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The Big Book Project
The Big Book Project is a multi-venue reading experience for bibliophiles fascinated by long or dense works of fiction and interested in discussing them with others, one novel at a time.
The works selected will be capacious novels from the mid-nineteenth century through today that possess an abundant writing style or complexity in structure and themes.
The notion that reading need not be a solitary activity has special resonance with these novels given that there is much to discuss, elaborate upon and question in the authors’ expression of ideas. I like to think of these novels as abundant because I appreciate their richness and volume, characteristics bestow a sort of grace to luxuriate with the text.
The critic and scholar Alexander Nehamas writes that when a work of art beckons, it is because we do not fully understand it but feel the strong desire to do so. And it is this deliberative process, the journey, of trying to understand why a novel is extraordinary that I want to explore with fellow readers at The Big Book Project.
We discuss books like Roberto Bolaño’s 2666
The Big Book Project
The Southern Labyrinth: Faulkner’s Layers of Storytelling in Chapter 6 of Absalom, Absalom! Video 3 With Larry Allums
In this episode of The Big Book Project, host Lori Feathers and literary scholar Dr. Larry Allums continue their deep exploration of William Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom!—turning to the enigmatic and multi-layered Chapter 6.
This chapter introduces a new voice into Faulkner’s intricate web of narrators: Shreve McCannon, Quentin Compson’s Canadian roommate at Harvard. Lori and Larry discuss how Faulkner weaves Shreve into the novel’s chorus of storytellers and how this outsider’s perspective both contrasts and transforms as he becomes absorbed in the haunting saga of Thomas Sutpen.
Their conversation delves into the chapter’s dizzying narrative structure—its use of italics, parentheses, and shifting points of view—and the profound questions it raises about race, family, innocence, and inherited guilt. They also examine Faulkner’s portrayal of characters like Clytie, Judith, Charles Bon, and Sutpen himself, and how the themes of lineage and identity echo through generations.
As Lori notes, reading Absalom, Absalom! feels like piecing together a vast jigsaw puzzle—frustrating, dazzling, and endlessly rewarding.
Listen to this episode to explore:
- Why Faulkner introduces Shreve in Chapter 6 and what his voice adds
- The evolving narration and blurred lines between storytellers
- The moral and racial complexities surrounding the Sutpen family
- The concept of “innocence” in Faulkner’s modern world
- How memory, myth, and history intertwine in Southern storytelling
⏱️ Chapters
00:00 – Introduction and recap of Absalom, Absalom!
02:15 – Welcoming Dr. Larry Allums back to discuss Chapter 6
04:05 – The arrival of Shreve McCannon: a new narrator enters
07:40 – Faulkner’s use of multiple voices and shifting narration
10:55 – Why Faulkner gives Shreve an outsider’s Canadian perspective
14:20 – Quentin and Shreve’s dynamic: skepticism vs. obsession
18:10 – Revisiting Sutpen’s Hundred after 43 years
21:00 – Deaths, births, and the letter announcing Rosa’s passing
24:45 – Understanding Charles Bon and questions of race
29:30 – Thomas Sutpen’s suspicions and the “design” of his life
34:20 – Innocence, guilt, and the Southern moral code
39:00 – Judith and Clytie’s shared loyalty and quiet defiance
44:30 – The role of New Orleans and the octaroon society
48:15 – Charles Bon Jr.’s identity struggle and racial ambiguity
52:40 – Family lineage, belonging, and Faulkner’s concept of “passing”
56:25 – The haunting of Sutpen’s legacy across generations
59:10 – Faulkner’s use of italics and parentheses in Chapter 6
1:02:30 – The mystery of the cemetery and Judith’s epitaph
1:06:00 – Memory, inheritance, and the Southern sense of place
1:09:10 – Shreve’s humor and levity amid tragedy
1:12:00 – The brilliance of Faulkner’s narrative control
1:14:45 – Closing thoughts and preview of Chapter 7
🗣️ Join the Conversation
If you’re reading along, I’d love to know:
💬 What struck you most about these chapters?Share your thoughts in the comments so we can read and wrestle with Faulkner together.
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