As I Lay Dying
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As I Lay Dying
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Ellen
(last edited Aug 25, 2016 02:15PM)
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Dec 10, 2007 07:56AM

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I also found the Southern dialect off-putting, but found the Wikipedia summary helpful in deciphering some of the cryptic references. It's worth trying again, slowly enough to enjoy the language and images.








James Franco has acquired the rights to produce the film version but as far as I can tell is WAY behind the schedule of starting in .


I usually try to read this once a year, along with Absalom! Absalom!, which is my absolute favorite by Faulkner.

I thought it was beautifully and painfully raw, comparing his dead mother to a fish. Who thinks MY MOTHER'S A FISH?? A young boy whose only other intimate dealings with death was with a fish. And just as the fish he had caught was manhandled and cut up, his mother's corpse is now a lump of stinking meat to be dealt with


I thought it..."
Eric wrote: "Timothy K. wrote: "However, the thoughts that went through Valdaman's head sounded more like a schizophrenic than a traumatized child. Who thinks MY MOTHER'S A FISH? I mean, really?"
I thought it..."
Eric, Thank you for that insight. Although there were many other aspects of the book that I did grasp, I was still struggling with the analogy of a fish. It's now perfectly clear. Thanks!


People told me beware...You'll either hate Faulkner or you'll love him.
And when I started the book, I thought it was pretentious, full of literary stunts. Then gradually, I realized I felt that way because most of my life, I've read Faulkner wannabes--you know those "creative writing 101" type writers who claim Hemingway's iceberg theory but only hide 3/4 of their own story from the reader because they don't know what the f**k they're doing.
"Sin and love and fear are just sounds that people who never sinned nor loved nor feared have for what they never had and cannot have until they forget the words."
I think that would best describe William Faulkner's writing.
Forget the words. Forget what you want and need out of a story. There's so much kitchen sink realism mixed in with this never ending stream of consciousnesses, that it becomes a strange, gripping, sort of sad and pitiful, terrifying look at us.
Us, and our thoughts and ways and everything we do and say to make all this make sense.



If you're looking for another book by Faulkner pick-up "Go Down Moses." It's a bit fragmented and sentences turn into paragraphs...so do keep this in mind and keep your mind open. Then comment. Hopefully people will shy away from comparing Falkner and Hemingway, they came from completely two different up brings, and it's not an ideal thing to do. Because as Faulkner once indicated, I'm paraphasing here, everything he wrote was based upon his surrounding and interaction with the people he grew-up and lived with. The only thing F & H had in common was their abuse of alcohol. If you need to compare F then try Nietzche. I have tried but failed to read a book by Hemingway...everytime I feel like I'm reading a book written by a grown-up Peter Pan. Ok, I can hear the moans and groans.

If you're looking for ano..."
No moans and groans Missy, you've hit the nail on the head.I love the Peter Pan comment! They are two totally different writers, how can a comparison be made at all.

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