The Faulkner/McCarthy Thread

I knew McCarthy was supposed to be heavily influenced by Faulkner, but never having read the latter until recently, I had no idea it was to such a great extent.

McCarthy's first (and to my mind, his best) book, The Orchard Keeper, is so Faulkneresque as to reach parodic levels. Nevertheless, it's a good book in its own right even if it doesn't really do anything new. Lately it seems McCarthy has developed his own voice a lot more, what with the much-loathed and-and-anding that I've complained about before and the hyper-explicit violence which is far less present in Faulkner.

I just finished my second Faulkner novel (Absalom, Absalom!) and it's become one of my favourites this year. McCarthy's storytelling is much less sophisticated than Faulkner's, which is not necessarily a bad thing either; he just tells a story instead of fannying about with a million voices, etc. It's probable that if McCarthy had not moved beyond ripping off Faulkner, he'd be a lot less popular than he is today. Now at least he's got his own way of writing which can work brilliantly (when it's used in moderation).

Has anyone here read much Faulkner, and can you see what I'm talking about when I say that early McCarthy is really, really Faulkneresque?