r/faulkner

I've started reading Sanctuary and once I got to where Temple Drake gets abducted/trapped in the house I just don't feel like I mentally want to continue. I know it gets worse before the novels ends and I'm just struggling with my motivation to finish the novel.

Maybe it's because I'm not feeling that great in my personal life atm but I'm just not sure how worthwhile the novel is after page 70 or so.

Is it worth finishing Sanctuary or would I better off just finding something else to read? Perhaps Faulkner's short stories?

"Now not only Varner but all the others looked at the speaker-a gaunt man in absolutely clean though faded and patched overalls and even freshly shaven, with a gentle, almost sad face until you unravelled what were actually two separate expressions-a temporary one of static peace and quiet overlaying a constant one of definite even though faint harriedness, and a sensitive mouth which had a quality of adolescent freshness and bloom until you realised that this could just as well be the result of a lifelong abstinence from tobacco-the face of the breathing archetype and protagonist of all men who marry young and father only daughters and are themselves but the eldest daughter of their own wives."

His prose is poetry? His people are gods and they are flawed? His world is beauty, there for the taking?

He likes incredibly long sentences, and super short chapters?

How would/do you describe Faulkner to the uninitiated?

I feel like The Hamlet was the most beautifully written, The Town was the most interesting from a character standpoint because of how much we learn, and The Mansion was a powerful narrative that leaves as many questions as answers.

As a trilogy, it’s not the most cohesive thing ever, but I loved it for the wit, the novel circumstances (boys and the cows they love, for example), and the larger than life characters more than anything.

Gavin, V.K., and Chick are phenomenal narrators. I would have loved to hear more from Eula and Linda directly. When I saw the table of contents in The Mansion I thought we would finally get Linda’s thoughts directly in part two, but no dice.

I appreciate Faulkner for his reluctance to feed answers to the reader, but I guess I was hoping for a little more out of this trio of books.

Flem feels like a secondary character in The Mansion, which felt odd. Linda still feels like a mystery. Chick fades oddly out of relevance even while he is narrating. Gavin is like a Don Quixote who actually knows better but refuses to do anything about it and doesn’t change at all.

Yet Mink’s part in The Mansion was one of the most engaging and compelling parts of the whole thing, which is impressive considering how repulsive he is to begin with.

While I was a fan of the trilogy, I was already enamored with Faulkner before I started it. I feel like if you weren’t already a Faulkner fan, and had no prior knowledge of Yoknapatawpha, it could be a very different experience. Maybe in a good way, like it is a beautifully written slice of Gothic Southern life, but the numerous loose ends feel like it would drive the average reader nuts. That may be a function of “The County” being a living and breathing thing, and, like I said, I do appreciate Faulkner’s reluctance to tie things up in a neat bow.

Maybe I want to have my cake and eat it, too. I just thought that after a 1200 page trilogy it would feel more complete.

Like, I thought before I started to read it, that Benjy's section would be the hardest (given his severe mental challenges and associative thinking). However, just knowing how Benjy's part jumps to different moments is enough for you to grasp the meaning (at least that was my experience). Currently reading Quentin's part and first 5 pages were alright, BUT HOLY FUCK. After those first few pages it hit me like a truck, a sentence could have like 3 different time periods of Quentin's experience, I know that he has trouble with time but get a grip bro....
Even by searching for guides or using LLMs for assistance it's still impossible, how do you even get the full meaning of this even if you re-read it 10 times, I feel like you need to make a PhD dissertation or whatever to understand what exactly is going on.

I just wanted to vent