William Faulkner 'The Wild Palms' addendum

I forgot to say, about this book, that William was quite capable of writing never-ending sentences that could cover more than a page of the book. The only way to read him, I find, is to accept that I won't understand much of what he says.

But here is something he said about Christmas.

"Christmas... . . when before an altar in the shape of a gold-plated cattle-trough man may with impunity prostrate himself in an orgy of unbridled sentimental obeisance to the fairy tale which conquered the Western world, when for seven days the rich get richer and the poor get poorer in amnesty: the whitewashing of a stipulated week leaving the page blank and pristine again for the chronicling of the fresh."