Today in class, Mr. Edmund’s introduced us to our next novel, As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner. I am excited to read this book because it brings us a new element, the stream on consciousness. From the example we were shown in class, we realized what it was like to read the something that is a stream of consciousness. The example helped us to see the true meaning of being inside the characters minds. Everything they feel, think about, analyze.. we get to know it all. Right away in the book we see the first example of the stream of consciousness. In chapter one or “Darl”, it starts with “The path…” From this run on sentence we get to see what Darl is thinking. From what I hear about this book, we do not just enter the stream on consciousness from one person, but about 15 people!
From the discussion we had in class, I think this is going to be a very interesting book. I am excited to read about Faulkner’s use of literary modernism and how it connects with As I Lay Dying. (In case you weren’t in class today literary modernism is: the value of individuality, uneasiness about institutions (like the government, religion) and social forces that may limit or harm an individual, and the denial of any absolute truths.
As I researched more about William Faulkner, I found an interesting quote from him. "Let the writer take up surgery or bricklaying if he is interested in technique. There is no mechanical way to get the writing done, no shortcut. The young writer would be a fool to follow a theory. Teach yourself by your own mistakes; people learn only by error. The good artist believes that nobody is good enough to give him advice. He has supreme vanity. No matter how much he admires the old writer, he wants to beat him." Faulkner loved to try new things, he was one of the first American writers to experiment with many things like the stream on consciousness and he was also recognized for creating a county where all of his books took place. The more I read about Faulkner the more interesting I became in his writing and I cant wait to see what As I Lay Dying brings.
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2 comments:
Great quote, Jen, from Faulkner.
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Yes, that's a great quote. Faulkner had no time for such labels as "Literary Modernism", and you can see that from the quote. We almost have to categorize writers and literary periods to make sense of them, but it's important to remember that the artists themselves are usually not that interested in such things. Faulkner did not seek to advance the principles of Literary Modernism - he wanted to create stories about ideas and feelings and places he felt were important
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