The Sound and the Fury

William Faulkner

Jul 2005 · Penguin Random House Audio · Narrated by Grover Gardner

About this audiobook

NOBEL PRIZE WINNER • One of the greatest novels of the twentieth century is the story of a family of Southern aristocrats on the brink of personal and financial ruin.  •  The definitive corrected text, including Faulkner's Appendix

One of The Atlantic’s Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years

The Sound and the Fury is the tragedy of the Compson family, featuring some of the most memorable characters in literature: beautiful, rebellious Caddy; the manchild Benjy; haunted, neurotic Quentin; Jason, the brutal cynic; and Dilsey, their black servant. Their lives fragmented and harrowed by history and legacy, the character’s voices and actions mesh to create what is arguably Faulkner’s masterpiece and  one of the greatest novels of the twentieth century.

“I give you the mausoleum of all hope and desire.... I give it to you not that you may remember time, but that you might forget it now and then for a moment and not spend all of your breath trying to conquer it. Because no battle is ever won he said. They are not even fought. The field only reveals to man his own folly and despair, and victory is an illusion of philosophers and fools.” —from The Sound and the Fury

Ratings and reviews

FAULKNER IS A LEGEND THE SOUTH IS FAULKNER IS A LEGEND THE SOUTH IS CAPTURED LIKE A VIGNETTÉ FROZEN TIME FRAME IN ITS MUDDLED RISE FROM PRESIDENT ANDREW JOHNSON'S FAILED RECONSTRUCTION. THE POETRY ALMOST SEDUCES US WITH FAILKNER'S EASY SOUTHERN LILTS AND COMFORTABLE LIFE, BUT THE STARK REALITIES: REMAIN. 1. THE SOUTH IS A CLASS BASED SOCIETY OF HORRIFIC INEQUITIES AS WE SEE TODAY ITS PROVISIONAL RE-UNITED MEMBERSHIP IN THE UNION BEING LAMBASTED AND DENUDED OF ALL POSSIBLE TRIMMINGS AND CONCESSIONS TO NORMALCY. IT HAS TOTALLY DONE A TOTAL ... <<<<<<<<<<<<>>PART I>>>>>>>>>>>>>> PART II NEXT

weirdly written, hard to follow. very disappointing

long winded

About the author

William Faulkner was born in New Albany, Mississippi, on September 25, 1897. Faulkner had begun writing poems when he was a schoolboy and published a poetry collection in 1924 at his own expense. In 1950, Faulkner traveled to Sweden to accept the 1949 Nobel Prize for Literature. He died of a heart attack on July 6, 1962.