Faulkner and Mitchell both write about the South in its antebellum, during the Civil War, and the outcome post-Civil War. However, Faulkner examines the unseen South with Absalom, Absalom! while Mitchell writes about the South that most readers are already familiar with in Gone with the Wind. Faulkner’s difficult read can be seen as the elite counterpart to Mitchell’s popular fiction novel.
In Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom! an odd story is told. It is not just the plot that is unusual, but the writing style is quite different as well. Faulkner uses these long, winding sentences and the story being told follows a peculiar order. Faulkner even summarizes the whole plot in the first chapter, telling the story of the rise and fall of the Sutpen house in a few sentences, versus Mitchell’s 1000 page saga that makes Gone With the Wind. Faulkner was praised in his writing style, but his style can be confusing for many. If a book is hard to read, does that count as an elite characteristic? Gone With the Wind, like Uncle Tom’s Cabin, is a long book, but it is an easy read. It is not complicated in the sense where a reader might have to read a passage three or four times in order to understand it. The same cannot be said for Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom!
Elements that make Faulkner’s novel problematic to read are his long, wordy sentences. A reader can get lost in a single sentence if they are not reading carefully. Another element is his chronology, or lack of it. The story and narration jumps back and forth from Miss Rosa’s office to Sutpen’s Hundred, to Quentin’s Harvard setting. Faulkner’s fragmented timeline can confuse and disconnect a reader from the plot even further than the odd plot itself. Perhaps this was Faulkner’s intention. Some stories can only be seen from the outside looking in.
Both books are fictitious historical novels set in a backdrop of the American