Absalom, Absalom! is not the great American novel. Or, if it is, it is a great American novel for someone who has time in the day to read for an hour or more at a time. Because that is the only way I was able comprehend this book - grab a glass of iced tea, hunker down and read. This is not to say the story of William Faulkner's book is uninteresting, because I find it quite intriguing. The events of the book surround the rise and fall of a Southern plantation owner Thomas Sutpen before, during and after the Civil War. There is love, murder, betrayal, all the things that can make a story excellent.However, Faulkner's writing style for me was extremely hard to get past. His sentences and paragraphs can ramble and weave on for pages with no end in sight and he changes speakers with no warning or indication. Suddenly an aunt becomes someone's sister and I was left wondering if I had been placing the wrong character with the pronouns. The first chapter where I felt I had a grasp on what was going on was chapter 5, wherein Quentin, a young man learning of his family's history, listens to Rosa detailing an assortment of tragedies that befell the Sutpen family after Thomas Sutpen's son Henry kills his sister Judith's fiancee. This fiancee, we learn, was the Elder Sutpen's bastard child and thus, Judith's half brother. But he was not killed for that; he was killed because Henry found out he had a mistress/wife in New Orleans. Confused yet? So was I.
Why did I select this novel? I knew Faulkner to be an author often employed on the "Great Novels of the 20th century/American literature/Southern writers" lists. I had not read anything by him save an excerpt here and there in college. I chose this particular novel because it was a slice of time in American history where one order, Southern slave holding plantation owners, was ending and another order, Northern industrialists, was beginning. To me, a great American novel has to include a piece about man against nature or a corporation - some sort of formidable foe that takes courage, gumption and will to topple. What better than a man who walks into town with nothing save wild slaves and makes an empire from a swampland? This had all the hopes, the pieces of the puzzle, but for me was done in with the writing style.
It is that very writing style, though, that I feel has most greatly influenced American literature and culture. Faulkner was considered by many one of the leaders of the modernist movement. This stream of consciousness writing he started in the early 1900s has now become an established way of expressing oneself. Rambling rock songs, slam poetry, indie and not-so-indie movies, the 60s - all boast some form of stream of consciousness use that began with Faulkner and his contemporaries. Perhaps Faulkner is like Shakespeare's writing in a way - hard to crack, but a wealth of rich history, mood and meaning once the reader breaks the barrier.
8 comments:
I have to admire you for reading this book. I started it a long, long time ago and never finished it. I just couldn't get through it.
I must say, I have been so excited about the Great American novel challenge (even though I can't participate in it right now)! I think this sounds like a book I would have picked up to read, but I'm so glad you did first because I don't think I'm willing to extend the effort! I'm looking forward to next month's review!
I wish I could say it was a labor of love reading this book, but I was glad for the deadline to arrive - the quicker the better.
I learned after the fact that apparently my uncle is something of a Faulkner aficionado, having written his thesis on Faulkner or something (per my mom). Clearly that genetic trait did not make its way to me. Or it has been squelched so long it is too weak to show itself. One author I am happy to have escaped college without reading.
Your uncle is a Faulkner fan, though not a rabid one. I did my thesis on another southern writer, James Agee, who was born and raised in Knoxville. I highly recommend Agee's A Death in the Family. Agee, by the way, wrote the screenplay for African Queen. Anyway, Allison, I really admire your writing style and insights. I'll keep reading and responding as time permits. Right now I'm reading a Tejano novel by Americo Paredes entitled George Washington Gomez. If you can handle the rough ethnic politics of early 20th century south Texas, it is an eye-opener. It dramatizes, among other things, what I've read about historically--the Texas Rangers brutal treatment of Tejanos.
Hi Uncle Tim! I will have to check out both Agee's and Paredes's books for addition to my list of hopefuls, an ever-increasing list. When I first began this expedition into American literature, I thought I would have a difficult time discovering books and authors I had not already read, but now I am swimming in books I can (and should) read. Can't wait to see you this Christmas and discuss some of these great American novels in person!
Getting into Faulkner by reading _Absalom_ is akin to trying to enter the Empire State Building without taking an elevator and just walking into the 90th floor. It IS a great novel, and I often think one of the very greatest novels written by an American author (I'm personally not so concerned with the designation "the Great American Novel"). I would staunchly recommend _Light in August_ as the best Faulkner novel to start with - it has many of his greatest passages, but is more easily accessible than _Absalom_. And yes, one probably should devote more than one hour at a time when reading the book. Some might say that's being a dedicated reader - being serious about whatever it is you're reading.
I agree that perhaps I should have dipped my toe into Faulkner before diving in the deep end, but this challenge is not about reading an "entry level" novel; it is about reading what you, or many others, consider a great American novel. Thus, my choice of Absalom, Absalom! instead of a different Faulkner.
Additionally, I would love to consistently devote hours to reading a book, or a few books, daily, but many times that is simply not practical. And, in the case of Absalom, Absalom! it took me about an hour of reading for it to not feel like a book I was begrudgingly reading because it was on my English prof's syllabus or something.
I will definitely visit Faulkner again, but with more caution and knowledge. His is a writing style that forced me to slow down my reading and practice a new cadence of reading. I would parallel it more to reading poetry than a novel, in terms of undivided attention it requires, and deserves.
To say that Faulkner's writing "rambles" is quite a shame. It is this very style that made Absalom Absalom such a great book. If you see how he outlines the entire plot in the first chapter, but still manages to give nothing away, you might understand that the story is in the emotion and style of the narrative.
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