Sound and the Fury, The,
a novel by William Faulkner, published in 1929. Many critics consider it Faulkner's finest novel and it is generally thought to be among the greatest works of twentieth-century American literature. The story of the decaying Compson family in the early years of the twentieth century is told in the interior monologues of three Compson brothers, Benjy, Quentin, and Jason; only the fourth section of the novel adopts an authorial point of view, though even here much of what is reported is seen through the black servant, Dilsey, who, in effect, represents compassion, order, and moral integrity. The decline of the Compsons is the decline of a once great Mississippi plantation family, and while Faulkner's delineation of the social background is not detailed the novel is regarded as one of his most profound commentaries on the conflict between traditional values and a modern society. The structure of recollected memories, particularly those of Benjy, the idiot son, and Quentin, who commits suicide while at Harvard University, a structure which makes up the body of the novel, is deliberately fragmented and achronological, a consequence of the combined influences of Joseph ... ...
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