What are faulkners best works?
Where to start?
Someone should make a guide if there isn't already one
>>7722646
(From what I've read)
Sound and the fury > Collected stories > Absalom, absalom > Aild > Go down, Moses > Light in August
As for a starting point, aild seems best to get one properly acquainted to Faulkner's style.
>>7722646
>>7722646
Start with The Bear, The Old People, and A Rose for Emily. The first two are companion stories (long stories) that are printed together in Go Down Moses, although iirc they were originally published separately. They are incredible.
A Rose for Emily is a great short story that covers a lot of Faulkner's common themes, it's the story most people name as the quintessential southern gothic story, and it contains a lot of Faulkner's modernist stylistic touches without being difficult to penetrate (collective first person plural narrator, long sentences, non-chronological)
If you like those, I would say to next read Light in August. It is a bit longer than his other novels, but a bit more gentle on the reader in terms of vocabulary and fucklong complicated sentences.
After that, read Sound and the Fury. Two recommended ways to read it:
1. Easy mode -- by the Cliff's Notes and read it after part one so you will know what the fuck just happened.
2. Hard mode -- Read the book all the way through. Don't worry that part one makes no sense. After you finish the book, immediately read part one again.
Absalom, Absalom!
I think this is his densest, but it's rewarding and enjoyable if you like this type of book. I just remember there is one chapter that ends with a closing parenthesis, and I was like, wait, where the fuck is the opening parenthesis? Mfw half the fucking chapter is in parentheses. Mfw it actually makes sense though.
>>7722677
Thanks for the info man, I'll probably take your advice and start with AILD.
>>7722772
Thanks for posting, this is very helpful.
I've read the Bear and a Rose for Emily. I thought the Bear was phenomenal. I didn't have trouble with the language in either of those stories, how difficult are the rest of his works by comparison?
From what I have read,(The Sound and the Fury, and AILD, and starting Light in August). I would recommend starting with AILD, then move TSatF, you should be decently familiar with Faulkner's styles by that point to branch off into any of his other novels.
Found this
Just read Joyce instead.
>>7722980
Whoever designed that is blind and retarded
I really take issue with reading the stories of Go Down, Moses out of the context of the whole. That book is so much greater than the sum of its parts, regardless of its publishing history.
I've read it, Sound and the Fury, and As I Lay Dying.
As I Lay Dying I found the most "accessible" but I feel that every one of these books is a masterpiece.
Faulkner has the most complete take on the human condition since Shakespeare.
>>7723007
and either a woman or a faggot on top of it
>crushing on
>>7723042
>on quentin
Jfc what
>>7723042
there's a man and a woman named Quentin, you know?
>>7722772
I would say that Light in August is about on par with those stories in terms of diction and syntax
Sound and Fury goes like this
Part 1 -- literally wtf (though the prose itself is actually simplistic I guess
Part 2 -- keep the OED handy
Part 3 -- easy
Part 4 -- mostly easy
I thought Absalom, Absalom! was insane in terms of everything -- vocabulary, sentence structure, narrative structure, stories within stories within stories.
When I was in college we had a one month Winter term where we would take joke classes. (Well, actually a lot of people would do those trip to Europe classes, but I was a poorfag, so I would just take a joke class). One of these classes was just reading Faulkner novels. The professor was kind of meh and the class didn't have much structure, but that was fine. We just had to read one novel each week and understand it well enough to write a short paper on it. I spent the whole month high on Lortabs reading Faulkner novels. It was really nice.
Only works of his I've read are Rose for Emily and Intruder in the Dust, and I didn't like either. Should I give him another shot?
>>7722646
>As I Lay Dying
>Sound and the Fury
>Absalom, Absalom!
>>7723059
Lady Quentin is a whore, and the graph clearly does not reference here as it recommends Absalom, Absalom! after.
>>7723103
Depends on what you didn't like about it. If the Southern setting, themes, and vocabulary are what turned you off, you won't like his other stuff. If you didn't like the pacing or narrative style, his other decidedly more modernist works like As I Lay Dying, might appeal to you more.
>>7722646
Soldiers pay got me hooked. My grandpa recommended it because he read it in Vietnam and enjoyed it
any thoughts on Wild Palms?
worth it?
>>7724853
This. Soldiers' Pay is great, and it's a good intro to Faulkner (it's also his first novel)
>>7722772
>>7723074
>Absalom, Absalom!
That entire last chapter is one of his most brilliant pieces of writing. The fact that it contextualizes his entire corpus of works, and shows that he was aware of how insane his writing could get, and that it was done entirely on purpose and with thematic intent, is something that still astounds me.
>>7722646
The trick about Faulkner are his complicated narratives. I enjoyed starting with Barn Burning as the narrative is quite simple compared to other works by him.
light in august is top 15 20th century
>>7724862
yes
