Schall und Wahn (1929)

Ouch, this was a powerfully depressing read. ( )

I enjoy reading Faulkner though it isn't easy. This Southern gothic tells the story of the Compton family over 30 years. It is a picture of fallen aristocracy. The characters are flawed. Mrs Compton is too "sick" to care for her children so the childcare falls to the black servant Dilsey. Faulkner tells his story through 4 narratives and use of stream of consciousness. The first chapter is by the intellectually handicapped Benji and it is very disjointed but the reader does adjust to it. I found it helpful to read a bit about the book so that it was easier to catch on. There are major chronological leaps back and forth. The second is told by Quentin with mostly stream of conscious. He is the smartest most promising Compton and goes to Harvard to attend school. The third section is told by sarcastic Jason who is most ambitious and self-interested of the children. The final chapter is told by third person, omniscient POV and centers on Dilsey. Much of the thoughts of the 3 brothers are centered on their sister Caddy. The description of the Compton family members; Mr. Compson is an alcoholic. Mrs. Compson is a self-absorbed hypochondriac who depends almost entirely upon Dilsey to raise her four children. Quentin, the oldest child, is a sensitive bundle of neuroses. Caddy is stubborn, but loving and compassionate. Jason has been difficult and mean-spirited since birth and is largely spurned by the other children. Benjy is severely mentally disabled, an “idiot” with no understanding of the concepts of time or morality. In the absence of the self-absorbed Mrs. Compson, Caddy serves as a mother figure and symbol of affection for Benjy and Quentin.
The title of The Sound and the Fury refers to a line from William Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Macbeth, a Scottish general and nobleman, learns of his wife’s suicide and feels that his life is crumbling into chaos. In addition to Faulkner’s title, we can find several of the novel’s important motifs in Macbeth’s short soliloquy in Act V, scene v:

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle.
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

The cover of the first edition, The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner by William Faulkner portrays a man in torment as if wrestling in darkness, maybe depression. ( )

O Som e a Fúria é a tragédia da família Compson, apresentando algumas das personagens mais memoráveis da literatura: a bela e rebelde Caddy, Benjy, o filho varão, o assombrado e neurótico Quentin; Jason, o cínico brutal, e Dilsey, o criado negro. Com as suas vidas fragmentadas e atormentadas pela história e pela herança, as suas vozes e ações enredam-se para criar o que é, sem dúvida, a obra-prima de Faulkner e um dos maiores romances do século XX. William Faulkner afirmou muitas vezes que O Som e a Fúria era o romance mais próximo do seu coração porque era o que lhe tinha causado mais sofrimento e angústia a escrever. Neste magnífico romance, publicado pela primeira vez em 1929, Faulkner criou a «menina dos seus olhos», a bela e trágica Caddy Compson, cuja história nos conta através dos monólogos separados dos seus três irmãos: Benjy, o idiota; Quentin, o suicida neurótico; e o monstruoso Jason. ( )

El ruido y la furia es una obra maestra de la literatura. Relata la degeneración progresiva de la familia Compson, sus secretos y las relaciones de amor y odio que la sostienen y la destruyen. Por primera vez, William Faulkner (Premio Nobel de Literatura en 1949) introduce el monólogo interior y revela los diferentes puntos de vista de sus personajes: Benjy, deficiente mental, castrado por sus propios parientes; Quentin, poseído por un amor incestuoso e incapaz de controlar los celos, y Jason, monstruo de maldad y sadismo.

El ruido y la furia (el original en inglés: The Sound and the Fury) es la cuarta novela del autor estadounidense William Faulkner, publicada en 1929. ... El verso que inspiró al escritor describe la vida como una historia contada por un discapacitado mental, lo cual es una síntesis de esta novela. ( )

Man, a book that I have a lot of feelings about. It feels weird to be giving another Great Book 4 stars (see also: Moby-Dick) but I feel kind of hard pressed not to given how difficult parts of this are to follow. I understand what Faulkner is going for, but comparing the early sections back to the later ones it feels like something of a missed opportunity.

But, anyhow, this is still really excellent. Faulkner' grasp,of what makes these people tick is masterful, and his command of language is unbelievably strong. (This especially becomes apparent in the appendix section, when he basically replays the entire plot of the novel from a detached/omniscient perspective - in someone else's hands his would be incredibly tedious but Faulkner finds new ways of approaching old material at makes it feel like the final flourish on a magic trick.)

Overall: recommended, but get ready to feel lost. ( )