Reader's Block

You know the kind of book that you rave about incessantly to friends and family the moment you put it down? The kind of book where you find yourself re-reading passages over and over, willing yourself to memorise them; the book that makes you consider ideas and perspectives that you had never before imagined – yes, well, Absalom, Absalom! is that book.

There is one overwhelming theme that haunts all of William Faulkner’s writing: the idea of home, and how it shapes us. Born and raised in the American South at the turn of the 19th century, Faulkner’s writing is a love letter to the region he grew up in – one of those letters penned by a spurned lover who has just downed a bottle of wine and decided to tell you a few uncomfortable home truths.

Having been brought up on the stories of the Old South (his great-grandfather was considered to be a Southern hero for his role in the Civil War), Faulkner captures the struggle between loving and loathing the innate sense of identity that ‘home’ can give perfectly in Absalom, Absalom!. The 1936 novel chronicles the rise and fall of greedy, tyrannical Thomas Sutpen – who stands as a perfect allegory for the idealisation and subsequent destruction of the South’s plantation culture - this ultimately tragic novel is a masterclass in storytelling.

The narrative comes from Rosa Coldfield, the widow of Sutpen, who married him when she was a teenager and he was in his dotage. Now withered herself, she is finally ready to tell her story. Her voice is interspersed with that of Quentin Compson, the Southern-raised Harvard student to whom she is telling her tale. This already-complex narrative is given a further twist with the added narration Quentin provides for his room-mate Shreve; Quentin adds additional details to the story, as Shreve provides supposition and attempted explanation for what happened. Throughout all of this, it is important to remember that we are hearing perspectives - when it comes to real life, there is no such thing as a satisfying, 100% concrete explanation for the way things happen.

Whilst the content of the novel is far from upbeat, it is Faulkner’s clarity of voice that makes reading Absalom, Absalom! a true joy. We feel everything the characters feel – perhaps most breathtaking of all is the final line of the book. Quentin, having heard the story in full and seen the far-reaching consequences of Supten’s actions, no longer knows what to think. Faulkner ends the novel with his Southern protagonist doubting everything he thought he knew about the place he calls home - and with the most beautiful adamancy in modern literature, Faulkner writes: ‘“I don’t hate it he thought, panting in the cold air, the iron New England dark; I don’t. I don’t! I don’t hate it! I don’t hate it!”