Collected Stories

De: William Faulkner

Narrado por: Various

“I’m a failed poet. Maybe every novelist wants to write poetry first, finds he can’t and then tries the short story which is the most demanding form after poetry. And failing that, only then does he take up novel writing.” —William Faulkner

Winner of the National Book Award

Forty-two stories make up this magisterial collection by the writer who stands at the pinnacle of modern American fiction. Compressing an epic expanse of vision into hard and wounding narratives, Faulkner’s stories evoke the intimate textures of place, the deep strata of history and legend, and all the fear, brutality, and tenderness of the human condition. These tales are set not only in Yoknapatawpha County, but in Beverly Hills and in France during World War I. They are populated by such characters as the Faulknerian archetypes Flem Snopes and Quentin Compson, as well as by ordinary men and women who emerge so sharply and indelibly in these pages that they dwarf the protagonists of most novels.

Reseñas de la Crítica

“No man ever put more of his heart and soul into the written word than did William Faulkner. If you want to know all you can about that heart and soul, the fiction where he put it is still right there.” —Eudora Welty

“For all his concern with the South, Faulkner was actually seeking out the nature of man. Thus we must turn to him for that continuity of moral purpose which made for greatness of our classics.” —Ralph Ellison

Difficult to Understand

I liked the readers' performances. I Din't like the fact that I couldn't understand a handful of them.

Audiobook Table of Contents (by Chapter)

I. THE COUNTRY
Chapter 1: Barn Burning
Chapter 2: Shingles for the Lord
Chapter 3: The Tall Men
Chapter 4: A Bear Hunt
Chapter 5: Two Soldiers
Chapter 6: Shall Not Perish

II. THE VILLAGE
Chapters 7-11: A Rose for Emily
Chapters 12-14: Hair
Chapters 15-20: Centaur in Brass
Chapters 21-25: Dry September
Chapters 26-29: Death Drag
Chapter 30: Elly
Chapters 31-37: Uncle Willy
Chapter 38: Mule in the Yard
Chapters 39-44: That Will Be Fine
Chapters 45-50: That Evening Sun

III. THE WILDERNESS
Chapters 51-56: Red Leaves
Chapters 57-61: A Justice
Chapters 62-63: A Courtship
Chapter 64: Lo!

IV. THE WASTELAND
Chapter 65: Ad Astra
Chapters 66-72 (ends at 3’14”): Victory
Chapter 72 (starts at 3’17”): Crevasse
Chapters 73-82: Turnabout
Chapters 83-89: All the Dead Pilots

V. THE MIDDLE GROUND
Chapter 90: Wash
Chapters 91-95: Honor
Chapter 96: Dr. Martino
Chapter 97: Fox Hunt
Chapters 98-103: Pennsylvania Station
Chapter 104: Artist at Home
Chapter 105: The Brooch
Chapter 107: Grandmother Millard
Chapters 111-113: Golden Land
Chapters 114-117: There Was a Queen
Chapter 118-128: Mountain Victory

VI. BEYOND
Chapter 129: Beyond
Chapters 130-133: Black Music
Chapter 134: The Leg
Chapters 137-141: Mistral
Chapters 142-146: Divorce in Naples
Chapter 147: Carcassonne

42 Classic Faulkner Stories Is a Bargain!

I've been dipping into it ever since I bought it four years ago, and I finally finished it. Many widely anthologized stories ("Barn Burning", "A Rose for Emily") are here and they're read for a reason. I was surprised by Faulkner's range - I don't assoiciate him with humor, but my favorite story is the laugh-out-loud "Shingles for the Lord". A technical note: there are too many "chapters" (I would have preferred one chapter per story), and each chapter started a few seconds too late, so it was very difficult to find my place. That said, the narrators were fine, and this collection is an excellent buy.

A magician

These short stories are simply beautiful, and the narrators are very talented and well read.

Faulkner stories great (narration awful in parts)

I love reading William Faulkner, though at times his work is difficult to follow on audio and it, of course, can be spoiled by a bad narrator, just like any other book narrated by Scott Brick.

If one listens to an audiobook in which the narration is heartfelt and the narrator can actually act in narrating, it's such a wonderful experience. A recent example for me is "Last Days of California" by Mary Miller (like Faulkner, a Mississippian), narrated by Andi Arndt. Ms. Arndt apparently put in a tremendous effort, to sound Southern, young and to act as in teen angst and in constant banter between 2 teen sisters. She made the whole thing so real that I got lost in it like a good movie.

Scott Brick's narration gives a soap feel and at times slides into adult-film grade acting. He overdramatizes a word in each sentence (usually the last one) and at times emphasizes every 2d or 3d syllable in every other or 2d or 3d sentence in a paragraph (with no real pattern, perhaps on an ad hoc, random basis). And, you can't help but notice his adulation with his voice; this effect on the (this) listener absolutely ruins the audiobook. I have wondered more than once if he has his latest narration piped into speakers throughout his house and poolside.

I have had to return books I purchased because his smarmy narration was worse to me than listening to 3 kids scraping rulers repeatedly over a chalkboard.

I had already rated this audiobook long ago, but just decided to add the review because I have recently come across books I would have loved but dropped like any other Brick. From reviews I've read, I'm not alone in my chagrin. I'm hoping enough noise will make a difference in audio-casting for prime books.