Faulkner thread

[Anonymous No.5066230]

Just finished pic related and all I can say is, wow. I thought the first two thirds were boring as fuck, up until after they forded the river, but the last third literally took my breath away. I want to reread this book under a blanket of stars while listening to bob dylan's time out of mind album.

Anyways, I've got a few questions still. what did vardaman see that Dewey Dell told him not tell anyone the night the barn burned? What was dewey dell doing when she changed her clothes with the package? So when Jewel found out Anse traded his horse he ran off, then left the horse to the man Anse made the deal with as one final begrudging gift to the family, then wandered back and met up with them when he cooled off? Was the reason why Darls last chapter written as if Darl was a third person because he was going crazy (i.e. "I asked 'why are you laughing Darl? Is it because you hate laughter?'" What do you think the point of having Anse find a new wife at the very end of the book was? What was with jewel and the horse? Was he fucking it? Speaking which, was Dewey Dell caught masturbating in barn in the beginning?[/spoiler/]

Any other thoughts or criticisms? What should I read next by him? Ive already read A Light In August and loved it. I started The Sound and the Fury but gave up and don't think I'm reading to try again yet. I was thinking Absolom! Absolom!

Why and how was Faulkner goddam awesome?

[Anonymous No.5066237]

*dont think im ready to try again

[Anonymous No.5066265]

>>5066230
Have you read Barn Burning?

[Anonymous No.5066279]

>>5066265
No, tell me about it?

[Anonymous No.5066280]

>what did vardaman see that Dewey Dell told him not tell anyone the night the barn burned?

Darl setting the fire. Did you seriously not get that? It's integral.

>Was the reason why Darls last chapter written as if Darl was a third person because he was going crazy

You must be fucking kidding me.

> What do you think the point of having Anse find a new wife at the very end of the book was?

Okay, you're definitely kidding me.

>What was with jewel and the horse? Was he fucking it?

le ebic trol

If you're serious, I don't think you understood this book at all. At all.

[Anonymous No.5066283]

>>5066230
Ummm. So many questions. Darl referred to himself in third person because, being no longer able to project his consciousness to watch others, he suffered from that schizophrenic break resulting in the burning of the barn.

I don't think there was anything to imply that Jewell was fucking the horse, more likely in sensing his "difference" between himself and the rest of his family (because he was a bastard child) he linked himself to his horse in order to find belonging and a sense of family in his own way.

Dewey Dell caught masturbating? I don't think so, but it's been a while since I read it. Are you referring to the beginning when Darl knows Dewey is pregnant, and she knows he knows, but neither of them speak of it? This is incidentally why Dewey immediately betrays Darl when the police officers come to arrest him. She wanted to protect the father of her child, and only Darl knew who it was.

Vardaman and Darl's logical proof passages are still some of my favorite literary passages to date. If you had trouble with Sound and Fury, Absalom, Absalom might give you more trouble. AA is the stylistic opposite of AILD. AILD is minimalistic, AA is full throttle maximalism.

I rather liked Flags in the Dust, though its far from Faulkner's signature style. (It's like Faulkner's 100 Years of Solitude for Yaknawpotawnxhatpowhana County)

[Anonymous No.5066288]

>I thought the first two thirds were boring as fuck,
This is unforgivable. You have literally exposed yourself as a wretched and damned creature.

[Anonymous No.5066291]

>>5066280

[Anonymous No.5066293]

>>5066279
It's a short story, just read it
http://www.tarleton.edu/Faculty/sword/Barn%20Burning.pdf

[Anonymous No.5066301]

>>5066283
Interesting, thanks! I think I'll get alot of more of it once I re-read it. I think it Faulkner seems to be one of those writers where at some point during the reading it just 'clicks'. I find Shakespeare the same way. That didn't happen until 2/3 of the way through on this one.

[Anonymous No.5066325]

Oh yeah and not that it matters, but all my other questions aside, I guess I didn't really think Jewel was actually fucking the horse. I just meant he seemed to have some kind of weird relationship with it that I didnt understand.

[Anonymous No.5066331]

>>5066280
>>5066288
Quit being dicks, there's an OP who's actually read a book and is talking about it, for once, on /lit/.

>>5066230
Vardaman saw Darl burning the barn, and Darl was burning it because it had Addie's corpse in it. Darl was seemingly psychic, but also probably schizo/completely illogical. He reasons that if one day he won't exist, and if there's no way to tell the past from the present from the future, then he doesn't exist at all. Either this allowed him to escape the first-person perspective and literally see things that he wasn't present at, or he was naturally gifted with that ability since a child and had difficulty coming to terms with the fact that he could sense things that weren't tethered to his immediate, physical body. Finally, it culminates in the end when he talks about himself in third-person.

Addie freaks him out because he realizes he'll be dead too, won't have any perceptions, won't exis, which he already kind of doesn't because of his psychicness.

[Anonymous No.5066345]

Has anyone read "A Fable"?

[Anonymous No.5066350]

>>5066331
That's totally mind blowing and really explains alot of Darl's ramblings, vardaman's too.

[Anonymous No.5066356]

I'm gonna hijack OPs thread a bit. Was anybody able to make out any kind of meaning from Cash's early chapters? (specifically the god damned list chapter)

I initially dismissed it as pure autism, but in retrospect that's doing a disservice to Faulkner. It has to have some discernible meaning aside from the obvious indicator of Cash's geometric autism

[Anonymous No.5066368]

>>5066356
Cash is pretty mechanical - logical and possibly cold but I hesitate to use that word. This is a pretty stark contrast with the volatile emotions of the rest of his family and, as the narrative progresses, he comes to occupy the role once filled by Darl as a sort of voice of reason or calm in the storm. As the rest of the Bundren family (Darl included and Papa Bundren possibly excluded) begins to break down, Cash remains stoic and in control.

[Anonymous No.5066377]

>>5066230
James Franco pls go

[Anonymous No.5066378]

>>5066368
No shit. But I want to go deeper.

[Anonymous No.5066380]

>>5066377
Speaking of which, is the movie any good? Please leave the Franco hate by the wayside.

[Anonymous No.5066383]

>>5066380
The nicest thing I can say about it is that it was an admirable effort

[Anonymous No.5067083]

You really should read The Sound and the Fury, OP.

[Anonymous No.5067091]

>>5067083
I've tried but it was just too confusing, and it lacked the atmosphere that I loved about his other novels (probably from taking place in different locations and outside the south). I fully intend to come back to it but right now it left a bad taste in my mouth (even though that was two years ago) and I just don't think I would be able get myself in the right frame of mind yet.

[Anonymous No.5067291]

>>5066356
There's sort of a reversal with him a Darl. At first Darl seems cool headed and reasonable, but Cash is pretty strange, non-human. As the story progresses Darl begins to goes insane and becomes dangerous, ultimately being ejected from the family and Cash becomes the reasonable one.