So where should I start with him? I'm thinking about reading this (Selected Short Stories). It consists of:
“Barn Burning”
“Two Soldiers”
“A Rose for Emily”
“Dry September”
“That Evening Sun”
“Red Leaves”
“Lo!”
“Turnabout”
“Honor”
“There Was a Queen”
“Mountain Victory”
“Beyond”
“Race at Morning”
Is this a good introduction to his short fiction, or is there a superior short story collection of his work? I'm not interested in Collected Stories since it's over 900 pages long.
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I was also wondering: what's his most accessible novel?
Halfway through Sanctuary, pretty accessible.
Yeah his short stories are a good place to start. I think his most challenging novels are also usually his best, The Sound and the Fury, Absalom, Absalom!, and As I Lay Dying. Light in August is pretty accessible. Go Down, Moses is another good starter. The Snopes trilogy is where I started after reading some of his short stories, I really liked it.
This is actually my favorite selection of his stories. I remember reading AILD in high school and thinking it was nothing special (back then I was pretty far up Nabokov’s ass and couldn’t deviate from his judgment calls), but after this collection and TSatF blew my mind I saw it with new light. Incidentally, LiA is my favorite of his novels (that I’ve read, I haven’t read the Snopes trilogy) and it’s supposed to be one of his most straightforward but I think it benefits a lot from reading in chronological order. TSatF and A,A are his most lyrical while AILD and Sanctuary are his most brute, but here you see the master reaching new heights while toning down and refining his style before his later novels.
Here's a trick a 200 I.Q. bodybuilder taught me: You get the Collected Stories, even though it's 900 pages, but you read just the stories that are in the Selected volume. That way, you read the prime cuts, but if you're jonesing for more Faulkner stories after that then there's plenty more where that came from. Brilliant.
What are his best novels? Already read As I Lay Dying and Sound and Fury.
Sanctuary was a wonderful novel. How disheartened I was when I read that he wrote it for the money. His major novels are all readable and great.
Also...does anyone know where I can get a hardcopy of These 13?
These 13 hasn't been in print since the 1930s. You'll have to get a worn copy that doesn't have the original dust jacket. You can find some copies on abebooks:
Thanks for the link! I'd happily pay $30 for a copy of it. Montreal, Portland, or New York basically.
These 13 is a collector's item. Just get Collected Stories.
Hang on, it turns out there was a limited edition Franklin Library reprint in 1979. If you want a copy that's less battered, check out:
You can also find other copies of the Franklin Library reprint on ebay for about $30. Anyway, I'm glad I could help.
I was recommended to start with As I Lay Dying, it was very good, now will read Light in August and TSatF, I think this is the most common route
Indeed. I bought the Summer 2005 collection of those three novels and, though I had to reread The Sound and the Fury, I loved them all.
the oprah one? lmao so have I
That's the one!
Abaslom, Absalom, with a dark horse recommendation for If I Forget Thee, Jerusalem.
based oprah
Thank you, glad to know I haven't exhausted him yet. Picking it up soon
Every time i think i've exhausted Faulkner i read another "minor" work and it's great. Recently read The Unvanquished and Flags in the Dust, and both were fantastic.
The Wild Palms, too. Borges liked that one as well as The Unvanquished.