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How did William Faulkner use experimental techniques in The Sound and the Fury?
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Modernist literature
American writer Gertrude Stein was a self-styled genius who coined the term Lost Generation for a younger coterie of her fellow Modernist writers.
In The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner employs radical experimental techniques characteristic of Modernist literature to depict the decline of the Compson family. His approach is defined by several key innovations:12
- Nonlinear Narrative: The novel abandons a traditional chronological structure, instead utilizing a nonlinear plot that forces readers to reconstruct the story through fragmented perspectives.31
- Multiple Perspectives: The story is told through four distinct sections. The first three are stream-of-consciousness interior monologues from the three Compson brothers—Benjy, Quentin, and Jason—each offering a subjective, deeply personal account of their family history and their obsession with their sister, Caddy. The fourth section shifts to a third-person omniscient narrator, providing an external perspective on the family’s final collapse.24
- Unreliable Narrators and Syntax: Faulkner utilizes unconventional syntax and unreliable narrators to mirror the psychological states of his characters.1
- Conception of Time: Influenced by the philosophy of Henri Bergson, Faulkner explores the subjective experience of time, emphasizing how the past continuously haunts the present.1