Finished “Absalom, Absalom!” by William Faulkner. (A bunch of spoilers in this one, beware…)
I had been interested in reading this for a while, especially since his name and this work always came up whenever I was reading about some of my favorite authors, like Pierre Michon and Claude Simon.
It’s clearer to me now as to why he gets mentioned so often; I’ve always heard that he greatly influenced these writers, and consequently the bigger movement of the Nouveau Roman and contemporary literature. And upon reading him, that point seemed very obvious.
As I read more novels, I’m starting to become more aware of the fact that every story is an incomplete one. If it’s a nonfiction story, there’s always gaps in historical data that was failed to be archived, and even in fictional stories, you’re not left with all the details that may have influenced certain actions and behaviors.
It feels like with Faulkner, the incompleteness is where he draws his attention to, in order to fill the blanks, and in fact the void is his muse. Characters seeking apparitions, envisioning how the past played itself out, fleshing out deeper more plausible theories through conversation, rereading letters, listening to stories from grandparents… you understand in the back of your head that this is a rhetorical, imperfect history, and yet towards the end it almost feels like Faulkner succeeds in laying the dream and the reality on top of each other, where “waking or sleeping it was the same and would be the same forever as long as he lived”, like living with “transparent eyelids” (I know he didn’t write that with the connotation I’m implying he wrote it with, but it’s still personally an accurate visual).
For some reason I keep thinking about how the book mentions (often) Judith falling in love with Charles Bon even before meeting him. And how that could be attributed to her brother Henry’s letters, in which he talks about Charles. So it’s weird that effectively Henry indirectly seduces his sister, but awe-inspiring that he was able to do it through just the written word. At least for me. The novel does highlight this incestual relationship, but then you find out that Charles Bon is actually part of the Sutpen family as well, so the incest storyline goes even deeper.
Personally, I found the story itself impossible to understand without the chronology and genealogy section located at the back of the book (I have the Vintage International version). So in that sense, I honestly think it’s a better reading experience to spoil the story for yourself from the get-go. Because this is a tough book to understand the straightforward x’s and o’s… You might miss out on the great surprise at the end that Henry’s been living in Sutpen’s house, but I mean even if you do, you’re still left with plenty of mystery to figure out for yourself, like well, why was he there? And why does Quentin die? Why does Henry kill Charles Bon? (The last chunk of the book is discourse surrounding this, and yet I struggle to understand the real answer to this.) Is it his love for Judith, his hate of incest, his loyalty to his father? But that’s the point right, that this is the void, the muse, that Faulkner stares down.
Yeah I think that’s what I have as of now. I was always surprised at how big Faulkner is among French people. I looked his name up on Radio France, and there were many pieces covering him and his work. I’ve yet to understand why exactly that’s the case (it would help if I could understand more of the French radio…!). But now at least it’s clear the impact he’s made on others.
Completely unrelated, but I wrote most of this on my bed in a prone position, and now I can’t feel my right arm, I must’ve put too much pressure on it and in an awkward position… I need a better setup. I should just write at my desk normally like I would at work. Although the ultimate setup would be to have a flat screen TV/monitor, connect my laptop to it, and type on my wireless keyboard while looking at that. Then I wouldn’t have to stare at a screen from so up close all the time; as I get older, my worsening eyesight gets a bit more concerning…