Spoof of Bush Wins Faux Faulkner Contest

[Jon8503]

By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS, Associated Press Writer

JACKSON, Miss. - A scathing parody that likens President Bush to the "idiot" in William Faulkner's novel "The Sound and the Fury" has won this year's Faulkner write-alike contest — and touched off a literary spat.

Organizers of the Faux Faulkner competition are accusing Hemispheres, the United Airlines magazine that has sponsored the contest for six years, of playing politics by not putting Sam Apple's "The Administration and the Fury" in its print edition — only on its Web site.

"One of the things they asked was that we didn't have profanity or any obvious sexual content. We watch for that. But anything else, like a political subject, was funny, it was parody. ... We felt that that shouldn't be censored," said Larry Wells, who organizes the contest with his wife, Dean Faulkner Wells, Faulkner's niece.

The story portrays President Bush in the role of Benjy, the mentally challenged son — or, as Faulkner himself said, the "idiot" — in his 1929 novel about the wreckage of a Southern family.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/faux_faulkner;_ylt=AvyySpVaI93mjg_Yyt.Ksaes0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3ODdxdHBhBHNlYwM5NjQ-

[jurassicpork]

1. Funny stuff.

Wish it was longer. One who is literarily-inclined would have a field day with this. The Bush White House as written by Hemingway, Fitzgerald, ee cummings, Don Marquis, Sam Beckett. The possibilities are endless.

JP
http://jurassicpork.blogspot.com

[Devlzown]

2. That's too funny!

Even though the Bushes aren't Southern (they're carpetbaggers), I still can see some parallels between him and Benjy. I'm gonna look it up and read it -- looks like a trippy piece.

[silvershadow]

3. Here is a link to the winning entry

http://www.hemispheresmagazine.com/fiction/2005/faulkner.htm