83 pages • 2 hours read
William FaulknerA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
A hallmark of modernist literature, the stream of consciousness narration is marked by a meandering, often repetitive, and free associative style of writing. It attempts to mimic the way in which the thought process itself unfolds. It is meant to immerse a reader in the character’s psychology and experience. This style of narration is typically full of sensory observations and non-linear references. It was an innovative literary device, pioneered by Faulkner and other writers of the early 20th century, including Virginia Woolf and James Joyce. Its popularity has proved enduring, as it has been utilized by notable writers ever since, including Nobel laureate Toni Morrison, and Booker-prize winning authors like James Kelman and Salman Rushdie.
The other trademarks of stream of consciousness narration are a lack of syntactical regularity, with ungrammatical sentences and misspellings. A lack of punctuation—famously, the final chapter of James Joyce’s Ulysses contains virtually no punctuation—is intended to reproduce the rush of thoughts and memories experienced by a character. The reader is swept along in the flow of the writer’s words with nothing to slow them down. Faulkner uses this style of narration in The Sound and the Fury to immerse the reader in the consciousness of three very different characters—the Compson brothers, Benjy, Quentin, and Jason.
By William Faulkner
Absalom, Absalom
William Faulkner
A Fable
William Faulkner
A Rose for Emily
William Faulkner
As I Lay Dying
William Faulkner
Barn Burning
William Faulkner
Dry September
William Faulkner
Go Down, Moses
William Faulkner
Intruder In The Dust
William Faulkner
Light in August
William Faulkner
Sanctuary
William Faulkner
Spotted Horses
William Faulkner
That Evening Sun
William Faulkner
The Bear
William Faulkner
The Hamlet
William Faulkner
The Reivers
William Faulkner
The Unvanquished
William Faulkner
American Literature
View Collection
Books that Feature the Theme of...
View Collection
Brothers & Sisters
View Collection
Challenging Authority
View Collection
Family
View Collection
Fate
View Collection
Guilt
View Collection
Modernism
View Collection
Nobel Laureates in Literature
View Collection
Oprah's Book Club Picks
View Collection
Power
View Collection
Pride Month Reads
View Collection
Required Reading Lists
View Collection
Southern Gothic
View Collection
The Best of "Best Book" Lists
View Collection