Well, I’m a bit into The Reivers, and I have thoughts. And they’re good, but hard to express.
I read some time ago, even before I was looking into Pulitzers, that Faulkner was a tough read. Hard to follow. But then again, The Reivers was supposed to be a departure from his usual style — so maybe that’s why I’m liking it quite a bit. I’m fortunate that Faulkner is a double winner. His novel, A Fable, won in 1955 and will (if I ever get to it) allow me to read more of him without breaking my Pulitzer streak for the year.
I don’t know whether it’s my commitment to writing regularly over the past (nearly) three years on this blog, or my persistent reading of books that are of such good quality lately (I’ve only so far been disappointed with Gilead, and even that was passable), but I almost feel like I’m getting it now. I’ve never been one to enjoy the digging out of deeper meanings from what an author is writing (not a fan of high school English classes, I guess), but I’m catching the style and flow so much better now…and maybe even enjoying it.
Or maybe it’s just Faulkner. I’m trying to think of ways to describe his style inThe Reivers, and my best attempt would go something like this: Faulkner doesn’t just write the event. He writes all around it in way that winds and twists and sometimes seems to ramble; but then comes to a point where you get into the story thinking it was all your own. You don’t just read the words on the page. When you’re done, you’ve had the experience of them. And you wouldn’t know it to look at it all…until you were gently surprised by it.
The Reivers is also wonderfully funny, in a way reminiscent (but a bit more obviously) of the humor I found in Humphry Clinker. You get all around it until you find yourself right in the middle of it. Let me just show you a piece from my reading today, about a mule that could actually race (while most are uninterested in traveling straight distances long enough to ever compete), and the character’s subsequent placing of mules in the hierarchy of animal intelligence:
I love the rich language and the way he brings me to actual ownership of the story. I’m interested in reading A Fable if only to find out whether I can actually hang with Faulkner (The Reivers was his final work). We’ll see. And of course, I’ll keep you posted…