The vividness of his characterizations places him with such writers as Shakespeare, Dostoyevski, and Dickens; his moral point of view places him with these and other less likely compatriots—Milton, for one, and perhaps Dante.
Faulkner's stable and ultimately moral perspective was less apparent early in his career because he often worked through negative characterization. Mrs. Compson of The Sound and the Fury (1929) illustrates the character of the ideal mother because she is not; she is brilliantly portrayed as nonmaternal. The Reverend Gail Hightower of Light in August (1932) is similarly warped—a nonministering minister. Because Faulkner's fiction is not obviously judgmental, readers had to learn to find patterns in his work before they could relate method to authorial perspective. Once it was understood that Faulkner was exploring a range of personalities (through a series of credible characters) in order to lead readers to an understanding of the personal dilemma ("the human heart in conflict with itself "), his work became more fully appreciated.
Because he could so vividly portray all types of characters—aggressive and passive, male and female, crippled and healthy, old and young- Faulkner successfully employed a large variety of narrative voices. Not until his later books and the arrival of the wise and loving V.
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