With the publication of his third novel, Sartoris, William Faulkner placed his novels in a mythological county that he called Yoknapatawpha County. Most of the rest of his novels and short stories are set in this county. The Compsons, who are the central characters in this novel, also appear in later works. One of Faulkner's great achievements is the creation of this imaginary county. He worked out his plan so carefully that many characters who are minor characters in one novel become central characters in a later work. He also drew a map of this county to show where certain events take place; it appears at the end of a later novel, Absalom, Absalom!
In all of his work, Faulkner has used new techniques to express his views of man's position in the modern world. In his earlier works, Faulkner viewed man's position in the universe with despair. He saw man as a weak creature incapable of rising above his selfish needs. Later, Faulkner's view changed. In his more recent works, he sees man as potentially great, or, in Faulkner's own words, "Man will not merely endure: he will prevail." In almost all of his novels, Faulkner penetrates deeply into the psychological motivations for man's actions and investigates man's dilemma in the modern world. Of all his achievements, The Sound and the Fury is considered to be one of his greatest novels.
