our second great american novel module kicks off with the sound and the fury by william faulkner. joey explains his difficulties with parsing the text and how he approached it, while shreds talks about the character he identifies with. we explore a time when authors were less afraid to reckon with big ideas — as well as the authors still doing it now. we also ask, with regards to the text’s experimental prose: is faulkner better the more difficult his work gets? we explore the connected faulkner universe and look ahead to connections with hubert selby jr.’s the demon (our next book). shreds talks a bit about the faulkner-penned (though still factually inaccurate) appendix. joey digs up some patreon-exclusive features to apply to this text, which then leads to an offer to you, the listener. we discuss being alone in either appreciating (or not appreciating) art that no one else (or everyone else) seems to appreciate.

reading list for season sixteen

the sound and the fury by william faulkner
the demon by hubert selby, jr.