Multiple versions of reality

Not an easy read, but very inspiring and in line with the direction I'm heading in.



As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner is written in multiple first-person narratives. Every new section is a new version of reality, particularly noticeable when the narratives overlap and cover the same event two different ways. The novel reminds us of the inherent subjectivity in any story, memory, or narrative. There are no "facts" in this novel, only opinions. Narratives toward the end of the story push the envelope even further, asking if terms like "sane" or "crazy" can ever be objectively defined, or if actions can ever be categorized clearly as one or the other.

Faulkner's text clearly manifests various cubist techniques -- collage, flattening, multiple perspectives, fragmentation, and passage of planes. Structurally, As I Lay Dying is a literary collage of fifty-nine fragmented chapters.

Further reading