William Faulkner.ppt

1、William Faulkner,. A Brief Introduction . Life . Major Works and Writing Style . SymbolA Rose For Emily,. A BRIEF INTRODUCTION,The Age of Modernism The Southern Renaissance (In American literature, the South is a mysterious and romantic place. Lots of literary productions took it as the background.)

2、,Influence,Background The South: Virginia, Carolina, Missouri, Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky etc. (a large territory in southeast America; sharing similar geographical features, accent, race, climate; similar ideology and culture; different from the industrial states in the northeast America)

3、, Agriculture: main support of the southern economy (planting tobacco, cotton, rice etc.) Slavery: the darkest side of the South Owner of the large plantations: noblemen in the South (imitating the manner of noblemen and knights in Europe),Influence, In the Civil War, the southern army was defeated.

4、 The conservative and proud white in the South had to face the reality though they were attached to their past glory. Thus, in the American southern literature, the strong tragic sense can be found.,Literary scene in the South 18th century: only historical documents 19th century: gradually developme

5、nt; famous writers such as Edgar Allan Poe and Mark Twain,Influence, 20th century: William Faulkner (most outstanding one); in the beginning of the 20th century, a group of southern writers, thus the Southern Renaissance; popular novel Gone with the Wind; later African-American writers,. LIFE,- BORN

6、 in a Southern family with fairly long tradition; his great-grandfather: a legendary character and a leader of a regiment in the Civil War; the family history was partly used by Faulkner in his novels,- RAISED in a small town, later was used as the background in his novels named Yoknapatawpha county

7、 (约克纳帕塔法县) - NO regular school, read widely - EAGER to join WWI, but the war was over when he was still trained,- STAYED in University of Mississippi only one year and then took some odd jobs - WITH the help of Sherwood Anderson, he published his first novel. However, he was not widely recognized in

8、 the US though in Europe he was highly praised by some famous writers such as Sartre.,- IN the late 1940s, with the recommend of famous critic Malcolm Cowley, Faulkners works were gradually recognized in the US. And in 1950, he was awarded the Nobel Prize.,. Major Works and Writing Style,Major Works

9、,19 novels, 3 short story volumes and some other works,“The Sound and the Fury” (喧哗与骚动),“Light in August” (八月之光),“Absalom! Absalom!” (押沙龙,押沙龙!),“Go Down, Moses” (去吧，摩西),The Analysis of Faulkners novels, Special setting: Yoknapatawpha county (a typical small southern town) Faulkners knowledge of the

10、life of the American Deep South, with its tragic history of rise and fall in its fortunes, its ways and mores, and its language, all fused in his imagination and recreated, became the substance of a Faulknerian world strangely inspiring both nostalgia and a sense of impending doom in modern readers.

11、,The Analysis of Faulkners novels,Faulkners knowledge of the life of the American Deep South, with its tragic history of rise and fall in its fortunes, its ways and mores, and its language, all fused in his imagination and recreated, became the substance of a Faulknerian world strangely inspiring bo

12、th nostalgia and a sense of impending doom in modern readers.,The Analysis of Faulkners novels, Characterization: vivid, “flesh and blood people that will stand up and cast a shadow”; enjoying the complicated state with little interference Plot: most about history of American South (its rise and fal

13、l; glory and evil sides; family story),The Analysis of Faulkners novels, Theme: in praise of eternal virtues in human history, love, pity, honor and self-sacrifice (Faulkner thought that the doom of the South was caused by ill-treatment of Indians and blacks and the way to change the meaningless mod

14、ern life is recovering the traditional and eternal virtues.),The Analysis of Faulkners novels,Point of view: a new and experimental technique multiple points of view and unreliable narrator,The Analysis of Faulkners novels,Multiple points of view refer to showing within the same story how the charac

15、ters reacted differently to the same person or the same situation. The readers should make judgments through analysis. (Example: The Sound and the Fury),The Analysis of Faulkners novels,Fallible or unreliable narrator: perception, interpretation and evaluation made by the narrator do not coincide wi

16、th the opinions and norms implied by the author. Readers should judge by themselves.,The Analysis of Faulkners novels, Style: variety from colloquial and dialect to formal and refined; sometimes difficult to understand because of the using of modern techniques, such as stream-of-consciousness,. Symb

17、ol A Rose for Emily,Symbol refers to any concrete object, person, place or action that has a meaning in itself and at the same time stands for something larger than itself, such as a quality, an attitude, a belief, or a value. Generally speaking, a symbol is a sign which suggests more than its liter

18、al meaning,- Literary symbols are of two broad types: Conventional symbol and Occasionally- coined symbol,-Conventional symbol is also called Universal or Cultural Symbol. Certain symbols occur again and again in literature, thus becoming conventional and possessing almost settled symbolic meanings.

19、 RoseLove; Dove Peace Journey on the road Journey of the life Spring and Winter Youth and Old age,- Occasionally- coined symbol is also called Contextual symbol. However, in order to convey particular meaning, writers often create their own symbols in their writing. Jane Eyre Character of mad woman

20、in the attic Symbol for womans hidden rage,A Rose for Emily (“献给艾米莉的玫瑰”),- A Rose for Emily is a classic story representing Faulkners favorite subject, theme and style. - The story begins with a funeral of the eponymous Miss Emily. It does not follow a particular order of chronological time.,- The n

21、arration flows backwards or forwards in a line of reality, revealing significant details of Emilys life and the murder of the Homer Barron by Emily, which are suspended till the end of the story.,- The narrative is also divided into five parts, allowing for flexible shifts in time and displays of Em

22、ilys image at various stages of her life. -Through a story about Emily, the author tries to pinpoint an unavoidable fate of the aristocracy and various changes in the South America after the Civil War.,PLOT,Exposition: Initial equilibrium complication (Homer) Setting,-Small town -South -late 1800s,

23、early 1900s -Miss Emilys house,Exposition,Conflict,Climax,Resolution,Characterization,(What are the characters like? Protagonist/Antagonist? Flat/Round? Static/Dynamic?) -Miss Emily Grierson -Miss Emilys father -Homer Barron -townspeople -the Negro -the cousins,(Man vs. Man; Man vs. Himself; Man vs.

24、 Nature; Man vs. Society; Man vs. Supernatural ),-Miss Emily vs. her father -Miss Emily vs. herself -Miss Emily vs. Homer -Miss Emily vs. townspeople/cousins,Conflict,Climax,(The point of the story where the main conflict is resolved.),-Miss Emily dies.,(What does the reader learn after the climax?)

25、 The room is opened. Homers body is discovered. The townspeople put all the clues together.,Resolution,Point of View,“When Miss Emily died, our whole town went to her funeral. . . .” -First person minor character, participant, unreliable,1) 1st person Character (major/minor? participant? reliable?)

26、2) 3rd person Narrator (omniscient/limited/objective),Tone,Conversational, gossipy. Mysterious Bizarre, strange Grotesque Southern Gothic,Style,Long, complicated sentences. -interruptions -big, bookish words Lots of description. Flashbacks. Not much dialog.,(The way the author tells the story.),The

27、Symbol of Miss Emily. In this short story, Miss Emily is a static character who refused to believe that the times were changing and refused to change into the new society. As a Mississippi Southern Belle, she was born and raised in a wonderful state. She is considered a “monument” of southern manner

28、s and an ideal of past values,Symbolism,Her southern heritage and points of view are represented through her actions. Her stubbornness and unrelenting attitude are very strong characteristics of the southern heritage, so Emily symbolizes the old southern tradition; her death symbolizes the collapse

29、of the old southern tradition,The Symbol of the House. In this short story, Faulkner applies symbolism to compare the Grierson house with Emilys physical deterioration, her shift in social standing, and her unwillingness to accept changing. When compared chronologically, it is used to symbolize Emil

30、ys physical attributes. And Faulkner also sets the house as a symbol for Emilys change in social status. When Miss Emily died, her and her house both become symbols of their dying generation.,The Symbol of Rose. William Faulkners symbolic use of the “rose” is essential to the storys theme of Miss Em

31、ilys self-isolation. The rose is often a symbol of love, and portrays an everlasting beauty. And for Emily, the “rose” clearly defines something sacred. It is symbolizes the love between Emily and Homer Barron, and Homer Barron was Emilys only “rose”.,The Symbol of the Small Town. Most of Faulkners works are set in the American South with his emphasis on the southern subjects and consciousness. In the short story, the small tow