The Sound and the Fury

Amazon.com

The ostensible subject of The Sound and the Fury is the dissolution of the Compsons, one of those august old Mississippi families that fell on hard times and wild eccentricity after the Civil War. But in fact what William Faulkner is really after in his legendary novel is the kaleidoscope of consciousness--the overwrought mind caught in the act of thought. His rich, dark, scandal-ridden story of squandered fortune, incest (in thought if not in deed), madness, congenital brain damage, theft, illegitimacy, and stoic endurance is told in the interior voices of three Compson brothers: first Benjy, the "idiot" man-child who blurs together three decades of inchoate sensations as he stalks the fringes of the family's former pasture; next Quentin, torturing himself brilliantly, obsessively over Caddy's lost virginity and his own failure to recover the family's honor as he wanders around the seedy fringes of Boston; and finally Jason, heartless, shrewd, sneaking, nursing a perpetual sense of injury and outrage against his outrageous family.

If Benjy's section is the most daringly experimental, Jason's is the most harrowing. "Once a bitch always a bitch, what I say," he begins, lacing into Caddy's illegitimate daughter, and then proceeds to hurl mud at blacks, Jews, his sacred Compson ancestors, his glamorous, promiscuous sister, his doomed brother Quentin, his ailing mother, and the long-suffering black servant Dilsey who holds the family together by sheer force of character.

Notoriously "difficult," The Sound and the Fury is actually one of Faulkner's more accessible works once you get past the abrupt, unannounced time shifts--and certainly the most powerful emotionally. Everything is here: the complex equilibrium of pre-civil rights race relations; the conflict between Yankee capitalism and Southern agrarian values; a meditation on time, consciousness, and Western philosophy. And all of it is rendered in prose so gorgeous it can take your breath away. Here, for instance, Quentin recalls an autumnal encounter back home with the old black possum hunter Uncle Louis:

And we'd sit in the dry leaves that whispered a little with the slow respiration of our waiting and with the slow breathing of the earth and the windless October, the rank smell of the lantern fouling the brittle air, listening to the dogs and to the echo of Louis' voice dying away. He never raised it, yet on a still night we have heard it from our front porch. When he called the dogs in he sounded just like the horn he carried slung on his shoulder and never used, but clearer, mellower, as though his voice were a part of darkness and silence, coiling out of it, coiling into it again. WhoOoooo. WhoOoooo. WhoOooooooooooooooo.

What Faulkner has created is a modernist epic in which characters assume the stature of gods and the primal family events resonate like myths. It is The Sound and the Fury that secures his place in what Edmund Wilson called "the full-dressed post-Flaubert group of Conrad, Joyce, and Proust." --David Laskin

Book Description

First published in 1929, Faulkner created his "heart's darling," the beautiful and tragic Caddy Compson, whose story Faulkner told through separate monologues by her three brothers--the idiot Benjy, the neurotic suicidal Quentin and the monstrous Jason.

Customer Reviews:

Get cliff notes as a reading companion........2007-07-15

I read a lot and I like to think that I am pretty smart. I thought I could read and understand this book on my own. That was a bad idea. 4 chapters with four different narratives. The first chapter is narrated by Benjy, a mentally retarded individual who has no concept of time. As a result his narrative shifts all over a thirty year period. Faulkner goes out of his way to make things confusing by not always indicated when the time shifts occur. I swear Faulkner made the book difficult for the sake of making it difficult. For example, one of Benjy's brothers is named Quentin, which is the same name that his sister has given his niece. The second and third chapters become progressively easier to understand, however, I found the fourth chapter quite confusing. While you can pick up the overall themes of the novel and what Faulkner is trying to convey, it wasn't until after I got the cliff notes that I fully understood all of the details. If I had the cliff notes before hand it would have made the book more enjoyable. Probably 4-5 stars if I had the cliff notes as I was reading.

Huh?!.......2007-06-01

I absolutely enjoy reading classics and because this was mentioned on the great 100 books list, I thought i might give it a shot.
My GOD it was so hard to read. I truly do enjoy challenges but i couldn't understand what the heck was going on through most of the first half of the book.
I do understand the purpose of Faulkner writing in so many different dialects/styles however it was painful to read. I finally had to set the book aside and read a synopsis of the book to really understand what the heck was going on and even after reading that, I seriously questioned how one could possibly pick up on those nuances from reading the book.

This book is impossibly difficult to read and frankly, for what the actual plot ended up being, really not worth it. I am still confounded as to why this book is even considered a classic.

Want to know what's inside Faulkner's head?.......2007-05-15

William Faulkner's "The Sound and the Fury" is one of the most difficult books I've had read. First allow me to explain the reason or at least what I think is the reason for this book being extremely difficult to me. I am only on my second semester of English (ENG 101). All my schooling prior to this one was done in Mexico. "The Sound and the Fury" is set in the Deep South, a region known for his accent among other things. So adding the accent from the Deep South plus the fact they also speak Ebonics on top made my reading a lot more difficult, especially Benjy who happens to be retarded. Faulkner's style of writing and how he unfolds this drama surrounding the Compson family share many similarities with Shakespeare style. I never knew or heard of Faulkner's work before reading this book, but through research I learn he has had a prolifically career as a writer. Faulkner has gone to write best seller books such as "As I Lay Dying," "Light in August" also award winning novels like "A Fable" and "The Reivers."
"The Sound and the Fury" is full of amazing characters. Caddy is the main character of the book. She is the object of fixation by her brothers. Her character seems to speak through actions instead of words. (Example: squatting on the branch with muddy underwear looking through the window at her grandmother's funeral...). Benjy the retard, only notice things happening around him, and has no emotions or thoughts. Jason, evil Jason has an obsession with material things. There is also Mr. Compson with his inability to be a father at all levels. Mrs. Compson the mother who can't take care of herself or her family. And finally there is Dilsey the house keeper who is the responsible kind and always looking up for the family.
Regardless of all the trouble I went to finish this book; I highly recommend it reading it. This is definitively not your weekend book, so be ready to get a pencil and paper to get a better understanding of it. Faulkner use of symbolism makes it harder to understand that's why the need to pick up a pencil and paper. But once you get pass all the symbolism and get comfortable with his style of writing it all makes sense.
Done by: Jose G Flores

You've got to be kidding.......2007-05-12

Please, don't insult my intelligence. Faulkner was a Jamnes Joyce wannabe; his characters are poorly-educated, racist and revolting, they have no thoughts worth following anyway. And his writing style is a very poor imitation of Joyce's with its split-time and stream of consciousness. Both Dashiell Hammett and Jack Kerouac could write rings around Faulkner.

Great book - top ten of all time.......2007-04-02

This is an amazing, crazy book that takes a lot of work to read, but it is absolutely worth your effort. In fact it will be impossible for you to grasp every part of the story during the first read. It is told from the point of view of four people who live in a small southern town, set in about the 1930s. The first section is told through the viewpoint of a mentally challenged guy named Benji... you just won't be able to understand everything, nor is the reader meant to understand everything, upon a first casual read. Anyway, this made my top ten of all time list. Great book... the one-star reviews are that way because (and I can sympathize) the reader wasn't able or didn't put forth the effort to read the whole book. Maybe glance at a cliffs-notes type of review before reading, so you can understand the structure of the book... check it out though!

A Summer of Faulkner: As I Lay Dying/The Sound and the Fury/Light in August (Oprah's Book Club)

Average customer rating:

Great American literature
Challenging and thought-provoking
O Oprah
Quite a challenge for the average reader
Not for me.

A Summer of Faulkner: As I Lay Dying/The Sound and the Fury/Light in August (Oprah's Book Club)
William Faulkner
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0307275329
Release Date: 2005-06-03

Book Description

The 2005 Summer Selection is available in an exclusive three volume boxed edition that includes a special reader’s guide with an introduction by Oprah Winfrey.

Titles include:
As I Lay Dying
This novel is the harrowing account of the Bundren family’s odyssey across the Mississippi countryside to bury Addie, their wife and mother. Told in turns by each of the family members–including Addie herself–the novel ranges in mood from dark comedy to the deepest pathos. Originally published in 1930.

The Sound and the Fury
First published in 1929, Faulkner created his “heart’s darling,” the beautiful and tragic Caddy Compson, whose story Faulkner told through separate monologues by her three brothers–the idiot Benjy, the neurotic suicidal Quentin and the monstrous Jason.

Light in August
Light in August, a novel about hopeful perseverance in the face of mortality, features some of Faulkner’s most memorable characters: guileless, dauntless Lena Grove, in search of the father of her unborn child; Reverend Gail Hightower, who is plagued by visions of Confederate horsemen; and Joe Christmas, a desperate, mysterious drifter consumed by his mixed ancestry. Originally published in 1932.

Take a seat in Oprah’s Classroom and sign up for Faulkner 101 on www.oprah.com/bookclub.

Customer Reviews:

Great American literature.......2007-06-28

The Oprah's Book Club is a great, inexpensive way to own these literary pearls. If you do not know what you are getting into I suggest you read first Light in August, then As I Lay Dying and finally, after bracing, The Sound and the Fury. I found the second a tad too dry and dark, but that's Faulkner. The last one is a book you will eventually reread. The first reading could be helped by the many high quality institutional web sites where this masterpiece is dissected and even rearranged for ease of approach. I am witholding a star simply because I have formed the opinion that Faulkner is, to put in mildly, racially biased or at least wrote for the racially biased. I would love to hear what Oprah thinks about this aspect of Faulkner's but I do not have the time. Enjoy.

Challenging and thought-provoking.......2007-01-05

These novels are not to be read for sheer pleasure, but rather for the challenge and the depth. They are not easy to read, though *Light in August* is the easiest of the three. The prose is so difficult at times that I needed to reread again and again. I had to stop and take numerous breaks because my brain got twisted around.

I strongly suggest getting research materials from a university librray if at all possible to help navigate the stories. In the end, the depth of these novels is profound and extremely rewarding. It was only after I finished them (and read a lot of extra research articles) that I truly appreciated them. These novels are definitely amazing and a great account of southern life in the early part of the 20th century (and after the civil war), and I admire Faulkner more than I ever thought I could.

If you thought James Joyce was complex, try Faulkner!

O Oprah.......2006-08-27

AS I LAY DYING by William Faulkner

I respect what he did, but I read about 15% of this one before I got bored. I don't agree with Oprah that he's difficult. I knew exactly where he was coming from and where he wanted to go. Many relevant themes and he was a damn fine wordsmith. But it's old news to this jaded old redneck. I don't know why. I realize I just dismissed an author who deserved his Pulitzers and his Nobel Prize, in a single short paragraph, but please hold back on the hate mail.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

THE SOUND AND THE FURY by William Faulkner

Ditto. You hate me, don't you?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

LIGHT IN AUTUMN by William Faulkner

Ditto. Hoo boy, now you want me dead.

Quite a challenge for the average reader.......2006-07-25

Quite a challenge for the average reader.

I want to say something like, "you owe it to yourself to read these books."... and perhaps you do. I, however, don't get it. I read the insert by Opera, and all the scholars, I read As I Lay Dying, like I was supposed to, and I simply don't get the allure of Faulkner.

So reader beware. It is a challenge to read Faulkner, not because his ideas are so very profound, but because his writing style leaves me unable to care for any of his characters in any meaningful way. The dialogue is far too folksy, and though I fully realize what he is doing (presenting to us the depth of the human experience by showing us the trials and tribulations of poor folk who are just trying to make a living) I found I had no time to plod through anything more than the first 100 pages.

I realize mine is just one opinion, but think before you buy. In the reader's guide that accompanies the books, Opera suggests that you are not really a reader unless you have read Faulkner. Please take that with a grain of salt and give yourself a break... Faulkner just might not be for you.

Not for me........2006-02-22

I tried, really I did, to read these books. They were very difficult to understand. I even did an online discussion with "experts" to try to figure out what was going on, but it just didn't happen. I read "As I Lay Dying" entirely & the story behind the story told by the "experts" was okay, but did not make the read worth the time. The 2nd book, I couldn't get past the first few chapters & by the third book, I had given up. Definitely not my style.

The Sound and the Fury (Norton Critical Editions)

Average customer rating:

Great But Difficult Novel
A beautiful and complex work.
Faulkner's Masterpiece-Improved
Stream of Consciousness as imitation
Famous for more than just one reason

The Sound and the Fury (Norton Critical Editions)
William Faulkner
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Fiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Literature & Fiction | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0393964817

Customer Reviews:

Great But Difficult Novel.......2007-06-26

This is perhaps the most difficult novel written that's worth the time to read. I'd STRONGLY suggest you buy Volpe's book on Faulkner's Novels to read along with it first. Volpe breaks down the points at which a different charecter takes over the narrative. After that, try it yourself, but Volpe is the best guide for the person new to Faulkner's harder(hardest)work. The Norton Edition has a great deal of helpful critical material which, though not in Volpe's ballpark, is very helpful. Buy this edition, but don't forget the Volpe on Faulkner's novel.

A beautiful and complex work. .......2006-08-16

I read _The_Sound_and_the_Fury_ several years ago and have forgotten many of the details, but this book remains my favorite fictional work. The Norton Critical Edition provides readers with valuable insight into many of the passages, but some could probably do without the explanatory pages that follow Faulkner's actual book. Since I took an intensive course on Faulkner's work, I had help from a great professor. Even with the help of critical texts and analysis, I found _The_Sound_and_the_Fury_ to be difficult. I reread the book several times for a better understanding of certain sections.

Since other readers have provided summaries about this book, I'll just remark that this is a masterfully written book. I've read most of Faulkner's short stories and novels (except for _As_I_Lay_Dying_) and consider this to be his best work. Faulkner wrote each chapter according to the perspectives of four very different characters, and this is reflected in the form and substance of the chapters. Faulkner's long (many exceed one-third of a page), complex, and heavily detailed sentences demand concentration. It's certainly not a light read, although the book is relatively short. Overall, a beautifully haunting work that showcases Faulkner's idiosyncratic style.

Faulkner's Masterpiece-Improved.......2006-06-08

Besides the already amazing text of The Sound and the Fury, Faulkner's letters, interviews, and the critical articles make this an invaluable edition to any Faulkner scholar. Noel Polk's editing of the novel itself shines, its presented exactly as Faulkner intended. I highly recommend this edition if you would like to understand this cryptic work better.

Stream of Consciousness as imitation.......2005-06-02

My comments are not meant to expound on the story but on using the story in class to talk about the nature of imitation. I might point out that there is a wonderful web page version of the novel here: http://www.usask.ca/english/faulkner/. It was put together, as you can read on the site, by a group of graduate students using the web to accomplish what Faulkner intended a printed version to be like using various colors in the text. Visiting the page and seeing how this works helps use the novel. Regarding the novel as imitation: what is being imitated is stream of consciousness. Do we really think this way? It seems to me that we do not normally think this way or at least do not pay attention to all of the aspects of our perceptions as we go through an experience. What the book does is draw our attention, the focus of our attention, to much of the things we perceive without paying attention to them. (Hence the color scheme that was meant to indicate what part of our attention a specific line represents.) One immediate result of this is a feeling of confusion that results in a headache. We do not normally think this way and so it creates stress. As you become used to it from reading several hours or more you put the book down and note that you continue to think this way! It can be very annoying since paying attention to all of the things in our awareness distracts us or keeps us from having the focus necessary to accomplish much that we normally manage without much effort. Does the novel, the technique of having a stream of consciousness, imitate the way our consciousness works or part of how it works? It seems certain that while we are aware, at least peripherally, of much of what this technique draws our attention to, the deliberate effort to keep so much only peripheral is essential to our ability to concentrate.

So this is a very interesting study to analyze how our consciousness works. With that in mind it does not occur to me that Joyce or Woolf would do any better or worse as tools for this effort.

Since however in Fury one of the main characters we are privileged to share minds with is mentally ill or retarded, there is an added dimension to the experience and confusion. How well does Faulkner do this? I suppose we will never know.

Famous for more than just one reason.......2003-08-30

In case you are one of the unlucky few that has not read THE SOUND AND THE FURY, let me tell you that you are missing one of literature's most prized works. As an English major, I have come across many "famous" novels that left me wondering what the author had to do (wink, wink) to get his/her novel well known. However, this novel is definitely not one of those.

In short, Faulkner's novel is about the Compson family, composed of a mentally disabled son (Benjy) , a sexual daughter (Caddy) and granddaughter (Quentin), a suicidal son (Quentin-yes, 2 Quentins!), an uncaring and greedy son (Jason) , a drunken father, a nutty mother, and a caring servant (Dilsey) and her family. The book itself is divided into four sections-one written by Benjy, one written by Quentin (the son), one by Jason, and one by Dilsey. Faulkner incorporates a HUGE amount of symbolism in this novel (something I love). However, what makes this novel famous are Faulkner's writing techniques. The first section by Benjy is pretty darn confusing, for Benjy is mentally retarded. Benjy's thoughts cover many time lengths and flash back and forth between times without any notice or any indication. The reader must figure out when something occurs. Often, only one paragraph may take place in time A, then it will switch to time B for a page, time C for a sentence, time B for 3 pages, and so on. Mostly what triggers these time changes are words. For example, Benjy is outside and hears a golfer call to his caddie (this occurs in time A). The word "caddie" triggers a thought about Caddy, his sister, and he thinks about a time in time G when somebody called out "Caddy" and so on. It sounds pretty confusing; that's because it is. Quentin's section is composed of stream-of-consciousness, something Faulkner is famous for using. Here, you are given Quentin's thoughts only. It's pretty intense to read. The last two sections are written more normally.

This book is pretty hard, I will admit. I wouldn't read it as my first Faulkner. I'd try AS I LAY DYING or SANCTUARY. I suggest getting a buddy to read it, too, so you can sort things out together or (if you must....) pick up the Cliffs Notes on it. However, don't not read this novel just because it's tough. I assure you that this book is filled with so much character depth and fascinating storyline that you won't be sorry. : )

Average customer rating:

Soldier's Pay best book I've read so far in LOA series

for the sound and the fury

Beautiful edition of Faulkner's first four novels including the masterpiece "The Sound and the Fury"

All of Faulkner's novels now available in exquisite Lib/America eds!

The Library of America's exquisite hardcover collection of four of William Faulkner's classic literary works

William Faulkner: Novels 1926-1929: Soldiers' Pay / Mosquitoes / Flags in the Dust / The Sound and the Fury (Library of America)
William Faulkner
Manufacturer: Library of America
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Faulkner, William | Classics | United States | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
General | Classics | United States | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Collections & Readers | United States | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Faulkner, William | ( F ) | Authors, A-Z | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Look Inside Fiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

William Faulkner : Novels 1930-1935 : As I Lay Dying, Sanctuary, Light in August, Pylon (Library of America)

William Faulkner : Novels 1942-1954 : Go Down, Moses / Intruder in the Dust / Requiem for a Nun / A Fable (Library of America)

William Faulkner: Novels, 1957-1962: The Town / The Mansion / The Reivers (Library of America)

William Faulkner : Novels 1936-1940 : Absalom, Absalom! / The Unvanquished / If I Forget Thee, Jerusalem / The Hamlet (Library of America)

Henry James: Novels 1901-1902: The Sacred Fount / The Wings of the Dove (Library of America)

ASIN: 1931082898

Book Description

The Library of America edition of the novels of William Faulkner culminates with this volume presenting his first four, each newly edited, and, in many cases, restored with passages that were altered or (in the case of Mosquitoes) expurgated by the original publishers. This is Faulkner as he was meant to be read.

In these four novels we can track Faulkner's extraordinary evolution as, over the course of a few years, he discovers and masters the mode and matter of his greatest works. Soldiers' Pay (1926) expresses the disillusionment provoked by World War I through its account of the postwar experiences of homecoming soldiers, including a severely wounded R.A.F. pilot, in a style of restless experimentation. In Mosquitoes (1927), a raucous satire of artistic poseurs, many of them modeled after acquaintances of Faulkner in New Orleans, he continues to try out a range of stylistic approaches as he chronicles an ill-fated cruise on Lake Pontchartrain.

With the sprawling Flags in the Dust (published in truncated form in 1929 as Sartoris), Faulkner began his exploration of the mythical region of Mississippi that was to provide the setting for most of his subsequent fiction. Drawing on family history from the Civil War and after, and establishing many characters who recur in his later books, Flags in the Dust marks the crucial turning point in Faulkner's evolution as a novelist.

The volume concludes with Faulkner's masterpiece, The Sound and the Fury (1929). This multilayered telling of the decline of the Compson clan over three generations, with its complex mix of narrative voices and its poignant sense of isolation and suffering within a family, is one of the most stunningly original American novels.

The editors of this volume are Joseph Blotner and Noel Polk. Joseph Blotner, who wrote the notes, is professor of English emeritus at the University of Michigan. Biographer of William Faulkner and Robert Penn Warren, he is a member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers and the French Legion of Honor. Noel Polk is professor of English at Mississippi State University and editor of The Mississippi Quarterly. He has edited the texts in all five volumes of William Faulkner's novels for The Library of America.

In his first four novels, William Faulkner moved beyond early experiments to discover the themes and style of his maturity. With Soldiers' Pay, a sardonic distillation of postwar disillusionment, and Mosquitoes, a freewheeling roman à clef satirizing the writers and artists of his New Orleans milieu, Faulkner served his restless apprenticeship as a writer of fiction before settling in Flags in the Dust (first published in truncated form as Sartoris) on the material that would chiefly engage him: a mythic Mississippi region dense with ancestral memories and echoes of the Civil War. The volume concludes with what many consider Faulkner's greatest work, The Sound and the Fury, a novel of family torment whose audacities of form and fearless explorations of the inner life continue to astonish. The newly edited texts in this volume include passages altered or in some cases expurgated by the original publishers.

Customer Reviews:

Soldier's Pay best book I've read so far in LOA series.......2007-08-29

Back a few years ago, I bought the entire series of Library of America books, some 173 books, each with as many as 1,600 small-print pages. Typically, each volume contains several books (say novels) by an author.

The quality of the writing they have selected is marvelous. There are very few "dogs". Below are my ratings of all the stuff I've read so far (a miniscule fraction of the total library), along with, of course, my completely nonsensical (often sports or pop culture) author nicknames.

And they keep sending me new books faster than I can read the existing ones...

Practically all that I've read ranges from good to fantastic, and I stop reading ones I don't like, so almost all of the books cited below are worthy by my standards. No stars means good, * means especially good, ** means great, and I think I also gave one book (Soldier's Pay by Faulkner) ***. The numbers are the series # of the book out of the 173 published so far.

A book of Henry James' fiction (not in the LOA series) that I read about 3 years ago got me started on this quest, a supplement to my quest of playing the entire history of baseball via APBA.

1. Herman "Franks" Melville: Typee* ("Idyllic") 316 pps
1. Herman "Franks" Melville: Omoo ("Picks up where Typee left off") 330 pps

2. Nathaniel "Nate the Skate" Hawthorne: Assorted Stories ("Some hard to follow") 301 pps

4. Harriet "and Ozzy" Beecher Stowe: Uncle Tom's Cabin** ("Uncle Tom is no 'Uncle Tom'") 520 pps

5. Mark "Shania" Twain: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer* ("Hilarious moments for a different kind of Tom") 216 pps

10. Nathaniel "Nate the Skate" Hawthorne: Fanshawe* ("Young scholar, romance, skullduggery") 114 pps

6. Jack "Gene" London: The Call of the Wild ("Savage") 86 pps
6. Jack "Gene" London: White Fang* ("Roger Vick-type dog-fighting
action") 198 pps

8. William Dean "Bailey" Howells: A Foregone Conclusion* ("Gripping, intricate romance") 172 pps
8. William Dean "Bailey" Howells: A Modern Instance ("Marriage gone awry in repressed times") 418 pps

11. Francis "Shibe" Parkman: Pioneers of France in the New World** ("What it was REALLY like") 330 pps
11. Francis "Shibe" Parkman: The Jesuits in North America* ("More of these accurate depictions") 382 pps

14. Henry "Don" Adams: Democracy** ("Real politics 1800's-style")

16. Washington "Dr. J" Irving: Early writings ("Boring at times") 87 pps

18. Stephen "Whooping" Crane: Maggie: A Girl of the Streets ("Fascinating but grim") 74 pps
18. Stephen "Whooping" Crane: The Red Badge of Courage* ("True face of war") 134 pps

19. Edgar "Teletubbie" Poe: Assorted Stories ("Truly weird") 188 pps

29. Henry "Edgeron" James: Washington Square* ("Plain woman trapped") 190 pps

30. Edith Wharton "School": The House of Mirth* ("Reese Witherspoon plays role in movie") 348 pps

33. Frank "Chuck" Norris: Vandover and the Brute ("Wolf-man emerges") 260 pps
33. Frank "Chuck" Norris: McTeague** ("Greed prevails") 312 pps

35. Willa "Thrilla" Cather: Assorted stories ("Oblique") 76 pps

36. Theodore "Early" Dreiser: Sister Carrie** ("Young lives go opposite directions") 456 pps

37. Benjamin "Joe" Franklin Assorted Writings* ("Brilliant satire") 87 pps

39. Flannery "Father" O'Connor: Wise Blood ("Liked better at 25") 132 pps

55. Richard "Gary" Wright: Lawd Today!** ("Unforgettable humor, violence") 220 pps

59. Sinclair "Jerry" Lewis: Main Street* ("Small-town USA") 486 pps

69. "Ornery" Sarah Orne Jewett: Deephaven* ("Atmospheric")

72. John "Franken" Steinbeck: The Pastures of Heaven** ("Modern Gothic") 170 pps

74. Zora Neale "Zorro" Hurston: Jonah's Gourd Vine ("Black preacher")

97. James "I think I'm going" Baldwin: Go Tell it on the Mountain ("Conversion experience") 216 pps

101. Eudora "The Explorer" Welty: The Robber Bridegroom ("Ridiculous fairy tale") 88 pps

103. Brockden "Les" Brown: Wieland* ("Early Gothic chills") 228 pps

111. Henry "Etta" James: Assorted Stories 1864-74** ("Consistently compelling") 430 pps

117. F. Scott "Ella" Fitzgerald: This Side of Paradise* ("Ultimately sublime") 252 pps

126. Dawn "Boog" Powell: Dance Night* ("Small-town romance in 1920's") 204 pps

134. Paul "Super" Bowles: The Sheltering Sky* ("Sophisticates lost in Africa") 252 pps

148. James T. "Turk" Farrell: Young Lonigan* ("Coming of age in tough streets") 176 pps

164. William Faulkner "Pontiac, Buick, GMC Trucks": Soldier's
Pay*** ("Unique, gripping") 256 pps
164. William Faulkner "Pontiac, Buick, GMC Trucks": Mosquitos** ("Indescribable romp") 284 pps
164. William Faulkner "Pontiac, Buick, GMC Trucks": Flags in the Dust ("Doomed family") 336 pps
164. William Faulkner "Pontiac, Buick, GMC Trucks": The Sound and the Fury ("Bewildering") 268 pps

for the sound and the fury .......2006-11-04

The Sound and the Fury is such a wonder of book, that I give this publication 5 stars just for providing us, finally with this beautiful edition. I haven't read the first three of these books, because they seem to be by an author who hasn't yet found his voice. Just to throw this out there, but I'd love to have his complete short stories (with notes) in this format. Don't you agree, Faulkner lovers?

Beautiful edition of Faulkner's first four novels including the masterpiece "The Sound and the Fury".......2006-08-30

We all owe the wonderful Library of America a great deal for publishing the volumes of William Faulkner's complete novels. It has taken more than twenty years to bring them out and now concludes with his first four novels. These were published from 1926 until 1929. This volume includes "Soldier's Pay", "Mosquitoes", "Flags in the Dust", and "The Sound and the Fury".

"Soldier's Pay" is a first novel and shows it. While it has some fine moments and shows Faulkner's style of presenting "reality" without context and focusing on emotional interiors and the aspects of life that we tend to hide even from ourselves, it is not a great work. However, it is still worth reading. The central figure is a disfigured and dying pilot brought home from the war by strangers into a complex family dynamic that is made much worse because the pilot was thought dead, but is now alive and horribly disabled.

I personally found "Mosquitoes" to be all but unreadable. It is too self-indulgent with a delight in talking about intimate things as if that were profound. No thanks.

"Flags in the Dust" was published in part as "Sartoris" in the late twenties. In 1973, Random House published the complete text as far as it could be restored. It reads much differently than his first two novels and it is here that the voice starts sounding like a mature and confident Faulkner. It concerns multiple generations that fester into ruin and misery of all kinds that seem to include perverse sexual relations and alcoholism. Yes, there is also racism in the books, but the books are not racist because the attitudes of the characters are consistent with their times and do not include any sympathy from Faulkner that I can find. And his is a worldwith living memories of the tragic Southern experience of the Civil War and the shock and loss of the Great War (WWI)for the living generation.

The volume ends with Faulner's first clear masterpiece, "The Sound and the Fury". While all Faulkner's prose is not easy to read and requires constant attention and often some re-reading, this book also has multiple unannounced perspectives and shifts in narrator. At the end of the book is an appendix that was first written by Faulkner for "The Portable Faulkner" edited by Matthew Cowley in 1946. You might want to read this first if you want to understand the story more clearly the first time through. However, it could be argued that you shouldn't because the confusion and disorientation is part of the reading experience that author wants you to have as you work through his story.

It is clear to me that Faulkner is a great master of prose and that his works are great treasures in the English language. However, his ethos is quite foreign to me. I do not find great value in reading about lives of misery, incest, adultery, perversion, ruin, and loss. Is that really all there is to human life? Not in my more than fifty years of experience. And since Faulkner was a young man when he wrote these works, what did he really know about life and what was just rumor and hearsay?

Still, the use of language is powerful and unique. Attempts have been made to copy aspects of his style, but none can come closer than mannerisms. Faulkner's was a genius that not only included his words, but in the way he conveyed reality. We don't experience our lives with chapter headings or with moments clearly delineated as part of this or that. We construct our filing system for events in retrospect. So, Faulkner presents us his stories in ways that require us to ask ourselves what is happening, what just happened, did anything happen? Where does this go? Who is this? Why the different names for the same people? Why the same names for different people? It is working through these and every other question that occurs to you that you come to an understanding of the work. And your understanding will almost certainly be personal and different from almost everyone else.

This is a fine volume with reliable texts for these important works, a chronology of Faulkner's life, notes on the texts, and a beautiful binding with materials and type that add to the quality of the reading experience.

All of Faulkner's novels now available in exquisite Lib/America eds!.......2006-04-15

Although chronologicallly the four novels in this volume (which includes Faulkner's masterpiece The Sound and the Fury) are Faulkner's first, this is the last volume of his novels to come off the presses of the Library of America. This is a landmark event in the world of Belles Lettres, not just American literature! The first volume (Novels 1930-35) was published in 1985, making the publication of the definitive texts of the novels of William Faulkner a 21-year enterprise. Kudos to Library of America and editors Noel Polk and Joseph Blotner.

For those who haven't heard of them, the Library of America (LOA) is a non-profit venture with the mission of publishing the definitive texts of the best of American literature in uniform clothbound editions designed to last. (Google them to find out more about their mission and for a complete list of titles in print and forthcoming.) But these are not just handsome books or cheesy Franklin Mint style collectables. Establishing the best texts for the works selected for the series is a difficult and tricky enterprise, and the most qualified scholars are sought to take on the series' diverse authors. For Faulkner this editorial task fell to two of the most prominent Faulkner scholars around, Joseph Blotner (also his biographer) and Noel Polk. LOA does not clutter up its pages with footnotes and does not commission literary introductions for its volumes, so the casual reader may be unaware of the extensive amount of scholarship that goes on "behind the scenes." As noted in brief "Notes on the Text" to the Novels 1926-1929, "By preserving Faulkner's spelling, punctuation, and wording, even when inconsistent or irregular, the Polk texts strive to be as faithful to Faulkner's usage as surviving evidence permits. In this volume, the reader has the results of the most detailed scholarly efforts thus far made to establish the texts of Soldier's Pay, Mosquitoes, Flags in the Dust, and The Sound and the Fury" (p. 1175).

Since the publisher's own description of this volume here on Amazon.com doesn't point this out, it should be noted that the version of The Sound and the Fury published by LOA includes the "Appendix (Compson: 1699-1945)" which does not exist in all editions of the novel still in print. Although this Appendix was first published in 1945 as part of The Portable Faulkner (16 years after the novel itself was published), I always found it perverse and annoying that it was excluded from all but the Modern Library edition of the novel. (After all, if readers want the experience of reading the novel in the pristine form of the 1929 first edition, all they have to do is ignore the Appendix.)

I don't know what else, if anything, of Faulkner's output LOA intends to publish going forward (short stories, screenplays, speeches, letters, poetry?), but these five volumes of novels contain (arguably?) the best works of American fiction by any author. Each volume is a handy size (though some contain four novels, they are all the size of one of Faulkner's novels as orinally published), and set in large and readable type. Buy them all and you can own all of Faulkner's best work without giving up three bookshelves to store them!

The Library of America's exquisite hardcover collection of four of William Faulkner's classic literary works.......2006-04-08

Faulkner Novels 1926-1929 is The Library of America's exquisite hardcover collection of four of William Faulkner's classic literary works: "Soldier's Pay", "Mosquitoes", "Flags in the Dust", and "The Sound and the Fury". Like all volumes in this publisher's authoritative texts of literary classics, Faulkner Novels 1926-1929 is a compact hardbound volume with a ribbon for easy bookmarking sewn into the spine. A chronology and sections of notes on the text as well as Faulkner's life round out this definitive "must-have" edition, ideal for public and college libraries as well as private reading shelves.

The Sound and the Fury: The Corrected Text with Faulkner's Appendix (Modern Library)

Average customer rating:

Brilliant and Untouchable
Signifying Nothing
The most overrated book ever written
Difficult But Rewarding
More a puzzle than a story

The Sound and the Fury: The Corrected Text with Faulkner's Appendix (Modern Library)
William Faulkner
Manufacturer: Modern Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Fiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0679600175
Release Date: 1992-09-05

Book Description

Customer Reviews:

Brilliant and Untouchable.......2006-11-02

While some may think that good work should be "readable and enjoyable," great work is meant to elevate us. Stun us, amaze us, fill us with wonder. Otherwise, See Spot Run would be a masterpiece.

William Faulkner is a writer the likes of which we may never see again. He is not only brilliant of word but of concept. He creates a picture not only by text, but by context and form. In many ways, his works sculpt. How else would we see things from the vistas of the characters, especially those who can't speak but by setting and demonstration?

One reviewer cursed his conveyance of emotion by "using big words." Writing is the art of language interplay, the use of beautiful and succinct language. Faulkner uses language that most of us have never heard of but when we take the time to look up that language, the effect is stunning and makes the experience all the more worth it.

Signifying Nothing.......2006-10-17

Macbeth V.v 25-30:
"A tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

Stream-of-conscieness technique (no punctuation), southern accents (no spell check), mixed and matched timecrawls (flashbacks without warning), sequencing narrators (voice change with no scene break), first and third person viewpoints (confused yet?), and slapped-your-faceee! symbolism.

For literature, I choose Hemingway (who can be subtle or direct, but is always clear). Good books should be enjoyable and understandable. I understand the story Faulkner was trying to tell about a Jerry-Springeresque southern family, but I didn't like the novel. If you want to enjoy dsyfunctional American families with blistering social commentary watch 'South Park'-- much funnier. I'll let one of Faulkner's contemporaries speak:

"Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words? He thinks I don't know the ten-dollar words. I know them all right. But there are older and simpler and better words, and those are the ones I use."
--Ernest Hemingway

Unless you are forced into this book for a literature class, don't buy it and don't read it. If you look hard enough, anything can become meaninful, even this tripe. Victor Hugo, Shakespeare, and those ancient greeks are excellent in that their works have themes and meanings already. You don't have to overanalyze and create meaning where none exists in order to enjoy those works.

Faulkner is babble and murky and opaque with circular symbolism fading into tempestous violence only an idiot pretending genius or an eleemosynary prententious genius enjoying idiocy might love and obtuse run-on sentences longer than this one are exactly what you'll find all over this classical work.

The most overrated book ever written.......2006-09-26

This book is a perfect example of people in ivory towers, and those who are afraid to admit they don't get it, jumping on a 5-star bandwagon. Faulkner titled this book perfectly, calling it The Sound And The Fury, while leaving out the rest of the phrase: signifying nothing. The first chapter is a noble, but failed, attempt at creativity. But almost no one, even the most well-read people, understands that the first chapter is written out of chronological order until they find out someplace else. The chapter's main point was as an excuse to get in Faulkner's description of what instigated the novel, a somewhat kinky description of looking up at the girl Caddy's muddy panties. A fatal flaw in the chapter, which never achieves a rhythm, is that Benjy, whose thoughts comprise the chapter, apparently has a photographic memory and thinks in completely lucid, complete sentences despite being an idiot. Caddy, the main character in a novel of stereotypes and pitiful prose, is actually a despicable trollop. She's characterized as Benjy's friend, but a careful reading shows that she only befriends him when it's convienent for her. Other chapters are even more sick than Benjy's castration, including the one with Caddy's brother lusting after her, or the hackneyed, cliché chapter with the old slave showing how much wiser she is than folk she serves. The Cliffs notes and other reviews perpetuate the idea that the book's theme is the downfall of the old plantation system. This is an invention; not found in the book. S&F, as Faulkner loudly hints in the title, is about nothing other than his infatuation with Caddy. It has no plot. And it is far from a great insight into the way people think. Only perverts think as these characters do. In the end, this novel is just page after page of sheer boredom. It's supposed to be a great book of human tragedy, but to feel tragedy you have to sympathize with the characters ... and all of the white characters in this novel are disgusting. All of its supposed great meaning, and the flip-flop in reviews from castigating to praising the experimental style, weren't dreamed up until 15 years after the first printing flopped, by literary professors who have to keep coming up with new ideas under the "publish or perish" law. It was only revisited because Faulkner did, eventually, write some good books. You want truly great writing? Try Steinbeck, Welty, Hemingway, Harper Lee, Dickens, Twain, Tolkien, Melville, Dostoyevsky, O. Henry, Wells, Verne, Maugham, Crane or even Rowling (Yes, Rowling. Her Potter books are complex, effortlessly intertwine several story lines and sublimely combine strong characterization, suspense and humor).

Difficult But Rewarding.......2006-08-02

The first two sections of The Sound And The Fury have a reputation for being extremely difficult, and deservedly so. In fact, the first time I tried to read it, the Benjy Section made me feel dizzy, and I had to stop...I knew I wasn't going to get anywhere without a little orientation courtesy of Cliffs Notes, so I put it off for a while.

But when I came back to it a few months later, this time prepared to do a little work to understand the chronology and characters, I felt like Faulkner was transporting me to a whole new world, the deep south at the beginning of the twentieth century, and it was an incredible experience. By the time I was finished, The Sound and the Fury had become one of my favorite books, meaning that I enjoyed reading it and plan to read it again.

This is not to say, however, that Faulkner couldn't have made the book more accessible or easier to read. He certainly could have, and maybe that would have improved it. But, to me at least, it's important to remember that part of Faulkner's greatness was his willingness to experiment with form, to push the envelope of what a novel could do, and so I strongly believe that this book is worthy of praise just as it is.

In fact, to me the Benjy Section isn't supposed to be accessible...it's supposed to make you feel just as confused and disoriented as Benjy felt...and I've never encountered anything else quite like it. It's like being caught up in a whirlwind of sound and color, without a clear sense of space or time, without making logical connections or understanding the broader context of what's going on around you. In other words, the Benjy Section is felt and experienced rather than processed, and that's what makes it so confusing...yet that's what makes it amazing too. Not only that, but I actually enjoyed it. You just can't find many pieces of literature that change the way you look at the world quite like The Sound and the Fury does.

Now, I'm not saying I would recommend this book for beach reading necessarily, or as a page turner in the traditional sense. And I like to read those kinds of books too...I proudly acknowledge that I've read every Harry Potter book twice. But if you're looking for incredible dialogue, for symbolism, for experimentation, for a powerful sense of time and place, for imagination and a sense of humor, for an exploration of how the same events appear to different people, for a unique and compelling vision, for a challenge...then I'd recommend The Sound and the Fury without reservation. It's tough, yes, but I also found it deeply rewarding and even exhilarating.

A lot of people love Faulkner and a lot of people don't enjoy him at all. To me, it just depends on what you're looking for. He certainly isn't all that accessible, he doesn't do a lot of favors to the reader, he may be a bit pompous at times...all of that is true to a certain extent. But it is still very possible and even easy to love reading his books anyway, just for the simple pleasure of it. Personally, my advice is this: if you're interested, read it. Then make up your own mind.

More a puzzle than a story.......2006-01-10

Wanting something to read on vacation, I hurriedly grabbed the Vintage paperback edition from a dusty shelf in the back of my home office. The book had belonged to my stepson many years ago. As I thumbed through the pages, it began to fall apart.

I do not recall having to read The Sound and the Fury in college, but I knew it was famous. Other than that, I came to the book with an open mind but expecting excellence. To that end, I was sorely disappointed, despite some fine passages, but even those often contained unclear elements.

From the start the story came across as gibberish. Time jumped around, and characters appeared with little or no introduction. Gradually a sense of story began to sink in, but by then, what might have been significant in the earlier pages was already lost to me. I wondered what connection the title had to the story. I struggled through the entire book, finding later sections to be more coherent, particularly the last, but I was unable to gain a full appreciation of the story. And I wasn't about to reread the book repeatedly to obtain it.

There seems to be no effort at word economy, particularly in dialogue. There are endless rambling paragraphs and only four "chapters" for the 400 pages of text.

Worst of all, there is inadequate exposition throughout the book. There is no introduction telling the reader how the book is constructed, most notably, that it begins with an account by an idiot. The idea of having a family's story related by several members if fine, so is writing in stream of conscious, but adequate exposition is needed to orient the reader.

Frustrated during the reading, I thumbed through it and discovered the appendix which described the Compson family. Most of this material should have been presented early in the book, but even that would not have provided adequate exposition. After reading the book, I learned that the appendix was added some time after the first edition to help the reader. That should be a big hint that the book is lacking in exposition. I believe that good exposition is the responsibility of a writer.

This book is more of a puzzle than a story, and the latter is sacrificed for the former. The author does not lead you through the story; he throws you into it. For those who marvel at the literary value of this book, I say, "The emperor has no clothes."

Average customer rating:

powerful and stark
Fantastic grip on reality
Strong characters but little action.

The Sound and the Fury (Cliffs Notes)
James L. Roberts
Manufacturer: Cliffs Notes
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Education | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Book Notes | Education | Reference | Subjects | Books

Study Guides | Reference | Subjects | Books

Literary Criticism & Collections | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Children's Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Reference Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Study Guides | Reference | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books

All Amazon Upgrade | Amazon Upgrade | Stores | Books

Literature & Fiction | Amazon Upgrade | Stores | Books

Nonfiction | Amazon Upgrade | Stores | Books

Reference | Amazon Upgrade | Stores | Books

Cliffs Notes | Amazon Upgrade | Stores | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Children's Books | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Literature & Fiction | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Nonfiction | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Reference | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0822012197

Book Description

The original CliffsNotes study guides offer expert commentary on major themes, plots, characters, literary devices, and historical background. The latest generation of titles in this series also feature glossaries and visual elements that complement the classic, familiar format.

In CliffsNotes on The Sound and the Fury, you explore what is considered to be one of William Faulkner's greatest novels. The Sound and the Fury tells the story of the decline of the once-aristocratic Compson family of Yoknapatawpha County, in northern Mississippi, as told in stream of consciousness by three brothers – Benjamin, Quentin, and Jason.

Summaries and commentaries guide you through each section of the novel, and critical essays help you understand the origin of the book's title, the structure of the book, and Faulkner's stream of consciousness style of writing. Other features that help you study include

A section on the life and background of William Faulkner
A special guide to the Benjy section – the most difficult section of the novel
Analyses of the major characters
An additional critical essay on meaning through motif in the novel
Review questions and essay topics

Classic literature or modern modern-day treasure — you'll understand it all with expert information and insight from CliffsNotes study guides.

Customer Reviews:

powerful and stark.......1999-06-03

not just a high school cliche. i started it, read it through, turned back to page one and started it again.

Fantastic grip on reality.......1998-10-13

Faulkner's use of the stream of conciousness allows the reader to get into, not only the lives of his memorable characters, but their thoughts, their dreams, and their souls. In the Compsons, Faulkner has craeted a family not soon forgotten. It is not a family to be admired and their circumstances should be avoided at all costs, but the Compson family is very easily identified with. The book draws the reader into the thoughts of the dying South and all that the "South" entails. The book is a challenge but gets pleasantly simple after the first two books. Faulkner's style either gets clearer or you as the reader become more accustomed to the style. Either way, the book is truely a classic that I would recommend to any of my friends.

Strong characters but little action........1998-09-25

This version makes much more sense than the one Faulkner himself dished up. No sorting through who said what to whom. I recommend this whole Cliff series.

The Sound and the Fury (Everyman's Library Classics)

Average customer rating:

The Sound and the Fury (Everyman's Library Classics)
William Faulkner
Manufacturer: Everyman's Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 1857150694

Sound and Fury: Two Powerful Lives, One Fateful Friendship

Average customer rating:

They were both loud mouthed smartasses.
Two Lives Inextricably Entwined
Cosell and Ali-Media darlings
The Odd Couple
Entertaining account of two seminal cultural figures of the '60's

Sound and Fury: Two Powerful Lives, One Fateful Friendship
Dave Kindred
Manufacturer: Free Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies | Sports | Subjects | Books

Boxing | Individual Sports | Sports | Subjects | Books

Journalism | Miscellaneous | Sports | Subjects | Books

History of Sports | Miscellaneous | Sports | Subjects | Books

General | Sports | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Biographies | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Sports Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0743262123

Book Description

Muhammed Ali and Howard Cosell, a legendary athlete and a television icon, were individually interesting, but together they were mesmerizing. They were profoundly different—young and old, black and white, a Muslim and a Jew, Ali barely literate, Cosell an editor of his university's law review. Yet they had in common forces that made them unforgettable: both were unprecedented performers who covered enormous insecurities by demanding, loudly and often, public acclaim. Theirs was an extraordinary alliance that produced drama, comedy, controversy, and a mutual respect that helped shape both men's lives. Dave Kindred draws on his experiences with Ali and Cosell over nearly four decades, as well as new reporting and interviews, to break new ground in our understanding of these two giants who changed sports and television forever.

Customer Reviews:

They were both loud mouthed smartasses........2006-11-30

Where else but in American sports can an old, white, Jewish veteran befriend a young Black Muslim draft dodger? They may not have been friends who loved each other, but it was convenient for both of them. If you can't take advantage of a friend, then he's not. They had things in common. Both were driven. Both had over inflated egos. They were the greatest. If you don't believe it just ask them. Well, Howard Cosell is dead & Ali doesn't talk any more. Their early life & struggles are covered well so that you understand where they came from. Cosell was a World War II vet. He earned a law degree then decided he wanted to do sports on television. He was brash, obnoxious & smart. His relationship with Ali & Monday Night Football made him a nationally recognized sports journalist. Ali, originally Cassuius Clay had a fairly normal upbringing. Then he won Golden Gloves Championship & Olympic gold metal in 1960, that propelled him into his pro career. Before he was finished he had became & is the most recognizable man on earth. He was the world Heavyweight Champion, that most singular of all championships, three times.
Ali was despised for his faith, his refusal to serve in the military & of course his race. Eventually, he overcame all these obstacles. The U.S. government pursued him, denying his draft deferment status. As a result he was also denied the right to box for several of what would have been his most productive years. He lost millions of $$$ & was stripped of his championship. Eventually, he was aquitted. Cosell covered him all along his journey. The author, Dave Kindred spends quite a bit of time on Ali's three fights with Joe Fraizer & rightly so. Ali's life has become an inspiration to kids on all continents but especially the impoverished millions in Africa. He was persecuted by his own government & cheated by the leaders of the Black Muslim faith that managed him. He apparently is now a quiet soul bearing no malice to anyone. Cosell on the other hand became embittered after his MNF gig. He wanted to be taken seriously as more than a sports announcer. When he wasn't he didn't take it well. Poor health eventually claimed him. A good sports book for all us fans of a certain age that remember Cosell & Ali in their prime.

Two Lives Inextricably Entwined.......2006-09-27

Dave Kindred has done lovers of sports and history a favor with Sound and Fury.

Using two cultural giants - Mohammad Ali and Howard Cosell - he has produced a fresh and readable social history of the latter half of the Twentieth Century. Let me be clear. I love Ali. Kindred refers to him as the most influential sports figure of the last century. In my mind, he understates the case; Ali is the most influential person of the last century.

Cosell, on the other hand, may have hesitated to tell you he was. He was not. Trained as a lawyer and gifted with the ability to articulate complexity, he brought a thinking man's view to radio and television sports journalism.

Individually, they were interesting. Together, they were hypnotizing. They produced controversy, drama and comedy almost every time they appeared together.

Dave Kindred tells the story of this alliance from a unique perspective. As a newspaper and magazine sports columnist with nearly 40 years experience, he covered Ali's early fight days as a reporter for the Louisville Courier-Journal before moving on to the The Atlanta Journal- Courier and The Washington Post. He draws upon his experiences to re-create the Ali-Cosell story in ways I have never seen attempted.

The result is a fascinating portrait of two outsized figures - their heroics and their demons. Drawing on personal observations, fresh reporting and interviews, Kindred writes a page-turning treatment of two lives that together changed sports, television and I would argue, the world, forever.

Cosell and Ali-Media darlings.......2006-07-12

Sound and Fury (14 hours, 11 cds, unabridged, Blackstone Audio) is a duel biography of Howard Cosell and Mohammed Ali.

Sport writer Dave Kindred knew both men, he has written a bio that transcends his knowledge of both men. His text is an honest, no hold barred , warts and all biography. When a third person (like Kindred) writes a biography, he tends to put his personal touches with his own bias, this book is NOT that.The book showed an unlikely partnership created by media hype.

In the audio narrative hands of Dick Hill, this audio project seems more like a docudrama in its scope. Hill's narrative voice takes on verbal personas of Cosell and Ali, without mocking them. His talent has grown from the days at Brilliance Audio.

Sound and Fury is an amazing production . . . you won't forget it audio, long after you heard it

Bennet Pomerantz AUDIOWORLD

The Odd Couple.......2006-06-29

David Kindred has written what amounts to a duel biography of the controversial odd couple that is Muhammad Ali and Howard Cosell. The author tells us that Ali elected to not join the military because the Muslim Nation told him not to. To cross them was to literary toy with his life. The assassination of Malcolm X being used as an example. While not necessarily agreeing with Ali's decision Cosell supported Ali stating that taking his heavyweight championship away from him without any semblance of due process was completely wrong. There appears to be evidence that Cosell may have already been experiencing dementia when he came out with his second book entitled I Never Played the Game. Aware of the criticism in his book of his cronies in the TV booth for Monday Night Football Cosell was asked before publication whether he wanted to include these strong opinions. Since he always prided himself on telling it "like it is" he felt it would be hypocrisy of him not to do so now. Cosell was a devoted family man while Ali ventured into nocturnal delights. It was hard for sports fans to be neutral in regard to either of these men, but boxing was the ingredient that brought these two men together first in mutural respect and then in friendship. Incidentally, page 247 has a hilarious anecdote of Howard using his colorful vocabulary in breaking up fisticuffs involving teens in Kansas City. Whether you are a fan of either man or the part they played in sports you will find this to be an extremely enjoyable book to read.

Entertaining account of two seminal cultural figures of the '60's.......2006-06-27

Howard Cosell and Muhammad Ali are American icons. One turned sports broadcasting upside down, the other energized and stylized sports in this country. Both displayed extraordinary courage and conviction. Both were one helluva lot of fun.
Ali is one of my heroes and I'll never forget the day I met him and shook his hand. I never had the privilege of meeting the late Mr. Cosell but greatly admired him. Cosell in fact, was the type of personality you could both hold in high regard and poke fun at simultaneously. (That voice! That somehow lovable pretense!)
Growing up in the '60's as I did, in Berkeley no less, Ali and Cosell provided diversion from the weighty issues of the day. Ali, the flamboyant and brilliant boxer, Cosell the outspoken trailblazing sports broadcaster and commentator. Yet both, like so much in that tumultuous decade stood for something. Ali risked jail by standing up to the draft and was unjustly stripped of his livelihood. He'd already embraced Islam and stood for a new kind of black athlete who, as we said back then, "did his own thing." Cosell tackled such issues as the injustices visited upon Ali and others, championing the causes of the oppressed. It would not be an overstatement to say that Cosell was the Edward R. Murrow of sports.
In "Sound and Fury", sportswriter Dave Kindred tells the tale of these two who played such key roles in one another's lives. Many sportswriters, even ones who write books, are, quite frankly hacks, but others are practiced wordsmiths who know how to tell story with economy and grace. Fortunately, Kindred is most solidly in the second camp.
In "Sound and Fury" Kindred has the huge advantage of having been around both his subjects at the very times they were making news. He brings this personal perspective along with a thoroughly done research job to fully illuminate the story.
Much of what Kindred tells of Ali is familiar to those of us who followed his career, yet he manages to bring new material and offers some of the old from a new perspective. What I particularly enjoyed was some of the back story about Cosell, being unfamiliar with almost all of it. We follow Ali from his boyhood days in Louisville, through his boxing career, political stands, return to boxing glory and his failed attempts to thwart father time. We start with Cosell in his Brooklyn childhood, early love of sports, law career coincident with his determination (despite that nasal New York Jewish twang) to break into broadcasting. Next are his big breaks including Monday Night Football. And of course, we see where the twain met. Beautifully playing off one another in one of the best unscripted shows in TV history.
For anyone interested in either Ali, Cosell or both (and if you like one you probably at least appreciate the other) "Sound and Fury" is an absolute must.

Average customer rating:

The Sound and the Fury
William Faulkner
Manufacturer: RH Audio
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Classics | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Books on CD | Audiobooks | Formats | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0739325353
Release Date: 2005-07-06

Book Description

The Sound and the Fury: 40 Years of Classic Rock Journalism: A Rock's Backpages Reader

Average customer rating:

fast and great!

The Sound and the Fury: 40 Years of Classic Rock Journalism: A Rock's Backpages Reader
Barney Hoskyns
Manufacturer: Bloomsbury USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

History & Criticism | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Entertainment Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 1582342822

Book Description

Longtime music writer and editor Barney Hoskyns decided to build an archive of articles by his favorite rock writers - like Al Aronowitz, Jon Savage, Greil Marcus, Will Self, Lenny Kaye, Mary Harron, and Nick Hornby. Thus was born the website Rock's Backpages (www.rocksbackpages.com), home to thousands of brilliant reviews and rants, interviews and overviews, that helped define music journalism over the last four decades. The Sound and the Fury is the best of this remarkable collection. With contemporary and retrospective articles on the Beatles, Otis Redding, David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen, Joni Mitchell, ABBA, Madonna, Ice Cube, Nirvana, Morrissey, and many, many more.

Customer Reviews:

fast and great!.......2007-01-10

came fast and in great shape. I look foward to using this seller again

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books