The Sound and the Fury

I read this book in Chinese because, for this type of literary work, I think it might be a little too hard for me to “taste” in complete English.

It’s a quite interesting book. I wouldn’t call the style of the reading very delicate or astonishing. All the descriptions are simple and straightforward. It just gives people a kind of very light feeling, also the light sadness. However, it is indeed sadness that hits the reader.

I remember first picking it up because of a friend’s recommendation when I was in ninth grade, and end up not understanding what the first chapter was trying to say and gave up. It’s way easier this time. In fact, I found the book very easy and natural to go on.

This is interesting, maybe it’s because I’ve grown.

Also, through this time’s reading, this is the first time I’ve ever experienced how the translator is like a crutch, how their words can be the guide that leads you forward. The translator of the version I’ve read, Wenjun Li, provided so many annotations that help to understand the story. Maybe the difference between reading this time and reading when I was in ninth grade was that I’ve read two versions that have different translator.

The book used a very interesting literary form that I hadn’t read before. It brings in the perspective of the character, and readers completely follow their thinking, even how they go back and forth in the timeline. The narrative method made the reading process more challenging, but it’s also more contemporary.