The “My mother is a fish.” chapter in As I Lay Dying by William FaulknerRead about the other entries on the list.
The most famous five-word chapter in literature is also, approximately, the moment when frustrated teenagers around America, assigned the book for school, give up trying to make sense of Faulkner’s obfuscating narrative and go back to playing Call of Duty.
As I Lay Dying is on John Mullan's list of ten of the best teeth in literature, Jon McGregor's list of the top ten dead bodies in literature, Roy Blount Jr.'s list of five favorite books of Southern humor, and James Franco's six best books list.
--Marshal Zeringue