A review by wathohuc
A Fable by William Faulkner

4.0

What can I say? It's Faulkner. Even when he's not at his best (which I think applies to 'A Fable'), he's still a magnificent writer and a literary genius. I started this one a long time ago, and then got sidetracked by other things at about one-third of the way in. Because of the time lapse since when I put it down and because it's Faulkner, I just started all over again. And it's a hard slog in the beginning. The farther along you muddle through, though, the clearer everything gets. That's the beauty of Faulkner: you might not think you are absorbing what he is writing, but trust the process: it's in the brain and its meaning will reveal itself as you go along. I could clearly see the religious parallels creatively imbued in this story of the "unknown soldier" who, in this case, paused the Great War (WWI). Don't want to comment much on that aspect of the story, as it's well-trodden ground. I'll just say that this novel constitutes an indictment on the horror of war, the dangers of nationalism and militaristic patriotism, and the inevitable nature of humanity's embrace of violent conflict to resolve disputes. I'm still absorbing a lot of the meandering that Faulkner did in the beginning sections of the novel (and I think, to be honest, that some of that meandering was as much a bit of Faulkner being careless and resting on his reputation for this kind of writing as it was some profound plumbing of the psychological and philosophical depths). Some of the meandering was, I think, not as intentionally meaningful as one might impute to it. In fact, I do think some of it is just intellectual psychobabble. But also probably not as much as some who tire of Faulkner's style might also think. I love Faulkner, and I think all of his novels should have won Pulitzers. This one is deserving, though I know that others of his novels that didn't win are better and more deserving. There are very few writers in the same league as Faulkner. And I am kinda glad that I have now, this moment, completed my goal of reading every single Pulitzer fiction winner with a Faulkner novel.