The Sound and the Fury

By William Faulkner

Book Overview

The Sound and the Fury is the tragedy of the Compson family, featuring some of the most memorable characters in literature: beautiful, rebellious Caddy; the manchild Benjy; haunted, neurotic Quentin; Jason, the brutal cynic; and Dilsey, their black servant. Their lives fragmented and harrowed by history and legacy, the character's voices and actions mesh to create what is arguably Faulkner's masterpiece and one of the greatest novels of the twentieth century. "I give you the mausoleum of all hope and desire. . . . I give it to you not that you may remember time, but that you might forget it now and then for a moment and not spend all of your breath trying to conquer it. Because no battle is ever won he said. They are not even fought. The field only reveals to man his own folly and despair, and victory is an illusion of philosophers and fools." --from The Sound and the Fury This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0679732241
• ISBN13: 9780679732242
• Release Date: October 1990
• Publisher: Vintage
• Length: 326 Pages
• Weight: 0.62 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.9" x 0.8" x 5.1"

Customer Reviews

I remain enthusiastic

I read this book in college -- about 40 years ago -- and have read it twice since then, as new editions emerged. This corrected text is probably the closest to what Faulkner actually wrote. It is a story of the human heart in conflict with itself, told from several points of view, beginning with the tale "told by an idiot." A grand simplicity governs the page-by-page complexity of this novel, which is often true of tragic...

Excellent edition

I will not discuss the story because I assume anyone looking for this edition of the book knows something of the novel. I will say that I think this edition is the best I have ever read and I enjoyed it immensely. I read the commentary and reviews with as much interest as I did the novel itself. The editor did a good job assembling an all star cast to review the book and provide background information. Anyone interested in...

His best work. Perhaps the best novel of the century.

I'm searching for words to describe this novel, because it is so very complex and unusual that it defies traditional explanation.This novel is so COMPLETE, so WHOLE, that I have not found another that comes close to its ability to convey a story.Faulkner makes use of MANY techniques to describe what can only be called the tragedy of the Compson family, a once-wealthy Southern aristocratic dynasty. These techniques include:...

If I like this book, anyone will love it!

First of all, I'm one of those kids who mentally cusses out the teacher every time a novel is assigned, reads two pages of it, then scrapes through each chapter quiz by flicking through my trusty Cliff's notes five minutes before class. But this time, something was different. I found myself actually staying awake whilst reading, and even (gasp!) ENJOYING the book! I was being lured through each section, entranced by the...

Seminal work in the English language

The first time I had to read this book, I didn't so much read it as scowl and condemnt it. How dare a novel be so dense, so distant from the reader! What's the point of classic literature if it can not be read by the comman man? However, in order to pass my Literature class, I had to stick with it, forego the Cliffs Notes... trudge in with a knife in my teeth, ready to kill that white elephant.To say I respect this book...