Anthea Carson's Blog - Posts Tagged "the-sound-and-the-fury"
Reading Faulkner
Sometimes I just find myself thinking about things that have never happened to me as if they were my own memories. Usually when I do this, I'm thinking about something that happened in one of Faulkner's books. In Yoknapatawpha county. Sometimes I think I'm from there. I get the books mixed up. I'm not sure where I met this particular character first or that one. I know I ran into the Compson family in one of the books about the Snopes. I remember seeing Mrs. Compson walk by while eavesdropping on what that fella that sold is daughter off practically to Flem Snopes, what was that feller's name again? You remember him? He was so ridiculous. He was so afraid of Flem Snopes being a barn burner that he went ahead and hired him and then practically sold off his daughter to him in marriage. What a mind trip he played on himself. And his daughter? She was somethin' else wasn't she. What was her name again? I'm going to have to go back and pick up one o' them Faulkner books and find out.
Fun Faulkner Facts for the day.
I haven't read his biography, or I should say started reading the vast collection Faulkner biographies that must be out there. But I did learn a few new facts today. Here they are.
It takes time to get around to learning everything there is to learn about Faulkner, so bear with me. There's a lot of other things I have to get to. Housework, parenting, working, worrying, complaining etc. So, yea I'm a little embarrassed that I didn't already know the things I learned about him today.
1. Faulkner thought he created his own characters. Here's what I think. He was so oblivious to the world around him that he maybe didn't realize he was getting his ideas from it. People who knew him said that he seemed to ignore everyone around him, finding them all ordinary. I just think he was in denial. He claims he could create better characters than God. Yet everyone in the town of Oxford was enraged at him. So, who knows what the truth is. Whatever the truth is, even if those people were angry, even if they were hurt, he had a higher calling than their feelings.
2. Yoknapatawpha county came from a real word or word combination. Of course it did. No one comes up with that. Turns out it comes from two Chickasaw words meaning split land. "Earlier maps of the area called it "Yokney Patafa."
That's all for today. Back to the chores.
It takes time to get around to learning everything there is to learn about Faulkner, so bear with me. There's a lot of other things I have to get to. Housework, parenting, working, worrying, complaining etc. So, yea I'm a little embarrassed that I didn't already know the things I learned about him today.
1. Faulkner thought he created his own characters. Here's what I think. He was so oblivious to the world around him that he maybe didn't realize he was getting his ideas from it. People who knew him said that he seemed to ignore everyone around him, finding them all ordinary. I just think he was in denial. He claims he could create better characters than God. Yet everyone in the town of Oxford was enraged at him. So, who knows what the truth is. Whatever the truth is, even if those people were angry, even if they were hurt, he had a higher calling than their feelings.
2. Yoknapatawpha county came from a real word or word combination. Of course it did. No one comes up with that. Turns out it comes from two Chickasaw words meaning split land. "Earlier maps of the area called it "Yokney Patafa."
That's all for today. Back to the chores.
Filming Faulkner
Humble Productions, Inc. is filming a production of AS I LAY DYING in Mississippi this fall. There will be casting calls in Jackson August 8th 2012. Here are the details: http://www.fox40tv.com/mostpopular/st...
I only wish I could go to Mississippi and watch the entire process: the auditions, the location scouting, the filming itself, the discussions that go on in the back rooms. I wish I could have listened in on the decision to make the film.
I ashamedly admit that AS I LAY DYING is one I haven't gotten to yet. I guess it has to be next on my list and bumped ahead of finishing THE HAMLET, and INTRUDERS IN THE DUST.
This is also the first time I've ever wished I were a producer. I would love to make any Faulkner book into a movie.
If you have never taken the time to delve into the work of this Mississippi writer, please do give it a try. But do so knowing that it will require some effort to understand, especially if you choose THE SOUND AND THE FURY. It is worth the effort.
I only wish I could go to Mississippi and watch the entire process: the auditions, the location scouting, the filming itself, the discussions that go on in the back rooms. I wish I could have listened in on the decision to make the film.
I ashamedly admit that AS I LAY DYING is one I haven't gotten to yet. I guess it has to be next on my list and bumped ahead of finishing THE HAMLET, and INTRUDERS IN THE DUST.
This is also the first time I've ever wished I were a producer. I would love to make any Faulkner book into a movie.
If you have never taken the time to delve into the work of this Mississippi writer, please do give it a try. But do so knowing that it will require some effort to understand, especially if you choose THE SOUND AND THE FURY. It is worth the effort.
The Bird's Nest
I have found it difficult to finish The Bird's Nest. Not just because it's so weird, and dated. But because I have a terrible tendency to rip books to shreds, literally. The book completely fell apart and I would have had to collect the last loose 40 or so pages and number them.
I did the same thing to Faulkner's The Sound and the Furybut in the case of that book I just had to finish it. I even then read an online version with a key so I could understand it.
I didn't have that same passion for Shirley Jackson's book, although I did want to know what the significance of the bird's nest in the story actually was. Something clearly happened on a beach with a bird's nest to the main character that caused her personality to fracture.
I made the mistake of buying a used copy with really small print in both cases. Perhaps if I had just invested in a larger print copy I could have saved both paperback's lives and my eyesight.
Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill Houseis definitely on my list of rereads, and eventually I must find out what happened on the beach with the bird's nest, so I suppose I'll have to get another copy, as I have long since decluttered the last one into the trash.
I did the same thing to Faulkner's The Sound and the Furybut in the case of that book I just had to finish it. I even then read an online version with a key so I could understand it.
I didn't have that same passion for Shirley Jackson's book, although I did want to know what the significance of the bird's nest in the story actually was. Something clearly happened on a beach with a bird's nest to the main character that caused her personality to fracture.
I made the mistake of buying a used copy with really small print in both cases. Perhaps if I had just invested in a larger print copy I could have saved both paperback's lives and my eyesight.
Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill Houseis definitely on my list of rereads, and eventually I must find out what happened on the beach with the bird's nest, so I suppose I'll have to get another copy, as I have long since decluttered the last one into the trash.
