Which is Faulkner's masterpiece: The Sound and the Fury, or Absalom, Absalom!?
Cogent answers will help. I personally think it's The Sound and the Fury, because it has reverberated more in literature, it has pioneered fragmented narrative voices (IIRC), and it's more disturbing than Absalom, Absalom!
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Anonymous2008-05-28 18:16
That's some pretty tough criteria there, boss.
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Anonymous2008-05-29 7:09
You just might be barking up the wrong tree physic.
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Anonymous2008-06-04 22:47
The Sound and the Fury. It is superbly crafted. The four narrative viewpoints counter each other in a more tight and balanced way than in As I Lay Dying (which was also pioneering in fragmented narrative voices) -- you can actually reconstruct certain events in the novel by overlaying different characters' versions of a particular event, and the discrepancies are often disturbing. There is a lot of subtle symbolism, like the Easter dates and symbols. Also you get how exactly Quentin is crazy, which is only implied in Absalom, Absalom!
Absalom, Absalom! does have a much more forward and deeper treatment of racial issues, but the plot is kind of ramble-ly. Personally I think Light in August is a more compelling treatment of race identity.