Image courtesy of The Folio Society

“The Sound And The Fury” is acknowledged as one of the masterpieces of 20th-century. It is also one of William Faulkner’s most difficult books. It is told from multiple points of view and the narrative jumps across multiple time frames with little indication of doing so. It is confusing enough that, according to the LA Times, Faulkner wanted to color code the book:

But when Faulkner was working on the book in the 1920s — “The Sound and the Fury” was published in 1929 — he imagined a way to make the section clearer to readers. “I wish publishing was advanced enough to use colored ink,” Faulkner wrote to his editor, “as I argued with you and Hal in the Speakeasy that day… I’ll just have to save the idea until publishing grows up,” he added, inadvertently launching a challenge to future publishers.

Today the Folio Society has published the book the way that Faulkner always wanted. Unfortunately, it is only a limited run of 1,480 copies that will cost you $345.00 a pop.