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[Father Luke]

  I feel that this award was not made to me as a man, but to my work--a life's work in the agony and sweat of the human spirit, not for glory and least of all for profit, but to create out of the materials of the human spirit something which did not exist before. So this award is only mine in trust. It will not be difficult to find a dedication for the money part of it commensurate with the purpose and significance of its origin. But I would like to do the same with the acclaim too, by using this moment as a pinnacle from which I might be listened to by the young men and women already dedicated to the same anguish and travail, among whom is already that one who will some day stand where I am standing.

      Our tragedy today is a general and universal physical fear so long sustained by now that we can even bear it. There are no longer problems of the spirit. There is only one question: When will I be blown up? Because of this, the young man or woman writing today has forgotten the problems of the human heart in conflict with itself which alone can make good writing because only that is worth writing about, worth the agony and the sweat. He must learn them again. He must teach himself that the basest of all things is to be afraid: and, teaching himself that, forget it forever, leaving no room in his workshop for anything but the old verities and truths of the heart, the universal truths lacking which any story is ephemeral and doomed--love and honor and pity and pride and compassion and sacrifice. Until he does so, he labors under a curse. He writes not of love but of lust, of defeats in which nobody loses anything of value, and victories without hope and worst of all, without pity or compassion. His griefs grieve on no universal bones, leaving no scars. He writes not of the heart but of the glands.

      Until he learns these things, he will write as though he stood among and watched the end of man. I decline to accept the end of man. It is easy enough to say that man is immortal because he will endure: that when the last ding-dong of doom has clanged and faded from the last worthless rock hanging tideless in the last red and dying evening, that even then there will still be one more sound: that of his puny inexhaustible voice, still talking. I refuse to accept this. I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance. The poet's, the writer's, duty is to write about these things. It is his privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past. The poet's voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail.

http://www.rjgeib.com/thoughts/faulkner/faulkner.html

[Ġakbu]

I've always loved this speech. I haven't read any of Faulkner's novels unfortunately, but he's on my summer reading list.

[Father Luke]

Light in August - it's on my book case for next... I'm reading Suttree, by McCarthy.
I believe Patrick recommended the Faulkner.

[Ġakbu]

I hope to read at least two of his novels ... given myself a 'break' from reading poetry books at the moment, too many Marlowe and Shakespeare plays, novels to read, boring books to study.

I was especially impressed by the fact that Faulkner wrote one of his novels, one of the famous ones, not sure if it was As I Lay Dying, in just three bloody weeks. Now that's impressive - he needed the money, and created one of the best novels of the last century (according to critics)

[Father Luke]

Next: Find out how long it took Bukowski to write Post Office. Also impressive. And?
Depending upon who may be asked...? A fine book.

But beauty, as has been told, is in the eye of the beholder.

Shakespear I have a problem with, as it should be performed, not read. Although,
reading as a writer has many benefits. See here:

http://literarymary.com/forum/index.php?topic=11836

[Ġakbu]

Interesting website that; usually, I tend to find, when I read a new writer, I do not immediately recognize the influence the writer's writing has on me, but then you begin to see as you yourself write your own pieces, be they prose or poetry, the way in which such techniques work - when you start using them whilst being unaware at first of their use.

I agree with you on Shakespeare, but in my course at university, I have to read the text to answer questions about imagery and what not.

Yes, I checked how long it took him, and it is impressive. Not many writers can write so rapidly. I have been wanting to read a book by Bukowski when I have the time, actually, to get an idea of his prose, because I have become acquainted, mainly due to threads on this site, with the man's poetry. But then again, for me, the distinguishing feature of poetry from prose should be the language - style obviously defines what the book is, what one says that he has written - a novel, a poem, a novella, a pamphlet etc - but for me personally, poetry is in the language and not in the style: the style coheres it better, gives it a framework. 

[astronacht]

I recommend the shit out of Faulkner. The Sound and the Fury is one of my favorite books.

The above speech quite encapsulates his run-away prose style. I love it. I love it to no end.

I'm reading Suttree, by McCarthy

Speaking of Faulkner's pervasive influence on living writers. How is Suttree? I've read three books of his and the only one that didn't make me quiver in sexual places was The Road. Blood Meridian is probably one of the best books I've ever read.

[Father Luke]

I'm reading Suttree, by McCarthy

Speaking of Faulkner's pervasive influence on living writers. How is Suttree? I've read three books of his and the only one that didn't make me quiver in sexual places was The Road. Blood Meridian is probably one of the best books I've ever read.

The road flattened me. Breaking away from his usual Faukner-esque-ness, it
flattened me. I loved it. Short, Hemingway sentences.

Suttree, like most of his stuff, is... well. Let's just say I've found he rewards
his readers. I'm not yet a third of the way into it.

So, yes. Cormac McCarthy is known to be the heir apparent to Faulkner. Meh. I think
there is a rich legacy of southern writers. But pigeon-holing a writer makes them
easier to talk about. McCarthy will have shoulders of his own that will be
supporting the: "Yeah. he writes like McCarthy..."

NCFOM was nice. I actually enjoyed the only contribution the Brothers made to the
script -- the dog chase. And speaking of NCFOM, did you khnow he originally wrote
that as a screenplay? Uhyup. True. It was rejected wherever he went.

[astronacht]

I did not know that. Hmm. It's on my list of McCarthy books to get, after the remaining two books of the Border Trilogy.

And in no way did I intend to pigeonhole McCarthy. I see him as heavily influenced by Faulkner, but he still manages to make the writing his own. He has a distinct style, one that I furiously admire. I can see his influence in my own prose style.

I will say that The Road probably wouldn't have had the same success had he written it in his usual style. I think the Hemingway style better served its purpose, its atmosphere.

But anywho. We were talking about Faulkner. After I read this thread I decided to pick up Absalom, Absalom! from by bookshelf and dive into it. I also read the article for Faulkner on wikipedia. I was surprised to learn that he was more or less unknown and destitute up until he won the Nobel in 1949. He'd written fifteen novels up until that point, including The Sound and the Fury, As I Lay Dying, Light in August, Absalom, Absalom!--all the books for which he's known so well.

Kind of a disturbing situation.

But not as disturbing as Herman Melville's.

[astronacht]

Thanks for the inspiration, Father Luke.

[Father Luke]

I did not know that. Hmm. It's on my list of McCarthy books to get, after the remaining two books of the Border Trilogy.

Well, after I read NCFOM I bought every book of his that I could find. Then I moved
to Oregon, and now I'm reading them. Since I have most of his books, there really
isn't any new way to satisfy my hero worship, and so I researched him on the
internet. One of the things I found was that tidbit of information. I wouldn't call
it wisdom. There are some who feel they have wisdom because they found something out
ten seconds before they told you about it, but I am not one of those...

 

And in no way did I intend to pigeonhole McCarthy.

My bad. I intended only to pass on that other nugget of information which is rather
widespread along the information super-highway: Cormac McCarthy is a Faulkner heir.
Google Faulkner and McCarthy and you find a gazilluion links. Here:

http://www.google.com/search?q=faulkner+mccarthy

It's one of the things I saw talked about most when I researched Cormac McCarthy, in
effect The Faulkner influence on his work. Now this is one more google hit linking
the two of them.

Everyone stands on the shoulders of those who have come before. If one hasn't read
those who have come before is when I get worried.

I see him as heavily influenced by Faulkner, but he still manages to make
the writing his own. He has a distinct style, one that I furiously admire. I can see
his influence in my own prose style.

This is how writers grow, by standing on the shoulders of those who have come
before. I can show you in my own writing where I have stood on Bukowski's shoulders,
on Dr. Hunter S. Thompson's shoulders... Hemingway, Faulkner, F.Scott. Wolfe... you
know? Then we move into our own voice.

I will say that The Road probably wouldn't have had the same success had he written it in his usual style. I think the Hemingway style better served its purpose, its atmosphere.

But anywho. We were talking about Faulkner. After I read this thread I decided to pick up Absalom, Absalom! from by bookshelf and dive into it. I also read the article for Faulkner on wikipedia. I was surprised to learn that he was more or less unknown and destitute up until he won the Nobel in 1949. He'd written fifteen novels up until that point, including The Sound and the Fury, As I Lay Dying, Light in August, Absalom, Absalom!--all the books for which he's known so well.

Kind of a disturbing situation.

But not as disturbing as Herman Melville's.

- -
Okay,
Father Luke

[Father Luke]

Thanks for the inspiration, Father Luke.

... reading now. Thank you.