Where to Start with William Faulkner?
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- Äas pĆidĂĄn 22. 09. 2021
- Welcome to the CodeX Cantina where our mission is to get more people talking about books! We all want to know "what is the best book to start with for William Faulkner?" I remember asking Google what is the best William Faulkner book. But I saw a ton of answers. Maybe there is no singular answer that is correct for everyone, but there might be an answer for you. I'd love to have that personal touch in this video but I can't talk to every reader and know their exact tastes. If I knew you were super into crime noir, then perhaps "Sanctuary" would be the best starting point. If Comedies were your favorite genre then I'd recommend "The Reivers" to you.
However, as a blanket statement, and for someone who wants to know what's the best books to get the taste of what Faulkner can do, then I'd recommend starting with this list here today. For reference, I've worked through most of Faulkner's books but not all: The Sound and the Fury, As I Lay Dying, Absalom, Absalom!, The Snopes Trilogy (The Town, The Hamlet, the Mansion), Light in August, Sanctuary, Go Down Moses, The Reivers, The Collected Short Stories, and The Uncollected Short Stories. They all have something to offer, and they all can be good starting points for various people. Today we just want to look at a generic best starting point for getting that initial flavor of what is William Faulkner all about?
đ The Before You Read and In-Depth analysis series to read along with:
đ„ The Sound and the Fury: âą Before you Read... The...
đ„ Absalom, Absalom! âą Before You Read "Absal...
đ„ Go Down, Moses: âą Before you Read "Go Do...
đ„ Complete William Faulkner Playlist: âą Before you Read... The...
đ„ A Rose for Emily Discussion: âą A Rose for Emily by Wi...
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Affiliate Links for Books or Stories Mentioned in this Video:
Absalom, Absalom! amzn.to/3nSVl5v
Collected Short Stories: amzn.to/3m1sbij
As I Lay Dying: amzn.to/39mcNqC
The Sound and the Fury: amzn.to/3zsDAMF
Channels Mentioned in this Video:
âȘ@BookishTexan⏠'s video on Where Not to Start with William Faulkner: âą William Faulkner: Wher...
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#WilliamFaulkner
#WhereToStart
#BestFaulknerNovels
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Thanks for Watching!
Absalom, Absalom! Playlist: czcams.com/video/xXLg76-aoLY/video.html
The Sound and the Fury: czcams.com/video/ekpYIfRGqKw/video.html
Go Down, Moses!: czcams.com/video/aV7ido0Y7d4/video.html
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Itâs August. For the past 4 years I read Light in August. It just gets better and better every year. As Shelby Foote says âIf you read Light in August enough, youâll see how he does it.â So pleased to find your channel. More Faulkner please!
Always more Faulkner
I started with "Light in August," thanks to an excellent high-school English teacher. Honestly, I would probably start people with "As I Lay Dying," partly because it's short. But for my money, the most accessible of Faulkner's "great" novels (written between 1929-36) is "Light in August."
I would *never* suggest a first-time start with "Absalom! Absalom!" It is indeed a great book, but I think it's the most difficult of Faulkner's novels.
My husband as been bugging me to read As I Lay Dying....I really really need to get to it.
Oh I love that. I need to get my booktube husband to read that with me :D
I really, really had a great time with this one!
@@TheCodeXCantina He read it in college long long ago and is doing to talk to me about it.
Bringing out the big kahuna! I can see that. If you're only going to read one... might as well as do the most famous!
If you're going to look back and just have one book... I think it's the one...
Some interesting choices. For me, the Faulkner gateway was Light in August. Itâs not too difficult and you get a sense of what Faulkner is all about. From there I went to As I Lay Dying and the Sound and the Fury.
The book that actually got me to love Faulkner was Go Down, Moses.
P.S. I also own the Akira and Bakuman box sets that I see on your shelves. Good taste.
Glad you could see some background items đ
Your third option here is exactly what made me fall in love with Faulkners work! My junior year of high school we read As I Lay Dying, and my senior year The Sound and The Fury. Iâm loving your insight and the opportunity to delve back into this work that Iâve loved since I was 15
Great video! My journey into the world of Faulkner started with "A rose for Emily", much like you recommended doing on the "first door" and I couldn't agree more about how great of a start that story is. Truly made me fall in love with Faulkner and starting to explore the rest of his writing. Currently I only read all of his short stories but I can't wait to get his "big" novels, ESPECIALLY Absalom, Absalom!
Oh yes! I hope you enjoy A,A! It's so fantastic!
Thank you for the recommendations! I love short stories and I've just read A Rose for Emily, which is excellent. So now I'm going for As I Lay Dying.
Greetings from France
Great Job! We actually agreed on one of the recommendations.
Mostly! I fully understand your Absalom, Absalom! thoughts as well!
It was so helpful to me when you mentioned that Faulker's writing is really like poetry. It made me less impatient about trying to read his work. It was a nice way to reframe how I saw his writing.
I am, in no remote way, an expert on WF. That said, I can't imagine anyone going into WF's work without a MAJOR (yes. In caps) commitment to doing so. You gotta WANT to. I have made my way well into several works, including the following which I will finish or die trying: Absalom! Absalom! - The Wild Palms - Light in August - As I Lay Dying - Sanctuary. Wish me luck, Possums!
Your use of the metaphor of a door made me think of the scripture at Matthew 7: 7. "Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you." This advice can be applied to reading William Faulkner.
Nice
Love this... Seems I started correct! Light in August is next for me đ
A great book!
You guys are fantastic. I started reading TSatF but couldnt make head or tail of it. I then listened to your "Before you Read" video and that showed me how to start. I'm now sold on Faulkner, absolutely one of my all time favourite authors and you helped me get there. I love your videos. Currently reading Light in August.
Oh yes! I can't wait to re-read that!
@@TheCodeXCantina Trouble LiA us such a dark novel. That Christmas character is so damaged, vicious almost nothing human and the racism! It's relentless.
How did you like it?
I started with As I lay dying. It was a gread read! The second was Sanctuary, the third one probably Light in August. Thank you for your video.
Oh yes, I look forward to re-reading Light in August!
_First!_ Brian just now dropped where _not_ to start đđđ Great video, Una
What are the odds!?
@@TheCodeXCantina I still need to read a lot of Faulkner, starting w _Go Down, Moses,_ again
Loved this ! You did a great job and I agree with your recommendations. I read Rose for Emily in high school and it started my passion for southern gothic. I enjoy mysteries so I read Knightâs Gambit and went on to As I Lay Dying. And on from there. You should do more of these. Deb
Thank you so much! I haven't done Knight's Gambit yet
#Faulkner in August is a great place to start ...that's how I did it .....huge thank you to all you wonderful hosts ...
Ack, how could I have blundered in not mentioning that readalong!
I started with "As I lay dying", when I was young, and I thought to myself, that I was readying a tragedy of Greek proportions. And the lyricism in his writing. I was caught! It is like thinking that he was the source, the inspiration of the Latin-American literary "Boom". And also, what a delight was to read "Knight's Gambit". Incredible. I do not know why this collection of tales are not more talked about.
ive heard a lot about faulkner in general but never much about his individual books so this was useful!
Awesome!
Brilliant video, Una. More of these please!
Also - when are you thinking you might do Light in August? That's my next pick and I'd like to line that up with when you might roll that one out.
But i was planning on quitting booktube now?
I will have to rearrange
Thank you for your recommendations. I talked about As I Lat Dying as the subject of my application to Tufts University as a high school senior and was successful in being accepted there as an undergraduate...
In 1962, in the Spring semester of my sophomore year at San Bernardino High School in California, our English class read, analyzed and discussed for 4 months The Sound and The Fury. We loved it so much that we took up a collection and had a 14ct gold toothpick made for our teacher as an end of the year gift. (Read the book and you will understand.) Great story, great teacher and we felt like we were seriously respected as incipient adults, not just another bunch of kids.
Amazing! Thanks so much for sharing
What am I missing? Why a toothpick?
Thank you, a great video. I knew nothing about this author before this. I don't think they are for me, not because of complexity either.
I started with The Sound And Fury.
Nice! A top tier book!
Thanks, very helpful for me. Wow, I can't even think where to start and what book to buy.
Only correct path is âforwardâ! I hope you enjoy
Glad I started with short stories
Woo!
I started with The Sound and the Fury. Benjy and Quentin turned my brain inside out, but I loved every minute of it, especially Quentin's poetic prose. Since then, I've been hooked. As I Lay Dying, Absalom Absalom, Light in August, some of the short stories, and now I'm nearing the end of Go Down Moses and looking forward to your video on The Bear.
I don't know if you've done a Light in August video or plan to, but there's an analysis of it that identifies each chapter in it with the corresponding chapter from the Gospel of John, kind of like Ulysses and the Odyssey. Blew my mind rereading all the parallels, how Faulkner could create such a masterpiece.
Nice! Honestly those are all the top tier of great places to start! The Bear destroys all
Iâm really interested in this parallel, where can I find the video? Thanks in advance
@@FlashbackArrest Try "Faulkner and the Thoroughly Modern Novel" by Virginia V James Hlavsa. My university library had a copy of it.
I think the best place to start is with his short story "The Bear", followed by The Snopes Trilogy. They are both pretty easy reads, but give you a feel for the place (Yoknapatawpha county) and the people.
As I lay dying is good and not too hard as is the Sound and the Fury. The best of them all is Absalom! Absalom! - but takes a bit of effort.
On Brainâs I mentioned Absalom, Absalom as my first Faulkner novel in college, but my first read may have been Barn Burning or maybe the Bear. So long ago I can be sure. I have six novel and most of the short stories. I do want to get deeper into some other novels. A Fable won two major awards but Iâm sure itâs supposed to be a good boo. Anyway, great video.
Ooof, The Bear is a rough start!
Please! Tell! I need all the help I can get! đ I like the structure of this video: The questions, the timeline, the doors! Great video.
Thanks, Shelly!
I began with Light in August. I love it.
Yes!
"Literature is a door..." I love that
đ€
I am a staunch believer of the idea that there is never an all around "good" place to start with any author. The best place to start with an author is the work that sounds most interesting to you. If you want to start with Absalom, Absalom or A Fable, go right on ahead. You know your tastes best, and if you do your due diligence in researching the works of an author such as Faulkner, and you know exactly what you're getting into, then start wherever you damn well please. That's going to hook you faster than any recommendation anybody that's read Faulkner before can give.
I do like your approach though. Giving the three approaches in neat and takes into account the fact that everybody likes to read different things, so you're not prescribing a specific place to start. Although I will say that personally, I would replace either AILD or TSATF with Light in August. Light in August is just such a wonderful book in so many ways, and it's always a safe option to start with his easiest work (because ALID is not easy imo) and then build up from there if you're that kind of person. I've always recommended to those kinds of people that want to ease their way up to go Light in August, As I Lay Dying, TSATF, and then A,A. Once you've read A,A, you can pretty much tackle anything else in his bibliography no problem, maybe except A Fable because that book is kicking my ass right now and is a whole different kind of difficult.
Yeah for sure. Which is why I donât make too many of these or the âhow to read xyzâ as they are very much built for searchbait
the sound and the fury wins. experimental narrator sounds great!
Yeah, buddy! Hope you're doing well!
@@TheCodeXCantina quite! I moved!
My favorite video on the CodexCantina channel
Faulknophiles know!
Really loved this video! Wish I had this when I first started. Although Iâd probably be obsessed even more and driving you crazy!!
Haha. I agree on all of your recommendations. Itâs great to see youâve also read passages from his uncollected/collected stories. Iâm your opinion, are his collections of stories worth buying both copies? Let me know what you think. I love the covers and all the little details on front cover too, Vintage International did a great jobđ.
@@JalenZachhM You're asking if you should buy both collected and uncollected? Collected is an easy 'yes'. Uncollected may be more questionable if one has all the other works. I still went ahead and purchased both as I was particularly interested in the different versions of The Bear vs the Lion when I was first looking to understand that more but it's probably less valuable for most. Sorry I didn't see this comment. CZcams didn't give me a message about it
@@TheCodeXCantina okay! Great. Nice to hear a response. Thanks for being thorough and getting back to me!
I started with Sanctuary and everyone told me that was the wrong book to start with but I got hooked anyway and have since read Absalom, Absalom!, The Sound and the Fury, and A Rose for Emily and Other Stories. I have bought all of his novels as I do plan to read them all. Faulkner is brilliant. Best advice I can give though is: Don't read Faulkner alone. Find a reading buddy, join a literary salon or seminar, or watch some You Tube videos.
We plan on working through all the stories together too so I couldn't agree more about reading buddy. Glad you've found appreciation in him even if starting in a spot people don't recommend. I think Sanctuary is his main crime/noir so if that's what one is in the mood for it could be a great place to start!
Great vid! I went door 2 and started with AA. I have since read AILD (2x), LIA (2x), A Fable, Sanctuary, TSATF (2x), GDM, FITD, and most from his collected stories (the best ones many times). If I gave 2 âdoorsâ as u say, of a place to start itâd be:
Door 1: âCarcassonneâ this is the final story in his larger collection. You can find a link below. (Or google the story title and WFâs name and use the Reddit link). It takes 10 mins to read, and only 10 more mins to reread, and reread and reread. Itâs weird and great, just start there. The WF line I repeat internally to myself the most lives in this story.
Door 2 (after Door 1): âA Fableâ I agree with all your reasons to start with AA but for this instead. I know little of the war, and half the words I could not pronounce, and I didnât get it, and I wanted to quit so many timesâŠ.. btw all these happened on my first reading of AA as wellâŠ.. but when I started to understand, it made me feel the way his other novels do but on steroids with A Fable. The last 1/4 is magnificent.
My favorite novel of his is LIA.
Carcassonne below (I will admit the words on the physical page are far superior to this digital reading experience (e.g. italicized words are not shown as such in this link), my apologies):
biblioklept.org/2016/08/17/william-faulkners-short-story-carcassonne/
Carcassonne is a short one! What's the line you find yourself repeating?
@@TheCodeXCantina me on a buckskin pony with eyes like blue electricity and a mane like tangled fire, galloping up the hill and right off into the high heaven of the world
Bold and tragical and austere indeed
I am in that place as well! Never read Faulkner before. This video is very useful. Iâll probably pick the first door. Have you heard of William Gay? Heâs another great author of Southern gothic short stories. Very powerful.
Heard of him but I have never read myself. You'd recommend?
@@TheCodeXCantina Yes, absolutely. Dark, intense, visceral and masterful. I can already see your video about one of his stories!
My introduction to Faulkner was with The Collected Stories. I fell in love with his short fiction, but a few years later I read The Sound and the Fury and my love became an addiction.
Short stories are the best way to get to know an author most of the time!
Nice!
I've been on a huge Cormac McCarthy kick lately. I figured it's time to read some Faulkner. Thanks for the recommendations.
Nice! Cormac's name pops up all the time in lit criticism when reading about Billy. I hope you enjoy!
I'm reading As I lay dying, and I needed some help, very confused, but attracted to the quality; very addicted to his labyrinth.
Crazy coincidence! We were just talking last night about that being our next Faulkner. Not sure when itâll get on the schedule but itll be next
Halfway thru Cormac McCarthyâs bibliography, I took the leap and got Absalom Absalom. Approaching the end of chapter 5 and I love it. The Sound and the Fury probablyâll be my next.
Nice! I just rolled threw Nashville a while back and there was McCarthy stuff everywhere! So cool how the respect he had for Faulkner
I read some Faulkner in college and he was difficult at best back then. But as I am much older now and starting an intensive reading of his works a good place to start is Knight's Gambit which is a collection of stories and they are told in his stream of consciousness style but they are pretty engaging and not too difficult to read. The best way to read him is to not read too slow and try to decipher the language. Just read it first then let it all soak in and maybe read it again later. Absalom Absalom is probably his magnum opus but is really difficult to stay on top of.
I agree with this.
i can dig Flannery O'Connor, who herself really dug Faulkner. I really like reading about Faulkner, not so much reading him...
I always considered _A,A!_ to be the sequel to _TSATF,_ and it's the epitome of "Tell, don't Show," to boot. I think you know my favorite Faulkner novel is _Light in August._ đ
You know it!
Really great list, and like hope you presented these three as options depending on what the reader may like. I started with "Go Down, Moses." That was not a good idea haha. If I had started with Rose for Emily or Sound and the Furry, I would have read a lot more of his work by this time. Time to see if Brian agrees with your decisions hahađ
Go Down, Moses is one of my favorites of his but it is most assuredly, I agree, not the best place to start. Not many people survive The Bear đ
@@TheCodeXCantina I think in will have to re read Go Down, Moses. Now that I "get" Faulkner a bit more, I would probably feel much different about it now.
Faulkner is sometimes difficult to read. So I would start with one that is readable. Light in August. Also one of my favorites. The Sound and Fury is very hard to read and digest. You have to read it multiple times to have appreciate it.Certainly not a good first choice
Thanks for sharing.
Recently finished Red Leaves, and walked around the house muttering to myself..............WTF was that! I may never be the same.
Lol. That's a punch to the face for sure!
So, I started with Wild Palms / old man. What could you recommend for me next?
Interesting one to start with. Not sure what you particularly drawn to know which to recommend
Just bought my first book of his, The Sanctuary. Should I really start else where?
Are you really intro noir? It would be a great place to start if so. If not, I would say that I wouldn't want you to sour your first experience as generally that doesn't showcase his best work.
I thought the best place to start was with the James Franco adaptations of As I Lay Dying and The Sound and the Fury?!? Then just his letters . . . I might have to start over with reading Faulkner.
These were both great!
Best, Jack
I actually really like the movie adaptation!
I am currently doing a project
called the #1962project
where to celebrate my 60th birthday
I read books from around the world
published in, awarded prizes
or translated into English in 1962
(the year of my birth)
The Reivers came up in my list
and I was wondering as
I am a Faulkner newbie
is it problematic to start there?
That book is hysterical. It was Kryptoâs first. If you end up liking his style you would be fine with this book in terms of feel. It lacks some of the depth heâs known for in his main body of work but it is quite enjoyable to read
@@TheCodeXCantina
Thanks for the feedback
It is likely in the short-term at least
to be the only Faulkner novel I read
at least until April 2023
I have over 100 other books
ranging from Agatha Christie, Samuel Beckett, the Philosopher J. L. Austin,
Borges, Edward Albee, Thomas Merton, James Baldwin, Ellis Peters, Margery Allingham, EugĂšne Ionesco, Richard Feymann, a load of children's authors and Chinese and Urdu novels too.
Busy, busy, busy!
Where to start with Faulkner?
It should be before September!
Ack! How could I have missed such a joke! Brilliant
Why don't I try more authors with short stories? Excellent idea for almost any author!
They are truly the best place to start most of the time. Some authors clearly are strongest in their long form of course.
Why is nobody talking about The wild Palms :(
The wild palms was one of the most crazy works of faulkner I've read, particularly with the two consective narratives. Wild guy
Would audiobook instead of physical book impact your list at all?
Hard question to answer. In general, I'm not the best with audiobooks but particularly Faulkner as an audiobook hasn't generally worked for me personally.
@@TheCodeXCantina Thanks for the reply. I was first introduced to Faulkner with As I Lay Dying and loved it (well, actually I hated it for a while, but by the end I loved it) which I read in physical book form. Don't have as much time to read currently. Have listened to a few of his short stories on audiobook and they haven't quite hit the same, but it could also be short story vs. full length novel that is throwing me off. I think I'll try The Sound and The Fury, per your suggestion.
I counted 18 novels.
Absalom, Absalom , As I lay dying , The sound and the fury and The bear from Go down Moses. Jewels !!! A Greek friend. Demetrios. (and all the others, Sartoris, Light in August ...)
Faulker is not an easy author. Back in April of 1997, I spent the whole month reading A Rose for Emily more than 10 times. I found it disturbing and hauntingly beautiful not knowing then the stream-of-consciousness technique. Also, I spent several days trying to make sense of the first three pages of The Sound and the Fury. The Benjie Compson was really mind-boggling.
I remember feeling similar when I first tried him too
But I'm going to read ABSOLAM ABSOLAM. I'M sure you are right.
I hope you love it it. Itâs a very difficult text but itâs his most important and has his core ideas best translated in it.
The irony about Shakespeare is that in his own day his writing was popular. It wasn't hard to understand or particularly intellectual. It's hard to understand now because of how much English has evolved. So a bit of the "sophisticated air" of Shakespeare is artificial. (I am not saying he wasn't brilliant, just that he was originally much more accessible by the common man.)
I totally disagree with you. I would first suggest LIGHT IN AUGUST or FLAGS IN THE DUST. Very readable and engaging. Then there is the long story THE BEAR. My introduction was INTRUDER IN THE DUST.
All good. The Bear is a great story as is Light in August.
That's a long winded way to say "Don't"! (kidding, sort of)
đ
Read Faulkner, then put him down. Just stop reading him and move on. Not a lot to learn here.
Heâs not for everyone!