The Sound and the Fury (Identities and Issues in Literature)
At a glance:
- Author: William Faulkner
- First Published: 1929
- Genres: Long fiction, Psychological fiction
- Subjects: Family or family life, Sex or sexuality, Suicide, South or Southerners, Brothers and sisters, 1910’s, 1920’s, Incest, Mississippi, Moral conditions, Illegitimacy, Small-town life, Tragedy, Mental retardation
- Locales: Cambridge, MA, Yoknapatawpha County (fictive)
The Work
The Sound and the Fury, perhaps William Faulkner’s finest novel, follows the decline of a proud Mississippi family. Quickly recognized as a brilliant tour de force, it begins with the direct thoughts of a mentally retarded man and a suicidal youth, and has become a classic example of the stream-of-consciousness novel.
The first three sections are narrated by brothers Benjy, Quentin, and Jason Compson. Benjy, a grown man with the mind of a two-year-old, cannot speak but reacts intuitively to death, loss, light, and his beloved sister Caddy. Innocent...
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