In 1931 William Faulkner introduced to the scrutiny of the public eye one of his most admirable and delightful characters, and for the following three decades the history of Yoknapatawpha County was enriched and deepened by the appearance of this gentleman and man of words--Gavin Stevens. There has been no lack of critical attention given to Gavin Stevens and his role in Faulkner's stories and novels, and that criticism encompasses a variety of opinions, ranging anywhere from intelligent and sympathetic interpretation to unsympathetic rejection. With such an abundance of critical opinions and evaluations, perhaps justification for another piece of criticism on Stevens might best be stated in negative terms, in pointing out limitations in the criticism that already centers on Stevens.

This study attempts to categorize the major women characters of Faulkner, and with a brief description of each, cast light upon the relationship of that character to Faulkner's other women and to the author's ultimate view of womankind.

Texte remanié de: Th. doct.--Litt. américaine--Strasbourg 2, 1998. Titre de soutenance : Les énergies du désespoir : la détresse dans les romans de William Faulkner (1925-1942). / Bibliogr. p. 281-294. L'ouvrage porte par erreur : ISSN 0154-5590.

This study consists of an examination in detail of those facets of character, and conduct arising from character, which specifically account for the decay of the aristocracy of Yoknapatawpha; and by way of emphasis, of the specifically regenerative attitudes and actions which have sufficed to preserve various individuals of this class who have endured as fully adequate human beings.

Ever since the publication of the novel Sartoria, members of a strange new breed of people by the name of Snopes have appeared in every Faulkner novel and short story which constitutes a part of what is called the Yoknapatawpha chronicle. Heretofore, it has been popular to support the thesis that the Snopeses represented the embodiment of crass commercialism, the inevitable replacement for the dying cotton aristocracy, and the direct retribution for the sins that had caused the downfall of these degenerate Southern gentry. This thesis will attempt to show, not that such a contention is wholly wrong, but that the real meaning of Snopesism lies much deeper than this, far beyond such a simple interpretation.

This thesis considers the treatment of early twentieth-century intersex bodies in Virginia Woolf’s Orlando and William Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom!. It takes into special account the prevalence of eugenic discourse during the modernist period, noticing eugenicists’ interest in categorical imperatives for the purposes of statistical analysis and surgical alteration. Their aims were human perfectibility. This thesis argues Orlando and Absalom, Absalom! imagine bodies existing, loving, and dreaming in between male and female, and outside of the violence of surgical “correction.”

This thesis considers the treatment of early twentieth-century intersex bodies in Virginia Woolf’s Orlando and William Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom!. It takes into special account the prevalence of eugenic discourse during the modernist period, noticing eugenicists’ interest in categorical imperatives for the purposes of statistical analysis and surgical alteration. Their aims were human perfectibility. This thesis argues Orlando and Absalom, Absalom! imagine bodies existing, loving, and dreaming in between male and female, and outside of the violence of surgical “correction.”

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1969. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

The purpose of this paper is to view Faulkner's use of history from a different perspective by examining in detail the myths and historical facts with which Faulkner dealt. First, several of the prevailing myths about the Old South and the Civil War will be examined. Second, the actual historical facts will be compared and contrasted with legendary tradition. Third, and most important, several of Faulkner's works will be examined to show how he uses both the myths and historical facts to create his own "legend" of the South. Finally, Faulkner's view of the New South will be examined.

The purpose of this thesis is to explore William Faulkner’s paradoxical modernist aesthetic. While his writings evince primal, earthy, and post-Civil War angst-ridden qualities, Faulkner’s narratives are also found to be hyper-postmodern. Using Jacques Derrida’s theories on the absent-present trace, I will show how certain micromoments in three of Faulkner’s texts showcase the “trace” forming a pathway to the inaccessible and unattainable sublime. I will use “trace” and general theories of the “sublime” as methodological tools to explore Faulkner’s narrative of pastoral loss, the cultural institutionalization of racial differences, as well as structures of mourning/melancholia that lead to the disruption of the pathway between trace and sublime. The imagery/narrative palpability, manifested through Faulkner’s pictorial imagination, brings Derridean theory to earth, yet meanwhile transcends any theoretical or conceptual methodology. The three micromoments will reveal ruptures (irreconcilable meanings) at work in the margins of these texts.