If you’re reading one of William Faulkner’s novels, confusion is a good sign. Considered one of America’s most remarkable and perplexing writers, Faulkner used confusion intentionally to explore the most mysterious parts of the human mind and investigate pressing issues of personal, racial, and regional identity. His stories are set in the fictional county of Yoknapatawpha, a reimagining of Lafayette County, Mississippi, where he spent most of his life. Faulkner was steeped in oral storytelling traditions, from folklore and family histories to local legends of Civil War glory, which often contrast with the reality of the American South, divided by racist Jim Crow laws and plagued by the legacies of slavery and colonial violence.
Faulkner’s characters are often grotesquely absurd, but beneath the surface they all reflect his obsession with how people process the past - what they stubbornly hold on to, unwittingly forget, and willingly distort. His novels are often told from multiple perspectives, offering the reader several versions of the story’s events. For example, “The Sound and the Fury” combines the narratives of Benjy, Quentin, and Jason Compson, three brothers haunted by memories of their sister Caddy. Following these threads can be bewildering, but Faulkner wants the audience to share in the characters’ confusion, allowing readers to understand the characters’ biases and blindspots firsthand.
Even when exploring the heaviest topics, Faulkner spellbinds readers with verbal acrobatics. One sentence in “Absalom, Absalom!” runs 1,288 words long, and features locals haggling over “violently-colored candy,” a “cloudy swirl of chickens,” and a hard-drinking planter who’s compared to both a worn-out cannon and a showgirl. Even Benjy Compson’s jokes can lead to more confusion, such as when he mixes up his sister Caddy with golf caddies. Reading Faulkner is not an easy task, but it is highly rewarding. He encourages readers to think about the inconstancy of history and memory. By teaching us to accept confusion and be aware of our limits of perception, Faulkner can help us to detect underlying meanings in the chaos that surrounds us.