As one of the pioneers and champions of literary modernism in America along with the likes of Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner broke into the literary scene in 1926 with his debut novel "Soldier's Pay", and from then on, went on to tear what competition that dared stand against him. Scattering like leaves in the autumn wind, pages bearing words not his own, even as the very chime of his stories began to sweep across America and around the world. Stroking and stirring the innermost thoughts, rushing into caverns tunneled so far deep into the heart of man that its existence was not made known until the gentle, willowy call of Faulkner's voice. Leaving readers forever stroked. Forever stirred.
Widely recognized for his novels "The Sound and the Fury" and "As I Lay Dying", William Faulkner dominated the realm of literature for four years shy of four decades. An illustrious career which culminated into his receiving of a Nobel Prize in 1949 which was soon accompanied by a Pulitzer Prize in 1955, and in 1963 (respectably for "A Fable" and "The Reivers"). Trademarked for his ability to utilize 'the stream of conscious' technique in his body of writing -- which very few, and even fewer writers today are able to harness -- here are 5 iterations drawn from Faulkner's works that have allowed the native of Mississippi's name to echo across time and around it. Passing between the chatter of mouths carving words meant to stick upon the surface of eardrums until they forever remain attached to one's conscious with the passing of the minute hand and the shadow beneath it.
1. “Clocks slay time... time is dead as long as it is being clicked off by little wheels; only when the clock stops does time come to life.”
An inner monologue delivered by Quentin Compson in "The Sound and The Fury", throughout his career, William Faulkner like to use time, and its cyclical nature as an image of continuity, and as a symbol for the American South's inability to forsake norms long past with the end if the Civil War. Interrogating the beliefs of 'The Lost Cause', and lamenting how it has impeded the concept of freedom in the former Confederate States, Faulkner contends we can only truly feel realized, and ourselves, the moment we forsake all innate fantasies we impose on ourselves to derive a sense of meaning. Only we can mean to ourselves, and in doing so, mean ourselves into meaning.
2. “The saddest thing about love, Joe, is that not only the love cannot last forever, but even the heartbreak is soon forgotten.”
Though Faulkner was hardly a romanticist, as much of his work including his first novel "Soldier's Pay" often made a habit of undercutting and dismantling fanciful narratives. By no means did this mean the author didn't believe in love. He did. Only that like all things in this world, and in this life, its value becomes cheapened with the passage of time. Passing until all there is to value is nothing.
3. “A man is the sum of his misfortunes. One day you'd think misfortune would get tired but then time is your misfortune”
Another line taken from "The Sound and The Fury", similar to how flaw is an inherent trait sown into mankind destined to manifest as instances unforeseen, Faulkner understood better than most that the same random cruelty lingered in the life we were placed in. Not always occurring as a direct result of our committed faults, despite leaving us with the fault.
5. “How often have I lain beneath rain on a strange roof, thinking of home.”
Spoken through the inner monologue of Darl in "As I Lay Dying", Faulkner's long, illustrious writing career propelled him to great heights, and took him to many places but like many Southerners born with a mind, and into a place shrouded beneath the fantastic mist of nostalgia, Faulkner never forgot where he was from. No matter what you write, and where you end up living because of it, home's home.
5. "I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance. The poet's, the writer's, duty is to write about these things. It is his privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past."
Though undoubted regarded as an outspoken cynic by many, beneath the tears numbering the words recounting the tragedy awaiting readers at the end of his stories, Faulkner very much remained a man of the highest, most resilient hope. Through the atrocities and the adversities that continue to linger to impede the progress of mankind, William Faulkner believed that the decency that resides in each of us would not only allow us to endure against such odds but would eventually allow us to conquer them.
Although the pages of William Faulkner's chapter in the realm of American Literature, and in this world, have all been turned with the turn of the minute hand of the clock, and the shadow beneath it, forever slaying him and time as yet to pass, his books remain. The ink of his words dried and hardened, forever to remain so that even time itself may never have its fancy. Even as those passing but not yet past, fancy upon his tales. Tales that endure. Tales that prevail. Time and time again.
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