Getting to Know the Author

William Faulkner is undeniably a brilliant author. He utilizes comically dark southern humor and multiple perspectives and time threads in order to present a 'true' narrative in The Sound and the Fury. Faulkner sought to reveal "the old verities and truths of the heart" by using complex, convoluted symbolism and allusions. He held a belief that truth and knowledge must actively be pursued, which explains why he famously encouraged to, "read it again". Faulkner grew up in poverty. He never graduated high school,  and he never got a college degree. All the while he had to balance a financially crumbling family, yet he was able to produce a literary work that is revered as one of the most influential American novels ever written, equivalent to  Moby Dick. Faulkner's southern writing style serves to further strengthen his fantastic storytelling. He employs crude southern humor, as many southern writers do. Faulkner opened the novel with a mentally challenged man named Benjy who who has almost no conception of the continuation of time. Benjy spends most most of his time reminiscing about his family members, in a series of various flashbacks, which places an inherently central focus on both Benjy's mental state and the concept of family and time. This displays only a sliver of Faulkner's literary complexity. Faulkner was a high school drop out, and still managed to be a widely respected, monumental success. What a guy.