While my journey through The Sound and the Fury was filled with frustration and fury, some part of me eventually learned to enjoy this novel. My frustration initially stemmed from my sheer inability to keep up with what was going on throughout the story. While I was trying to figure out what was happening to Benjy at a golf course, I then had to adjust to his sudden talking to his disowned sister years earlier. This aspect of the novel most assuredly took some getting used to, though I did in due time appreciate the originality of the idea.
Once I was able to find my way past the confusion, I grew to enjoy the way the novel was written. I found the changing of style from character to character to be very clever. The writing seemed real as I was guided through the character’s conscious thoughts and memories as if I was reading an authentic person’s mind. I liked the way I was confused by Benjy’s shape-obsessed and disabled state of mind, and how the Quentin’s poetic and academic language drew me into his inner-demons of time and sin. Faulkner did a good job in showing his versatility as a writer as it seemed that each section of the story was written by a different novel.
In his style of writing, Faulkner proved himself to be unconventional and anomalous, which I found wonderful. In certain sections he would talk in short, fragmented sentences, then in others he would include unorthodox poetic framing, later using eloquent and grammatically correct language. I enjoyed that he took artistic license in his piece and did not leave colloquialism to just dialogue. I found Quentin’s suicidal poetic ranting mesmerizing as it was not formal and coherent, paralleling his mindset. Though it included confusion and frustration, Faulkner’s writing gave life and realism to the characters, ultimately contributing to an original novel.
"Artistic license" is far too mild a word for the style of this novel, which completely disregarded most of the literary rules we are taught in school. I also was wondering how you enjoyed the way you were confused by Benjy's shape obsession, instead of simply frustrated by a lack of coherency. Originality can be a very good thing, but not originality for the sake of being original. We do not as a society give credit to the inventor of the poultry sunglasses, because while they were an original and novel idea, they were completely useless. This is the way I saw the style of writing which emerged in many southern gothic books, which does not “float my boat” (I’m not sure how else to put it, but I didn’t like it). So it appears we are at odds over what is a good literary achievement.
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