This week’s post touches on William Faulkner, and what I, as a hopeful author, can stand to learn from him and his critique. As you can see in the right hand panel, the “Book Quiz” puts me as “The Sound and the Fury”, one of Faulkner’s classics. In six short questions, the Quiz figured this out.
The odd thing is, well… on one hand -- it sounds a bit like a horoscope, too broad and too whimsical to be true -- on the other hand -- it fits me a bit too closely and is a bit eerie. The Quiz had a question whether I considered myself concise. I am the opposite of concise really, most of the time. What irks me then, is that “They” (the critics) say Faulkner is long-winded and verbose. But how did he manage to write short stories? Are they lacking or wanting of else somehow? Perhaps. Perhaps not.
I did some thinking and research on this Faulkner book and how I can place it within context of my journey. I distinctly remember the cover (shown on the right) and that at least I borrowed it from the library at one point in my teenage years. Perhaps, it was even the “next” book to read in the library book club. I think that’s more likely, as I only have wisps of memory of the well-lit basement room where we had the club readings, and the boy I secretly liked was also there. However, when I read the plot lines of “The Sound and the Fury” on various sites, it seems that I never actually got around to reading it. Hmm.
The Book Quiz seemed true to the general sense of the plot and the background from the story. The title may come from the famous “Tomorrow tomorrow tomorrow” quote from Shakespeare's MacBeth (here’s the link). Nevertheless, this Quiz result made me challenge myself because although I might be poorly understood and conflicted, I don’t intend to “signify nothing” when whatever here is done. No one does. It ties me back to the belief that “No man [one] is a failure who has Friends” the written message from Clarence to George Bailey….anyway we’ll save that thought for another time.
Instead of reading “The Sound and the Fury” for this week (it is long ☺ ), I’ve opted to read a Faulkner short story. (Since my goal is now to focus on short story, and I’ve been told many times that I am long-winded in my writing).
My task was to read “That Evening Sun” by William Faulkner, and break it down, answer a few questions. It’s not easy to critique a story without context. (You can find some here.)
However, I can say that the story was short in the sense it left me wondering so much, what really happened here. It takes you back to the title, sort of that twilight time where nothing is really clear. Page wise, the story is long -- mainly because dialogue was used extensively -- the children talked, showing their naivety, the conversations between the adults, showing that they were talking around the children, never really addressing what was happening.
In the anthology I have, Faulkner’s story was a whopping 22 pages, compared with seven pages for another American writer, E.A. Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death”, which is classic concise prose with little dialogue. Overall, I wasn’t really drawn into the Faulkner story, but it passed the time, waiting for dinner to finish cooking. I was distracted by language used, and didn’t quite “get it”, what the author was trying to convey, other than a snapshot of a small Mississippi town some time in the early 1920’s.
Upon re-reading and with my dissection tools, I do like the quick slight-of-hand tactic of “fifteen years ago” to even further distance the indifference to the plight and presumed irrationality of the main character. I understand more how the language of the story is real and comes about from the context -- the time frame the story was written versus my own 21st century view. I can’t readily agree with it being the best story about the tensions and problems in Mississippi, as it tackles it from a distance, rather than head on. But, perhaps that is what’s special and unique about Faulkner. He is able to take this rather touchy subject and show it in a softer new light -- through the dialogue of children -- without losing the main point of the snapshot. That could be what makes the piece more timeless and readable. The indifference that the Whites showed the Blacks in this time period in America remains clear.
Yes, I’d like to write about some touchy subjects, and what I find is myself holding back. But if I can find that angle, that somehow takes that sharpness off for the reader, then I can write about these taboos and still show my snapshot. That’s important, and the more important lesson from Faulkner -- to keep writing the truth.
Next week: some house-keeping with a list of magazines that I want to query and try to get my stories published there.
Word Count: 865
