美国文学选读--Lecture11.ppt

William Faulkner and Southern Literature Southern LiteratureThe Souththe Deep South:South Carolina,Georgia,Florida,Alabama,Tennessee,Mississippi,Louisianathe Extended South:including also the border states such as Kentucky,Maryland,North Carolina,Virginia,West Virginia,Arkansas and TexasAristocratic life on the plantationThe American Civil War:Prosperity before the Civil WarThe lost gloryThe reconstruction The racial issues:slavery and the superiority of the whiteThe significance of family,religion,and community Conflict between old and new values&mores,changes brought about by industrialization,decline of the past traditionMajor themes of Southern LiteratureCharacteristics of southern literature Southern literature can be defined as literature about the South,written by authors who were raised in the South.a.The importance of family,sense of community,and religion.b.The importance of time and place,exploration of the past,sense of human limitationc.The use of southern voice and dialect.Most of the novels are written as a Southerner actually speaks.Many books also describe the historical importance of the southern town.William Faulkner（1897-1962）Faulkner is regarded as one of the most influential modernist novelists in the west.Faulkners works are regarded as the summit of Southern literature.The Yoknapatawpha saga(“约克纳帕托法世系”小说)describes the rise and fall of southern aristocratic families.nA 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.He was awarded the 1950 Nobel Prize in Literature.WorksIntruder on the Dust 坟墓闯入者（winning him the Nobel prize）The Sound and The Fury(1929)喧嚣与骚动Describes the decay and downfall of an old southern aristocratic family,symbolizing the old social order,told from four different points of viewLight in August(1932)八月之光Absalom,Absalom(1936)押沙龙！押沙龙！Go Down,Moses(1942)去吧，摩西Faulkners Themes(1)history and race He explains the present by examining the past,by telling the stories of several generations of a 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 abnormalStyleA.stream of consciousness of human natureB.multiple narratorsC.fragment the chronological time D.interior monologueE.symbolism,mythological and biblical allusions A Rose for EmilyThemeStructureCharacter AnalysisNarrative Techniques&Stylistic Features