Absalom, Absalom!

De: William Faulkner

Narrado por: Grover Gardner

Family drama and the legacy of slavery haunt this epic tale of an enigmatic stranger in Jefferson, Mississippi—from one of the most acclaimed writers of the twentieth century.

First published in 1936, Absalom, Absalom! is William Faulkner’s ninth novel and one of his most admired. It tells the story of Thomas Sutpen and his ruthless, single-minded attempt to forge a dynasty in Jefferson, Mississippi, in 1830. Although his grand design is ultimately destroyed by his own sons, a century later the figure of Sutpen continues to haunt young Quentin Compson, who is obsessed with his family legacy and that of the Old South.

“Faulkner’s novels have the quality of being lived, absorbed, remembered rather than merely observed,” noted Malcolm Cowley. “Absalom, Absalom! is structurally the soundest of all the novels in the Yoknapatawpha series—and it gains power in retrospect.”

Reseñas de la Crítica

“For range of effect, philosophical weight, originality of style, variety of characterization, humor, and tragic intensity, [Faulkner’s works] are without equal in our time and country.” —Robert Penn Warren

“He is the greatest artist the South has produced.... Indeed, through his many novels and short stories, Faulkner fights out the moral problem which was repressed after the nineteenth century [yet] 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

Audio Needed

For me having this book read to me as I read along w/ an actual book in hand made this book much easier to comprehend. I tried first to read the book, and then just listening to the audio book~I needed to do both. The more you listened, the easier this story was to follow. You get pulled in by the author and the narrator.

A Classic Soap Opera of The Old South

Nothing I’ve ever read captures the language, style, and culture of the Antebellum South as well as Faulkner, particularly when listened to in the accented tones of Grover Gardner’s narration.

That is Faulkner’s power but Absolom, Absolom also demonstrates that nothing succeeds like excess. No point of description, thought or dialogue can be repeated over and over enough to please the Author. We poor readers can’t hear the young girls’ dresses, the old men’s doddering utterances or the Sutpen Family’s internecine motives described often enough and in sentences that seem to never end. So, while I was captivated by the storytelling, I could not help but feel that this introductory novel’s Soap Opera of a tale could have been summarized on a three-by-five index card in four or five succinct, well-crafted sentences, thereby saving twelve trees and eight quarts of ink.

I’ll give Absolom four stars for its Cultural significance and the incredible length of its poetic sentences, though I think that the Cliff Notes version will be adequate for any future trips into Faulkner’s South.

One the very best erer.

The use of language is without equal. This narrator delivers every nuance the author intended.

Best way to read Faulkner

I finally managed to make it through the most significant Faulkner novels, and enjoy them. Grove Gardner makes the language easy to hear, sensible, and most importantly “readable.” His performance gave me access to Faulkner I’ve never had before.

reader is too fast in his delivery

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Faulkner's language is so complex that it takes a little effort to digest the text. As always he is well worth the effort but the listener needs a slower text reader to really appreciate the complexity of Faulkners language.

Did Grover Gardner do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

yes he did. Just spoken a little fast for me