts of the book seem like he wrote a normal story and then cut it up into a thousand strips and reassembled them randomly. The reader parachutes in at the beginning with no explanation or idea what anything is about. We are in the disordered mind of Benjy the autistic or retarded Compson offspring. One would almost do better reading this novel back to front as the later parts including the appendix are written in a much more linear form that is actually comprehensible. Thus The Sound and the Fury is not just stream of consciousness; it contains a mix of styles and voices. BTW: Faulkner is the finest writer of dialogue in dialect that I have ever come across.
I suppose there are two ways to come to this novel. Completely cold as I did or with a good background in the characters, plot, and style from guides as I imagine most readers would. There are plenty of resources on the wed detailing the events and characters. I must admit there was something of the thrill of discovery in coming to the book without any idea about it, although before getting very far into it I did research it on the Web. Also Faulkner added a helpful appendix.
Despite the fact that The Sound and the Fury is based on social norms that are no longer current for us--the stigma of out-of-wedlock pregnancy and racial relations that are fortunately long gone--the characters, their mayhem and their sufferings, are universal and classical.
Rating: -
The Sound and the Fury is gonna be a demanding book to read. The first two hundred pages will be TOUGH...you won't know what the hell is going on, and you won't know WHY what's going on is going on. Your patience will be tried. Your eyes will glaze. You'll manage five pages and then say "That's enough for one night!"
I don't know how I lasted up to the Jason Compson section...but I'm glad I did because THAT was the inflection point. That's when I realized the book wasn't highfalutin artsy-fartsy nonsense...the kind of book pretentious English professors gush over because the hoi polloi "just don't get it."
There is some major "there" there...but here's the thing: you will probably need to read the book TWICE in order to completely absorb the greatness. Two times to apprehend the magnitude of the achievement. Never before has an artist pulled my strings the way Faulkner did with this book. He stopped me in my tracks. Left me in the dust. Gave me the ol' dipsy-doodle.
The MLA placed The Sound and the Fury at #6 on their list of the hundred best novels of the 20th century...and, for one of the very few times, I agree with them. This is a book that's gonna draw a line in the sand and dare you to step across. It's NOT gonna let you off the hook. It won't make things easy. You're going to have to hack your way through the jungle, confronting snakes, quicksand, giant Venus fly-traps and man-eating ants...but eventually--if you persevere, if you SURVIVE--you WILL find El Dorado.
I wish you luck...
Rating: -
This is William Faulkner's fourth book and considered by many to be one of the greatest pieces of literature ever written...and after reading this book and writing this review I share those sentiments. And yet, when you listen to Faulkner describe his depiction into the decline of the aristocratic Compson family, he considered it to be his best failure. The book comes at you in four sections with each being told by a different narrative...so let's explore Faulkner's best failure, shall we?
The first part we meet the thirty-something man child, Benjy Compson. Benjy has flashbacks of the earliest events in the novel and is the key to the book's title. Benjy has a simple vocabulary...he uses short words and forms basic sentences. While most of his memories revolve around his sister Caddy, it is a memory he has of her at an early age that establishes her character in the second part. He does recall other key events in his life: His name was changed from Maury to Benjamin, his brother Quentin's self-inflicted death, and an event later that led to Benjy being castrated.
The second part takes place eighteen years earlier than Benjy's section, and does a splendid job of developing the story...this section is from Quentin Compson's perspective. It takes place the day of Quentin's death while he is wandering around Boston. He is a student at Harvard University...and like his brother Benjy...he too, is preoccupied with the past and has frequent flashbacks...yet the differences between the two are easily apparent. Benjy's flashback are mainly general impressions, while Quentin's are abstract and delve into the reasoning behind the character's motives.
The third part is told from Jason Compson's perspective, the third of the Compson brothers and takes place during Good Friday. Unlike Benjy and Quentin, Jason has few flashbacks and focuses mainly on the present day. Jason bears witness to just how far down the Compson family sunk. His dark humor is cruel...he complains and his scheming is never-ending - Jason is the polar opposite of Quentin.
The fourth section doesn't really have a voice, but if such a label is needed, one can call it Dilsey's Section since she is the predominant character. This section is set entirely in the present day, on Easter Sunday. There are two main events in this section: Jason chasing stolen money and insulting a man in Mottson...and Dilsey's attendance at an Easter church service, where a preacher delivers a sermon that instills in Dilsey a sense of impending doom for the Compson family.
Such a magnificent failure Faulkner has written...even when the story of this tragedy is told, we are allowed more glimpses into the decline of the Compson family...both from the family's aristocratic history and in the years following their decline. The Sound and the Fury does a masterful job depicting four separate narratives telling the tale of the tragic lore of a once affluent family.
Rating:  -
Incontestable Fact: Any book that can't be understood without the aid of the author explaining it or some kind of synopsis derived from the author's explaination is a failure.
The truth is, only Faulkner himself understands this story. Even college professors rely on aids to teach this book.
Many of us down here on the 1 and 2 star level have said that this book is only regarded as a classic because of its stream of conscienceness style and we're absolutely right. I personally think the stream of conscienceness is a brilliant idea but wasted here on a mundane concept.
I take issue with the fact that Faulkner says this is a story about two fallen women, when the story does not focus on the two women in question, but rather on the way they have effected those around them. It would seem that Faulkner doesn't understand his own story.
If you don't like books that can only be mildly apprecciated in retrospect, don't read this book. If mentally ill people depress you, don't read this book. If suicidal people depress you, don't read this book. If constantly cynical biggets depress you, don't read this book. If, like me, you're a southerner who can't stand to read southern dialect, don't read this book. If, in general, you don't like reading about disfunctional families, don't read this book.
The only people who enjoy this book only claim to like this book, which is a testiment to their snobbery. People will not say anything against this book for fear of appearing uneducated and/or uncultured.
Do not waste your precious time by reading this book. Trust me, you will be the wiser.
Rating:  -
This book is surely an American classic from one of our quintessential American novelists, but it is best appreciated by literature majors with an entire semester available to study it. Faulkner's use of literary devices like the unreliable narrator and stream-of-consciousness prose is highly compelling, with great results from fractured personality types like the mentally handicapped (Benjy), the disturbed (Quentin), and the hate-filled (Jason). Faulkner was a brilliant observer of the deteriorating state of Southern culture and values during the Reconstruction and Jim Crow eras, represented here by the pathetic collapse of the once-noble Compson family.
But this book is an excessively difficult and often exasperating read. I am not penalizing the book because I chose not to spend an entire semester studying it, because maybe I'm not giving it the credit it deserves. But on the other hand, Faulkner loses points for obfuscation, with characters not being properly introduced, multiple characters with the same names (like the two Quentins), and shifting time streams and points of view. Of course, all of these were intentional by Faulkner to create a surreal and emotional effect. But it sure is difficult to follow the story. Nonetheless, this book is still a classic, but ask yourself how much of a struggle you enjoy with your reading experience. [~doomsdayer520~]
|
