The task of the present seminar paper is a threefold one though there may only be two primary elements discerned when one reads the topic first. The first one, “experience of time and history“, is solely concerned with The Sound and the Fury (intra-textual part) whereas the second one “the disruption of narrative traditions“ necessarily takes other works into account (inter-textual part). The former constitutes a close textual analysis of the two notions of “time“ and of “history“ as seen through the eyes of the major characters, it is therefore centred on content; the latter focuses on technical and stylistic questions and is correspondingly centred on form.
Nevertheless, the treatment of the first part must be divided in two since the terms “time“ and “history“ though they are similar in that they are both “diachroni-cal“ actually are quite different. Time in itself may be regarded as some sort of naked or unreflected history, a primary experience of the succession of events which has not been ordered and put together yet. History is the usually ordered and documented and thereby secondary portrayal of time by human societies; it is generally subdivided into - according to its relevance for society as a whole - social, political, national, regional, economic, religious history etc. or family and individual history. I will only focus on family and individual history here since other aspects are of lesser relevance in The Sound and the Fury .
One chapter is dedicated to each of the three elements of the topic, of which the first one - time - is the most important as it serves as basis for the compre-hension and approach of the two other parts.
Table of Contents
Introduction
1. Fateful time - conciliatory time: an analysis of four different time experiences
1.1 Benjy’s ignorance of time
1.2 Quentin’s obsession with time
1.3 Jason’s concept: “time is money“
1.4 Dilsey’s endure
2. The decline of the Compson’s: aspects of family and individual history
2.1 Genealogy of the Compson’s
2.2 The past as burden, the present as impasse: reactions to a world broken up
3. The Sound and the Fury as an experimental novel
3.1 Traditional concepts of the novel and general readers’ expectations
3.2 Deviations and departures in The Sound and the Fury
Conclusion
Objectives and Core Themes
This seminar paper explores the intricate relationship between the experience of time, historical perception, and the disruption of traditional narrative structures in William Faulkner’s novel The Sound and the Fury. It aims to analyze how the novel’s unique characters engage with time and memory, and how these internal psychic states influence the formal experimentalism of the text.
- The divergence of time experiences among the Compson family members (Benjy, Quentin, Jason, and Dilsey).
- The correlation between the decline of the Compson family and their fractured perception of history.
- The application of modernist narrative techniques, specifically the stream-of-consciousness approach.
- The role of the "absent" protagonist, Caddy Compson, in shaping the memories and trauma of the brothers.
- The contrast between traditional narrative concepts and Faulkner’s experimental departures in plot and perspective.
Excerpt from the Book
1.1 Benjy’s ignorance of time
The first section is told from the point of view of Benjy Compson, a thirty-three-year-old idiot; he recounts his personal impressions of his birthday on April 7th, 1928. Benjy never transgressed the pre-conscious infant state in which primary sensual perceptions are not yet linked with the activity of the consciousness. This deficiency has severe implications for him: he has no clear I-perception and therefore cannot distinguish sufficiently between himself and the outer world, he nearly cannot speak and what interests us here, he doesn’t have any sense of time.
Benjy is neither conscious of the passing of time, nor of the continuity of events. He lives in a perpetual present since past, (real) present, and future constantly melt for him. The few impressions and remembrances which he has of past events disorderly come again to his mind in the form of simple associations; Wolfgang Iser called them “flickering impressions”. Often, similar past events lead to such flashbacks. Benjy’s section starts with one of them. While searching a lost quarter in the grass with his black attendant Luster, he suddenly becomes aware of a similar past situation as he crawls with him through a broken garden fence:
“We went along the fence and came to the garden fence, where our shadows were. My shadow was higher than Luster’s on the fence. We came to the broken place and went through it. ‘Wait a minute.’ Luster said. ‘You snagged on that nail again. Can’t you never crawl through here without snagging on that nail.’ Caddy uncaught me and we crawled through. Uncle Maury said to not let anybody see us, so we better stoop over, Caddy said. Stoop over, Benjy. Like this, see. We stooped over and crossed the garden, where the flowers rasped and rattled against us. [...] Keep your hands in your pockets, Caddy said. Or they’ll get froze. You don’t want your hands froze on Christmas, do you.” (2)
Summary of Chapters
1. Fateful time - conciliatory time: an analysis of four different time experiences: This chapter analyzes how each narrator perceives time, ranging from Benjy’s sensory confusion to Quentin’s obsession and Dilsey’s capacity to endure.
2. The decline of the Compson’s: aspects of family and individual history: This section examines the genealogy of the Compson family and how the burden of their past shapes the current existence of the remaining characters.
3. The Sound and the Fury as an experimental novel: The final chapter investigates Faulkner’s departure from traditional narrative standards, focusing on form, structure, and the complex psychological techniques employed in the book.
Keywords
William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury, Time, History, Compson family, Stream-of-consciousness, Narrative structure, Modernism, Memory, Psychology, Plot, Perspective, Benjy, Quentin, Dilsey
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the primary focus of this seminar paper?
The paper focuses on the experience of time, the perception of history, and the disruption of traditional narrative forms within William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury.
What are the central thematic areas?
Key themes include the subjectivity of time, the decay of the Compson family, the role of memory, and the tension between traditional and experimental novelistic techniques.
What is the central research question?
The paper asks how the different time experiences of the characters and the disruption of narrative traditions contribute to the experimental nature and meaning of the novel.
Which scientific methods are utilized?
The author uses a close textual analysis combined with literary theory regarding narrative structure, stream-of-consciousness, and psychological interpretations of characters.
What does the main body of the work cover?
It covers individual case studies of the four narrators (Benjy, Quentin, Jason, and Dilsey), a discussion on the family’s genealogy, and a technical analysis of the novel’s experimental form.
Which keywords best characterize this study?
The study is best characterized by terms such as Modernism, Time perception, Narrative structure, Stream-of-consciousness, and The Compson family.
Why does Benjy struggle with time?
Benjy possesses a "pre-conscious" mental state, which prevents him from distinguishing between past, present, and future, leading to a life in a perpetual present.
What does the "watch" represent for Quentin Compson?
The watch serves as a painful reminder of the linear progression of time and decay, symbolizing the mechanical nature of life that Quentin desperately wants to escape.
How is Dilsey’s perception of time different from the brothers?
Unlike the Compson brothers, Dilsey is able to balance practical, everyday time with a higher "sacred" time, allowing her to "endure" the family's decline.
How does the novel handle its unconventional title?
The title, derived from Shakespeare's Macbeth, is identified as a contradiction that only becomes fully clear to the reader after completing the entire novel.
- Quote paper
- Dominik Fuß (Author), 1997, The experience of time and history and the disruption of narrative traditions in William Faulkner's 'The Sound and the Fury', Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.hausarbeiten.de/document/200639
