William Faulkner thread

[Guest Chaney]

Outside of the short stories I would suggest:

As I Lay Dying 

Light in August 

Sanctuary 

Absalom, Absalom! 

The Reivers 

The Snopes Trilogy:  1) The Hamlet 2) The Town 3) The Mansion

Go Down, Moses 

A Fable

Somewhere in there once you get the hang of Faulkner I would read The Sound and The Fury.

Mny,

Unless you're suggesting that these all be read simultaneously, which one first?

[Guest Mnytime]

Sorry wasn't more clear I meant As I Lay Dying than followed by the others. As I Lay Dying was the first one that I started and finished after The Sound and The Fury incident at 13.

Of course JC's choice is excellent as well.

Now if you are able to read them all simultaneously I would suggest taking the act on the road.

Edited July 4, 2003 by Mnytime

[kenny weir]

I almost finished Light In August before it was rudely interupted by another (more enticing) book, and gained the most satisfaction of any of the Faulkner I have read.

I bought the Snopes trilogy and read The Hamlet, but never really gelled with it. I enjoyed the fact it was in a relatively straightforward narrative form, but the characters just seemed too cartoon-like for me to have any belief in them.

But I've enjoyed this thread - it's inspiration to pick with the dude again before the year's out.

How about some suggestions of similar stuff, or subsequent books influenced by Faulkner?

[Guest Mnytime]

Well an obvious choice is James Joyce who influenced Faulkner. Another influence on Faulkner was Sherwood Anderson.

Some others I would recommend:

Thomas Mann

Samuel Beckett

John Dos Passos

John Steinbeck

Those authors influenced by Faulkner:

Vladimir Nabokov

Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Thomas Pynchon

Ralph Ellison

Cormac McCarthy

Toni Morrison-I am not a big fan myself but still is influenced by Faulkner.

There are more but that should keep you busy.

Edited July 4, 2003 by Mnytime

[connoisseur series500]

Tony- I'd recommend Light in August to anyone as an intro to Faulkner. It has a manageable amount of depth for someone previously unfamiliar with his style. It's both challenging and rewarding, and the intertwining of its own stories and themes is like no other. The story is still incredibly modern in the way it deals with age-old conflicts. I have a new favorite character every time I read it. And while the writing is infused with many of Faulkner's unique quirks...stream-of-conscious prose with anyone's guess as to who is doing the talking/thinking...twisted, yet totally logical restructure of common English grammar... It is still very readable. You'll want to reach in and strangle Lucas burch.

Hope that helps.

An excellent first one to read, in my opinion. "Light in August" is very readable.

Another good one to start with, which no one seems to mention is "Wild Palms/Old Man." Beautiful story. I'll see if I can search my boxes to find it and offer a few beautiful quotes.

[Guest Mnytime]

But whadda youse guys think of A FABLE? That one gets routinely drubbed... which, for some perverse reason, makes me curious about it.

I liked it but it's not on the scale of his great works. It must have been a slow year when it one the Pulitzer.

[connoisseur series500]

I highly recommend Joseph Blotner's bio on Faulkner. I recently finished the paperback one volume edition. The two volume hardback set is kind of too much for me right now but I think I'll tackle it in the near future.

The Blotner bio is very good.

As a famous man after winning the Nobel Prize, he once said to a class of students at a University:

"I'm inclined to think that the only peace man knows is--he says, Why good gracious yesterday I was happy...That maybe peace is only a condition in retrospect, when the subconscious had got rid of the gnats and the tacks and the broken glass in experience and has left only the peaceful pleasant things--that was peace. Maybe peace is not is, but was."

Beautiful!

Edited July 4, 2003 by connoisseur series500

[connoisseur series500]

Also, speaking of Hemingway; this also from Blotner's bio:

"Poor bloke, to have to marry three times to find out that marriage is a failure, and the only way to get any peace out of it is (if you are fool enough to marry at all) keep the first one and stay as far away from her as much as you can, with the hope of some day outliving her. At least you will be safe then from any other one marrying you--which is bound to happen if you ever divorce her."

[Guest Mnytime]

I always found this funny also gives you and idea who Faulkner thought was great at the time:

In 1932 Faulkner went dove hunting with Howard Hawks and a friend of his, an actor named Clark Gable. Hawks began talking with Faulkner about books, during which Gable remained silent. Finally, Gable asked Faulkner who he thought were the best living writers. After a moment, Faulkner answered, "Ernest Hemingway, Willa Cather, Thomas Mann, John Dos Passos, and myself."

Gable paused for a moment and said, "Oh, do you write?"

"Yes, Mr. Gable," Faulkner said. "What do you do?"

[Guest Mnytime]

Another one:

Faulkner was unwilling to buy a new suit to wear when he received the Nobel Prize, so he rented one. Afterwards, he told his publisher, Bennett Cerf, that he wanted to keep the suit. When asked what he would do with it, Faulkner said, "Well, I might stuff it and put it in the living room and charge people to come in and see it, or I might rent it out, but I want that suit." Random House bought the suit for him.

[Joe Christmas]

I liked it but it's not on the scale of his great works. It must have been a slow year when it one the Pulitzer.

What didn't you like about it?

I think it rarely gets mentioned because the story stays outside the regional elements and setting so often identified with his writing.

Kenny, Cormac McCarthy's writing is easily the closest cousin to Faulkner's.

[Guest Mnytime]

Were did I say I didn't like it?

Why do you think McCarthy is the closest cousin to Faulkner instead of say Pynchon or Beckett?

Edited July 4, 2003 by Mnytime

[Guest Mnytime]

Speaking of Southern writers, any thoughts on Flannery O'Connor? I have a couple friends from the South who prefer her to Faulkner.

[Joe Christmas]

Read my question again.

to answer yours, McCarthy relates to Faulkner in:

-content

-character development

-subject matter

-fascination with suffering as humanity

-Southern settings as a "living" element to their stories

-tendencies to make heroes out of everymen with subpar intelligence but an amazing understanding of humanity/mortality

-their books are almost consistently tragic

McCarthy is to Faulkner as Thoreau is to Emerson, in my book.

Pynchon and (maybe) Beckett were postmodernists, like Faulkner. That's about it, IMO. Although you could ascribe several of the bullets above to either of these authors but nowhere on a level as Faulkner and McCarthy relate to one another.

[Guest Mnytime]

I will have to reread the McCarthy it's been a while. While I see the Faulkner influence I just don't think I would call him a his closest cousin. By the way isn't McCarthy more Western than Southern?

Didn't Pynchon's V win some sort of Faulkner prize?

Edited July 4, 2003 by Mnytime

[connoisseur series500]

Speaking of Southern writers, any thoughts on Flannery O'Connor? I have a couple friends from the South who prefer her to Faulkner.

Flannery O' Connor is a brilliant writer. Her sense of humor is amazing, but there is always a very dark side to her stories. Her work is also deeply disturbing. The critics like to talk about her Christian view of life.

In the end, Faulkner is the greater writer. He probed deeper into the mysteries of life, I think, and in such beautiful prose.

I still have to dig up my copies of his novels...

Another Southern writer who couldn't quite escape the Faulkner influence is William Styron. It's hard for any Southern writer to escape the Faulkner shadow.

[Jazzmoose]

Wow! Now it's Flannery O'Conner; great stuff! Let's go for another: any fans of Eudora Welty around here?

[brownie]

Very interesting thread. Makes me want to dig out the Faulkner books. I have

not read them in years.

Speaking of southern writers, surprised that Carson McCullers has not been mentioned

yet. Another great writer from down there.

[connoisseur series500]

Wow! Now it's Flannery O'Conner; great stuff! Let's go for another: any fans of Eudora Welty around here?

She's a big name, but somehow I missed her in my readings.

Tell us more, Moose.

[connoisseur series500]

Okay, I managed to dig up a few books.

Here is a good quote from "Wild Palms:"

"I found out some time back that it's idleness breeds all our virtues, our most bearable qualities-contemplation, equableness, laziness, letting other people alone; good digestion mental and physical: the wisdom to concentrate on fleshly pleasures--eating and evacuating and fornication and sitting in the sun--than which there is nothing better, nothing to match, nothing else in all this world but to live for the short time you are loaned breath, to be alive and know it--oh, yes, she taught me that; she has marked me too for ever--nothing, nothing. But it was only recently I have clearly seen, followed out the logical conclusion, that is is one of what we call the prime virtues--thrift, industry, independence--that breeds all the vices--fanaticism, smugness, meddling, rear, and worst of all, respectability. Us, for instance. Because of the fact that for the first we were solvent, knew for certain where tomorrow's food was coming from (the damned money, too much of it; at night we would lie awake and plan how to get it spent..."

[Joe Christmas]

Didn't Pynchon's V win some sort of Faulkner prize?

Mnytime, the Pen/Faulkner Award owes in part to Faulkner's spirit and is not a measure how closely another American writer can emulate him.

Re: McCarthy, his early books are all based in Tennessee (where he grew up if I remember correctly). It was only with Blood Meridian and the Border Trilogy that he began focusing heavier on Texas/Mexico/Native Americana.

Conn, a good friend of mine, another Faulkner enthusiast, swears by Styron's work and has tried and tried again to get me into his work because of our shared interests. I attempted This House On Fire a few times and for the life of me could not get with it. Any recommendations?

Joe Milazzo loves Eudora Welty. I read "A Worn Path" my freshman year in college and really enjoyed it. Picked up some of her short stories about 10 years ago but have since only read her sparingly.

Another writer who always comes to mind on this topic is Ambrose Bierce for his Civil War shorts. I've always wondered if he was any sort of inspiration to Faulkner. One can't help but notice the similarities in the tone of the latter's more mainstream stories with something like "Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge."

[jazzbo]

Mnytime: I'm here to tell you (literally) that Texas is much more the South than it is the West.

[Guest Chaney]

Thank you gentlemen for the recommendations.

[shrugs]

I think McCarthy also tends to have some of his characters think on a higher level than what they would be expected to. Like Darl in AILD.

[Jazzmoose]

Wow!  Now it's Flannery O'Conner; great stuff!  Let's go for another:  any fans of Eudora Welty around here?

She's a big name, but somehow I missed her in my readings.

Tell us more, Moose.

Well, head for the library and find a short story titled "The Petrified Man"; it was my intro to her work. If you've ever lived in the small town South for any length of time, you'll recognize every character in the story. She has a knack for capturing the humor of Southern thinking without insulting her subjects. A pretty neat trick!