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2.0
The Sound and the Fury
ByPublisher Description
A collectible hardcover edition of Nobel Prize winner William Faulkner’s masterpiece, with a new introduction by Ayana Mathis, the New York Times bestselling author of The Twelve Tribes of Hattie
One of The Atlantic’s Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years
A Penguin Vitae Edition
The Sound and the Fury traces the decline of the American South through three generations of the once-powerful Compson family. In Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi—perhaps the most famous fictional setting in American literature—antiquated ideas of race, class, and sex prevail among the erstwhile landed gentry of the Reconstruction-era South, embodied in the Compson siblings: Benjy, whose mental disability blurs the past and the present; Quentin, who is consumed by his obsession with his family’s honor; Jason, who unleashes his blind rage on the rest of the household, especially their longtime Black servant, Dilsey; and their elusive sister, Caddy, whose tragic estrangement sets in motion the family’s fall from grace. A kaleidoscopic narrative punctuated by haunting interior monologues, The Sound and the Fury brings to life Faulkner’s aristocratic South as a land of decadence and despair, gallantry and greed in the face of financial and moral ruin. What Faulkner once considered his “most splendid failure” was also his favorite of his novels; it now ranks among the greatest novels of the twentieth century, and as one of the cornerstones of American fiction.
Penguin Vitae—loosely translated as "Penguin of one's life"—is a deluxe hardcover series from Penguin Classics celebrating a dynamic and diverse landscape of classic fiction and nonfiction from seventy-five years of classics publishing. Penguin Vitae provides readers with beautifully designed classics that have shaped the course of their lives, and welcomes new readers to discover these literary gifts of personal inspiration, intellectual engagement, and creative originality.
One of The Atlantic’s Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years
A Penguin Vitae Edition
The Sound and the Fury traces the decline of the American South through three generations of the once-powerful Compson family. In Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi—perhaps the most famous fictional setting in American literature—antiquated ideas of race, class, and sex prevail among the erstwhile landed gentry of the Reconstruction-era South, embodied in the Compson siblings: Benjy, whose mental disability blurs the past and the present; Quentin, who is consumed by his obsession with his family’s honor; Jason, who unleashes his blind rage on the rest of the household, especially their longtime Black servant, Dilsey; and their elusive sister, Caddy, whose tragic estrangement sets in motion the family’s fall from grace. A kaleidoscopic narrative punctuated by haunting interior monologues, The Sound and the Fury brings to life Faulkner’s aristocratic South as a land of decadence and despair, gallantry and greed in the face of financial and moral ruin. What Faulkner once considered his “most splendid failure” was also his favorite of his novels; it now ranks among the greatest novels of the twentieth century, and as one of the cornerstones of American fiction.
Penguin Vitae—loosely translated as "Penguin of one's life"—is a deluxe hardcover series from Penguin Classics celebrating a dynamic and diverse landscape of classic fiction and nonfiction from seventy-five years of classics publishing. Penguin Vitae provides readers with beautifully designed classics that have shaped the course of their lives, and welcomes new readers to discover these literary gifts of personal inspiration, intellectual engagement, and creative originality.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesThe Sound and the Fury Reviews
2.0
“This is immersive, disjointed, and harrowing. I read an ARC with the introduction written by Ayana Mathis which was thought provoking without "spoiling" the book. Faulkner created very distinct characters, but I almost wish I had gotten to read the book from Quinton (girl) and Caddy's point of view. The characters range from horrifically terrible to depressing, but I can see how unique the writing style here is and it functions very well to add meaning. Stream of consciousness writing isn't for everyone, but it is excellently used to immerse the reader as a character in the book (whether we want to be immersed or not).
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!”
About William Faulkner
William Faulkner (1897–1962) won the Nobel Prize in Literature for what are recognized as some of the greatest novels of the twentieth century, among them The Sound and the Fury (1929), As I Lay Dying (1930), Light in August (1932), and Absalom, Absalom! (1936). For many of his literary chronicles of life in the American South, he drew on his native Mississippi, which informed one of his greatest creations, the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, where a number of his novels are set. In addition to the Nobel Prize, he won the National Book Award twice, for Collected Stories (1951) and A Fable (1954), and the Pulitzer Prize twice, for A Fable and The Reivers (1962).
Ayana Mathis (introduction) is the author of the New York Times bestselling Oprah’s Book Club pick The Twelve Tribes of Hattie and the award-winning The Unsettled, as well as a series of essays for The New York Times on literature and faith. She teaches in Hunter College’s MFA program.
Ayana Mathis (introduction) is the author of the New York Times bestselling Oprah’s Book Club pick The Twelve Tribes of Hattie and the award-winning The Unsettled, as well as a series of essays for The New York Times on literature and faith. She teaches in Hunter College’s MFA program.
Other books by William Faulkner
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