本书以虚构的杰佛生镇为背景，表现康普生一家前后三十年间败落的经过，这个从前的美国南方贵族之家不仅经济限于窘境，宗教信仰乃至伦理观念也几近沦丧，从而导致杰佛生镇的居民失去对他们的尊重：长子昆丁具有旧时代的骑士精神和强烈的荣誉感，因妹妹凯蒂失身于人而自杀；凯蒂婚后仳离，沦落风尘；老三杰森抱着物质至上的观念，变成冷酷无情的自私鬼；有严重智障、被去势的本吉则能洞见每个人物背后的隐秘的动机......仿佛受到命运的诅咒，这个家庭的多数成员最终遭致悲惨的结局。小说采用意识流手法，尤其第一部分通过近于白痴的本吉之口叙述，完全打破时间序列，而依据本吉最关注的火、高尔夫球场和姐姐凯蒂这几个兴奋点回旋、跳跃，充分展示了福克纳创作的最鲜明的特色。1998年，美国现代图书馆评选"20世纪100最佳英文小说"，《喧哗与骚动》名列其中。（This book, taking a fictional town, called Jefferson, as the background, describes the dissolution of Compson family over the course of 30 years. This former aristocratic family from American south falls into financial ruin and even loses its religious faith and ethics, so that the residents of Jefferson don't respect it any more: Quentin, the eldest son, has old chivalry and strong sense of honor and kills himself because Caddy, his young sister, loses her virginity; Caddy gets a divorce and sinks into prostitution; Jason, the third child, becomes a cold and selfish man with a concept of materialism; Benjy who is severely retarded and castrated is able to have insight into ulterior motive of everyone.....Most members of this family come into a tragic end finally, just like being on the fate with curse. This novel uses the narrative skill of stream of consciousness, especially the first part which describe the plot through idiotic Benjy, breaking time sequence, and twisting and jumping around some excitement concerned by Benjy such as fire, golf course and sister Caddy. All of these fully display the most prominent feature of Faulkner's creations. In 1998, The Sound and the Fury was awarded as one of the "Top 100 English Novels of 20th Century" by American Modern Library.）