to exhaust it…,” Faulkner once quipped (Padgett). His next novel, Flags in the Dust, was the firstKing 3set in the mythical Yoknapatawpha County and failed to be published at the time. Frustrated by the entire publication process, Faulkner stopped worrying about other people’s opinions of his work and decided to simply write. The result was The Sound and the Fury, Faulkner’s first true masterpiece, considered by many to be his finest work. Faulkner dubs it his own favorite novel, primarily, he says, “because it is his ‘most splendid failure’” (Padgett). The story of a beautiful and tragic little girl, Caddy Compson, The Sound and the Fury depicts the decline of the once-aristocratic Compson family. It was this book that helped Faulkner establish a solid reputation among literary critics. “Stirred by [the novel], Lyle Saxon wrote, ‘I believe simply and sincerely this is a great book’” (Locher 159). Even though his latest novel was successful among literary circles, Faulkner was virtually unnoticed and ignored by the general public until Sanctuary appeared in 1931 (Locher 159). One of his most violent and shocking novels, it was about the brutal rape of a Southern college student and its generally violent consequences. The scandalous subject matter appealed to the reading public, and it sold well, making Faulkner a minor celebrity. However, he did not fare so well the rest of the decade. “Although Faulkner wrote many of his finest books, including Light in August, Absalom, Absalom!, The Wild Palms, and Go Down, Moses during the 1930’s and 1940’s, they brought in very little revenue. And, despite his stature in literary circles, his books gradually began dropping out of print, partly because of lack of popular interest, partly because of the war effort” (Locher 159). Accused of promoting immorality, readers considered Faulkner a naturalistic mo...
