novels

I once attended a lecture by a Famous Contemporary American Writer who, among other things, bemoaned the fact that there was no "great American epic" on the Civil War.

Well, sir - this is it, and in my humble opinion the finest output of America's greatest writer (which makes it the great American novel, in my humble opinion.) It wasn't the book closest to Faulkner's heart - that was "The Sound and the Fury" - but Absalom, Absalom! has the lurid, desperate power of a fever dream that manages to tell the story of the Southern States before the War, the Confederacy, slavery and "race relations" all in 300 or so pages. Even after having read the book twelve or so times I gawk with amazement at the ease with which Faulkner switches voices and point of views between Quentin Compson at Harvard in the 1910s, Mississippi before, during, and after the War. Some might find them sudden and confusing, but I find them seamless and profoundly moving, especially when he switches from Harvard to the Confederate retreat in 1865. The pentultimate scenes - the last conversation between Shreve McCaslin and Quentin, and Quentin's discovery at the ruined Sutpen plantation - are some of the finest writing by an American or anyone, ever. Who needs Anselm's ontological proof of God's existence when you have William Faulkner?

Yes, the book is dense, with Faulkner's famous page-long sentences. But allow yourself to be drawn into the strange and brutal magic of Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha, Faulkner's tragic vision of history, and you'll come away enriched, knowing more not only about America's greatest tragedy, but the nature of man himself.

A California author with my debut novel in its initial release, I have always been facinated by ABSALOM, ABSALOM! I realize I'm an easy mark for this book. My Southern roots run deep, though my mother's side of the family. She grew up in a small town in Alabama, and I've always read Faulkner, to some degree, to gain insights into my late mother's life experiences and background. I believe ABSALOM, ABSALOM! is William Faulkner's strongest work, but there are many works that one could claim is his strongest. He is the greatest American writer of all time. ABSALOM, ABSALOM!, on one level, deals with the story of Thomas Sutpen and his attempt to build a dynasty on Sutpen's Hundred. Sutpen was born poor,and he dreams of greatness. He establishes a plantation. He desires sons to carry on his legacy, yet his sons impact his life in unexpectedly tragic ways. On another level, Faulkner deals with the issues of race, exploitation, and slavery. Sutpen's first wife has black blood. His son by this woman, hence, has black blood. Sutpen repudiates both and that repudiation comes back to haunt him. On a completely different level, Faulkner deals with Quentin Compson, a grandson of one Sutpen's friends, who uses this story to reconcile himself to his past, his life, and his history while he is a student at Harvard. And ABSALOM, ABSALOM! keeps growing deeper and deeper with significance on top of significance atop significance. Better books have been written in human history--perhaps three or four.

I can understand why this book has so many 5 star ratings. It's ideas on the decay of the South are pretty brilliant and perceptive, and the plot is devastating. However, the language, although poetic, is enigmatic and completely exhausting. What's more troubling is that every character in the book has the same way of talking, without ever stopping or completing a thought. Sentences literally go on for over a page. Apparently, that's how every single person talked in 1909.

"Not cowardice which will not face that sickness somewhere at the prime foundation of this factual scheme from which the prisoner soul, miasmal-distillant, wroils ever upward sunward..." This continues for quite some time. While an occassional sentence like this would add a sense of mystery and mysticism to the novel, when the whole thing reads like this, you get pretty tired. Another reviewer noted this sentence: "I became all polymath love's androgynous advocate." What?

I do like the narrative style though. You have a basic idea of the plot from the beginning, but pieces get filled in my different sources, leading to the overall picture of murder, decay, revenge. I didn't think the characterization was very good though, and that to me is the most important part of a book. Sure, you know who Sutpen is, but you don't really understand him. Ellen is called a moth, desperately clinging to the light but not understanding why. That's pretty a beautiful simile, but not incredibly useful, since we don't know why Ellen is a moth, just that she is.

Basically, if you're going to read this novel, know what you're getting yourself into, and read it slowly, or you'll have to go back a million times and re-read.