The Sound and the Fury

Originally published in 1929, ‘The Sound and the Fury‘ by William Faulkner is recognized as one of the most successfully innovative and experimental American novels of its time, not to mention one of the most challenging to interpret. William Faulkner was an American novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. He is remembered for his pioneering use of the stream-of-consciousness technique as well as the range and depth of his characterization. In 1949 Faulkner won the Nobel Prize for Literature. This novel concerns the downfall of the Compsons, who have been a prominent family in Jefferson, Mississippi, since before the Civil War. The story features some of the most memorable characters in literature: beautiful, rebellious Caddy; the man-child Benjy; haunted, neurotic Quentin; Jason, the brutal cynic; and Dilsey, their black servant. Faulkner represents the human experience by portraying events and images subjectively, through several different characters‘ respective memories of childhood. 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.