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The Sound and the Fury: The Corrected Text with Faulkner's Appendix Audiobook
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Publisher Description
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
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"I really appreciated this edition (The Norton Critical Edition) which contains not only the novel itself but various fascinating introductions, interviews, and letters by Faulkner himself on his inspirations, motivations and experience in writing this novel. "In The Sound and the Fury," he wrote, "I had put perhaps the only thing in literature which would ever move me very much: Caddy climbing the pear tree to look in the window at her grandmother's funeral while Quentin and Jason and Benjy and the negroes looked up at the muddy seat of her drawers." And "So I, who had never had a sister and was fated to lose my daughter in infancy, set out to make myself a beautiful and tragic little girl." Faulkner's portraits of Caddy and her daughter Quentin seemed to me sympathetic, and their tragedy is an indictment of society and social mores of that time and place. This edition also contains critical perspectives (essays) including, notably, an essay by Sartre on time in TSATF, and one by Ralph Ellison on the portrayal of Negroes.I love reading Faulkner, and the intriguing challenge of immersing myself in the poetic tangle of his stream of consciousness styles - multiple styles in the thought-voices of his various characters, his sensitive, poetic, painterly portrayals of their interior lives as they live out in microcosm the downfall and death of The South after the Civil War. In this novel first two (of four) sections were both more difficult and more interesting, focusing on Caddy and her relationships with her brothers, Quentin - who is sensitive intelligent, romantic and violent -and Benjy - who is severely mentally disabled and dotes on Caddy. The emotional power of those sections actually became traumatic, and I had to reread them multiple times. The second two sections were easier and quicker to read but to me less interesting - and a bit frustrating as I wanted to hear more about Caddy and her daughter Quentin (confusingly named after her uncle). Still I know it is a book I will continue to reread."
— Caterina (5 out of 5 stars)
Quotes
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I am in awe of Faulkner’s Benjy, James’s Maisie, Flaubert’s Emma, Melville’s Pip, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein—each of us can extend the list. . . . I am interested in what prompts and makes possible this process of entering what one is estranged from.
— Toni Morrison -
No man ever put more of his heart and soul into the written word than did William Faulkner. If you want to know all you can about that heart and soul, the fiction where he put it is still right there.
— Eudora Welty
Awards
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One of Time Magazine's Best 100 English-Language Novels from 1923–2005
The Sound and the Fury Listener Reviews
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Garry Potts, 1/18/2023
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" finally, i find a site to buy audiobook easily. it was like 10 seconds to finish the registration n purchasing, and 10 seconds to download it. no fuss, love it! Gorver Garnder, do a good job in this presentation, clear, with a touch of south accent? (i am a foreigner, it is the best i can tell) "
— nikita, 8/6/2018 -
" A great book which is hard to understand at first. "
— Clarkson, 2/12/2014 -
" This could possibly be the greatest book ever written . . . "
— Derek, 2/4/2014 -
" I had to read this in high school for an English class, and I remember vividly throwing the book across the room. I didn't throw the book because the writing was awful; I threw it across the room for exactly the opposite reason. I always remember this book as the first one to ever create a visceral reaction in me to a character. The fact that Faulkner was able to write in a way that made me so angry/upset with a character that I had to physically stop reading and chuck the book across the room (something that hasn't truly happened since) says everything about the book. "
— Dri-g, 1/20/2014 -
" I know it's supposedly a great American classic, but I'm not a fan. Had to work way too hard to get anything out of it. "
— Sherri, 1/19/2014 -
" I liked how Faulkner made the story happen more than the story itself. "
— Kate, 1/18/2014 -
" A mess. Did not care for the Stream of consciousness. The only characters I cared about were Jason and Benjy. Jason's POV was the only reason I didn't give it one star. Sacrilege!! How can he say this!! But to me the emperor has no clothes...at least not this time. Were this submitted today by some unknown author it would never get published. Lark and Termite, a derivative work, was far, far better. "
— Spike, 1/15/2014 -
" This book proves the line between insanity and brilliance is fine and ragged. Faulkner's incredible. This book is not an easily read modern classic. It's serious and convoluted and requires a dedication. And, that's not even talking about the storyline (which is also trying)! But, if you can devote the time and focus read this book! It was a game-changer. "
— Sarita, 12/30/2013 -
" I struggle with Faulkner. I'm not sure why, but I have a hard time understanding his writing more than any other author I've come across. This story and the characters were very good, just hard for me to really get into. "
— Kate, 12/28/2013 -
" I'm not a Faulkner fan but will try this again someday. "
— Karen, 12/7/2013 -
" Life is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. "
— John, 12/2/2013 -
" I feel about this the same way I did about Lolita: I found the story almost intolerable, but Faulkner has some magic with language. The book left me with the exhausted feeling of having called home. "
— Rivka, 12/2/2013 -
" One of the greatest novels ever. "
— Mark, 11/29/2013 -
" Very difficult going for the first two parts, but the third and fourth parts pulled it together. Interesting read, but I probably won't read it again. This is a book to be studied, not necessarily enjoyed. "
— Valerie, 4/28/2013 -
" Horrible. A disaster. Worst thing I've ever read. "
— Leslie, 1/11/2013 -
" Still my favorite. To think that one person, the enigmatic Caddy, could be responsible for the most profound destruction of one family is mystifying. "
— Desiree, 12/13/2012 -
" Absolutely, positively the WORST book that exists on the planet. I call it The Sound of My Fury. Ahhhhhhhhh.... Truly awful. Whoever called this a "classic" must be illiterate. :) "
— Ms., 11/30/2012 -
" not the best read for audio. feel like i need to read it by hand for full effect/appreciation. but still lovely. "
— Valerie, 11/24/2012 -
" Incredibly difficult, but good. I think it needs more than one read-through. "
— Allison, 9/12/2012 -
" This was a great story of life and love a but challenging to read but overall I'm glad I did. I recommend this book to everyone. "
— Meagen, 12/5/2011 -
" Like plucking my eyelashes out one by one. "
— Mary, 11/14/2011 -
" Had a really hard time with this classic. The first half of book was so dam hard to understand but the second half was much better. I had really loved Faulkners book As I Lay Dying but this one didn't do much for me even though it was suppose to be his best book. "
— Laurie, 9/27/2011 -
" ... it is hard believing to think that a love or a sorrow is a bond purchased without design and which matures willynilly and is recalled without warning to be replaced by whatever issue the gods happen to be floating at the time... "
— pearl, 7/10/2011 -
" Not as bad as As I Lay Dying, but not my favorite either. "
— Jess, 5/19/2011 -
" Masterpiece, inventive, rattling. None of that "look at how talented I am" crap prevalent in writers of the last 30 years. "
— Ctb, 5/16/2011 -
" The book tells story from four points of view. It may be better not on audio. The first point of view was excruciating. The rest of the book was somewhat interesting, but very hard to follow. "
— Pat, 5/14/2011 -
" One of my favorite Modernist books, a brilliant example of experimental design in writing. "
— Stephanie, 5/12/2011 -
" Classic American novel. Southern family in decline, but still aristocratic in their image. One of my favorite all-time books by one of my favorite all-time authors. "
— Jan, 5/7/2011 -
" Amazing. Just incredible. Changed my views on literature and on life. "
— Charlie, 5/6/2011 -
" Didn't love it, but I appreciated the unique style and different points of view. It could be that I grew to dislike it more than I remember, because we beat it to death with literary theory. "
— Jill, 5/3/2011 -
" Tale told by four different people, text for AP Eng SR yr<br/> "
— Phil, 4/28/2011 -
" I wouldn't have understood this book unless I had read it with a book club run by an professor of literature. Having done so, it was totally worth the energy I put into it. "
— Amanda, 4/27/2011 -
" One of my favorite books I've ever read. The master! "
— Nancy, 4/27/2011 -
" Reading The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime got me ready to delve back into this--one I've been meaning to reread for a while and I'm finding that, having read it before, I'm getting the stream of consciousness "
— Melissa, 4/26/2011 -
" The one book I couldn't ever finish...defeated "
— Jackie, 4/21/2011
About William Faulkner
William Faulkner (1897–1962) was a Nobel Prize–winning American novelist and short-story writer. One of the most influential writers of the twentieth century, his reputation is based mostly on his novels, novellas, and short stories, but he was also a published poet and an occasional screenwriter. The majority of his works are based in his native state of Mississippi. Though his work was published as early as 1919, and largely during the 1920s and 1930s, Faulkner was relatively unknown until receiving the 1949 Nobel Prize in Literature, “for his powerful and artistically unique contribution to the modern American novel.” He has often been cited as one of the most important writers in the history of American literature. In 1962, he was awarded the American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Fiction.
About Grover Gardner
Grover Gardner (a.k.a. Tom Parker) is an award-winning narrator with over a thousand titles to his credit. Named one of the “Best Voices of the Century” and a Golden Voice by AudioFile magazine, he has won three prestigious Audie Awards, was chosen Narrator of the Year for 2005 by Publishers Weekly, and has earned more than thirty Earphones Awards.