Date of Award
8-2010
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.A.
Degree Program
English
Department
English
Major Professor
Malmgren, Carl
Second Advisor
Lackey, Kris
Third Advisor
Hazlett, John
Abstract
William Faulkner is famous for stating he agrees with Henri Bergson's optimistic philosophy of time, a philosophy that emphasizes human freedom and action precisely as they relate to time. However, many of Faulkner's characters are defined by their stagnant and lethargic personalities which cannot change; these characters are held immobile by an over – identification with the rich history of their mythic, southern past. This paper, through in depth explorations of Faulkner's masterpieces, Absalom, Absalom! and The Sound and The Fury seeks to consider human mythmaking as the key to understanding Faulkner's difficult works. This critical approach allows us to better understand these works as conflicts between diachronic (linear or "normal") time and synchronic time (mythological or circular) time or more simply conflicts between the brute, inexorable world of fact and the human, meaning making world that is often a specious undermining of reality and change.
Recommended Citation
David, William M., "The Mythic Conquest of Time in Faulkner's Fiction" (2010). University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. 1420.
https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/1420
Rights
The University of New Orleans and its agents retain the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible this dissertation or thesis in whole or part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The author retains all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation.