books n stuffs:::absalom, absalom!
this is my first real attempt at blogging about a novel. i’ve begun embarking on reading the “great novels” of the 20th century and William Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom! was one that i had been reading that i needed to finish. this was my second foray into Faulkner after perhaps the best novel i’ve ever read (the ravishingly brilliant The Sound and the Fury) and thus anything less was guaranteed to be a minor letdown. this is true of Absalom, though I can still say i’ve just finished an incredible piece of southern gothic literature of the highest form. i’ll steer clear of plot summaries and such and focus on my take of Faulkner as i’ve read…
many may take offense to Faulkner’s obscene run on sentences and mid sentence leaps from internal narratives to dialogue to stream of consciousness and back. i take another view completely: Faulkner requires of the reader the utmost attention and fidelity of thought. the reader must latch on and absord every sentence, every word, lest he/she lose the battle of comprehension. and call me a sucker for flowery language, but I don’t mind a 1,300 word run on sentence (literally, a Guinness record) if it’s peppered with the poetry of Faulkner’s pen. his manner of capturing the true mind of a character and laying it bare for the reader is a true design of mastery, though i’ll admit that through the use of language and narrative devices heap drama on situations which by today’s standards seem quite trivial. i guess my point, in layman’s terms, is: no matter where you feel Faulkner’s place in the pantheon of great American novelists lies, the guy could write his ass off…and i do suppose that’s all i need to be entertained.









