Augusto Monterroso, what a shrewd writer!

As Monterroso points out, the true meaning of that expression in that context is closer to "empty words" or "blah, blah, blah" than to its literal Spanish translation: "El sonido y la furia". Of course, Faulkner knew this and the title resonates with that meaning throughout the novel.

The initial translators of the text into Spanish faced this dilemma: Is it better the literal or the figurative translation? Today we know that they preferred the literal one. Surely, they did not suspect this decision would earn them reproaches from a future great storyteller.

For, in the words of good old Monterroso, "The Sound and the Fury" is "the most sonorous title and the one that denotes the most anger when it is necessary to get angry". But he accepts that we must be indulgent when even "...Borges himself, who has spent forty years studying English and even Celtic, repeats the same distraction in the prologue to his book Prologues...".

Monterroso wonders if reading a poorly translated work is better than not reading it.

He concludes that, despite the potential flaws, it's worth it. He also adds that "there are translation errors that momentarily enrich a bad book".

In any case, "El sonido y la furia" is an expression that, thanks to its sonority, was well received by Spanish-speaking readers. However, perhaps only a minority knows its origin and original meaning.