William Faulkner
The Sound and the Fury is one of William Faulkner’s most celebrated novels, published in 1929. The story is notable for its innovative narrative structure, told through multiple perspectives, each reflecting the inner turmoil and complex relationships of the Compson family, a once-wealthy Southern family now in decline. The novel is divided into four sections, each revealing a different viewpoint on the family’s downfall, including the famously challenging first section narrated by Benjy, who has an intellectual disability.Faulkner’s use of stream-of-consciousness style-where thoughts and events appear jumbled and fragmented-reflects the characters’ inner conflicts and the crumbling moral and social fabric of the family and the South itself. Themes of time, memory, loss, and the struggle for identity weave through the narrative, making it a deeply layered and challenging novel that has fascinated readers and critics alike.
