1. “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.”

2.  Southern Fiction His stories are set in his native Mississippi. Won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1949. “Henry James was one of the nicest old ladies I ever met.”

3.   Faulkner’s novels are set in this county he created.  Modeled after Lafayette County where he lived.  City of Jefferson is Oxford, MS. Yoknapatawpha County

4.   Value of individuality  Uneasiness about institutions (government, religion, anything based on tradition) and social forces that may limit or harm the individual.  Denial of any absolute Truths. Literary Modernism

5.   Faulkner was an American pioneer of this technique.  More closely represents the mental lives of individuals.  Often lacks punctuation, contains numerous “run-on” sentences, and strings together a flurry of images and impressions. Stream of Consciousness

6.   “When I used to sleep with Vardaman I had a nightmare once I thought I was awake but I couldn’t see and couldn’t feel I couldn’t feel the bed under me and I couldn’t think what I was I couldn’t think of my name I couldn’t even think I am a girl I couldn’t even think I nor even think I want to wake up nor remember what was opposite to awake so ……. S o C example

7.   What if the narrator had instead said:  “One night I had a strange nightmare where I couldn’t think or feel or even remember my name.” Traditional example

8.   15 different perspectives  Darl, Cora, Jewel, Dewey Dell, Tull, Anse, Peabody, Vardaman, Cash, Samson, Addie, Whitfield, Armstid, Moseley, MacGowan  The story’s focus is on the death and burial of Addie Bundren  Her family must transport her body to her home county to bury her in honor of her final wishes Multiple Narrators

9.   The characters in the novel are, in general, Southern, uneducated and confused.  United by same purpose – honor Addie’s last wish  What results is an anachronistic, multi-layered, stream of consciousness account of the journey from Addie’s death to Addie’s burial Southern Gothic

10.   Keep notes for each narrator  For example: keep all notes on Darl’s chapters together, rather than take notes chapter by chapter  Organize the family tree/character map and characterize each narrator as you encounter them  Keep reading!  Don’t try too hard to fit this novel into the box of nicely organized and lateral novels you have previously read – it won’t.  Remember the question: How does the author (Faulkner) use literary techniques (point of view plus others) to impact the reader while conveying a central idea? Tips for Reading

11.   How would you describe the relationships among different members of the family? How do the siblings feel about each other? Anse? Addie? How is this revealed through point of view?  In what ways is this novel realistic and in what ways is it symbolic?  Why do you think Addie's chapter is placed where it is in the novel? What does it reveal about earlier chapters?  How does Faulkner control the reader’s “closeness” with the characters? Which characters are we allowed to get closer to than others? How is this accomplished? Questions to consider:

12.  Thursday, April 9 th – Read through page 83 Monday, April 13 th – Read through page 176 Thursday, April 16th– Have book finished. Upcoming Important Dates