The Southern Renaissance & William Faulkner,American southern literature can date back to Edgar Allen Poe, and reach its summit with the appearance of the two “giants” Faulkner and Wolfe. There are southern women writers Katherine Anne Porter凯瑟琳.安.波特 , Eudora Welty尤朵拉韦尔蒂 , and Flannery OConnor弗兰纳里奥康诺 .,The Southern Renaissance I. Heritage,Features of Southern literature prior to this renaissance - focus on historical romances about the “Lost Cause“ of the Confederate States of America. - glorified the heroism of the Confederate army and civilian population during the Civil War and the supposedly “idyllic culture“ that existed in the South before the war (known as the Antebellum South).,The Southern Renaissance was the reinvigoration of American Southern literature that began in the 1920s and 1930s with the appearance of writers such as William Faulkner, Wolfe, Tennessee Williams, etc.,Three major themes in Southern Renaissance - the burden of history in a place where many people still remembered slavery,reconstruction, and a devastating military defeat. - focus on the Souths conservative culture, specifically on how an individual could exist without losing a sense of identity in a region where family, religion, and community were more highly valued than ones personal and social life.- the Souths troubled history in regards to racial issues.,The Southern Renaissance,The Southern Renaissance is featured in its unique feeling of guilt, failure and poverty as well. Southern Myths a. Chevalier heritage(骑士精神的传承)b. Agrarian virtue（土地的价值）c. Plantation aristocracy （种植园主）d. Lost cause （注定要失败的势力）e. White supremacy （白人至上）f. Purity of womanhood （女人的纯洁）,William Faulkner,-One of the greatest writer in 20th century -initiator of Southern Renaissance -one of the most influential modernist novel writers in the west,William Faulkner (1897-1962),William Faulkner was born on September 25, 1897 and began to write poetry as a teenager. During World War I, he joined the Canadian Royal Flying Corps but never fought; the day he graduated from the Flying Corps, the Armistice was signed. The only war injury he received was the result of getting drunk and partying too hard on Armistice Day, wherein he injured his leg.,Faulkner in Hollywood,In the university of Virginia campus,William Faulkner: Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech - I feel that this award was not made to me as a man, but to my work - a lifes work in the agony and sweat of the human spirit, not for glory and least of all for profit, but to create out of the materials of the human spirit something which did not exist before. -我感觉，这个奖不是授予我这个人，而是授予我的工作，它是对我呕心沥血、毕生从事的人类精神探索的工作的肯定。我的这项工作不为名，更不图利，而是要从人类精神的原始素材里创造出前所未有的东西。,three stages (1) 19241929: training as a writer The Marble Faun 大理石雕像 Soldiers Pay 士兵的报酬 Mosquitoes蚊群 (2) 19291936: most productive and prolific period Sartoris 萨托里斯 The Sound and the Fury 喧哗与骚动 As I Lay Dying 在我弥留之际 Light in August 八月之光 Absalom, Absalom 押沙龙，押沙龙！,literary career:,Faulkners most celebrated novels,The Sound and the Fury (1929),书名的典故出自莎士比亚悲剧麦克白第5幕第5场麦克白的有名台词：“人生如痴人说梦，充满着喧哗与骚动，却没有任何意义。” 多角度的叙述方法“意识流”手法“神话模式”手法,(3) 1940end: won recognition in America Go Down, Moses 去吧，摩西,His Short story collection,These 13 (1931), 这十三篇includes many of his most acclaimed (and most frequently anthologized) stories, including “A Rose for Emily,“ “Red Leaves,“ “That Evening Sun,“ and “Dry September.“献给爱米丽的玫瑰、红叶、夕阳和干燥的九月,Yoknapatawpha 约克纳帕塔法,Yoknapatawpha County: - A county in northern Mississippi, the setting for most of William Faulkners novels and short stories, and patterned upon Faulkners actual home in Lafayette County, Mississippi.,“约克纳帕塔法世系”,这个“世系”以美国南方几个庄园主世家的荣辱兴衰为主线，表现了一个世纪以来美国南方社会的历史命运、社会变迁以及各阶层人物的起伏沉浮，写出了美国南方地区的典型特征，具有浓厚的乡土气息。,Major Themes of his Works,1. history and race He explains the present by examining the past, by telling the stories of several generations of family to show how history changes life. He was interested in the relationship between blacks and whites, especially concerned about the problems of the people who were of the mixed race of black and white, unacceptable to both races. 2. Deterioration 3. Conflicts between generations, classes, races, man and environment 4. Horror, violence and the abnormal,虽然福克纳的世界观从本质上说是传统保守的，他在形式与技巧上的创新都是令人兴奋的。他大胆和不倦地探索，而且在绝大多数的情况下都取得了成功。多样性与丰富性是他的特点。他是一个有独创性的人。在美国文学中能和他比肩的还没有第二个人。,Features of His Works,Invention and experimentation in form and narrative technique,A man with great might of invention and experimentation. Novel as an art form ; evolved his own literary strategies . Primary duty :explore and represent the infinite possibilities inherent in human life. Writer should observe with no judgment whatsoever and reduce authorial intrusion to the lowest minimum.,Narrative techniques,Never step between the characters and the reader to explain, but let the characters explain themselves and hinder as little as possible the readers direct experience of the work of art. The most characteristic way of structuring his stories is to fragment the chronological time. Juxtapose the past with the present.,