William Faulkner occupied a unique position as a modern writer.
Although famous for his modernist novels and their notorious
difficulty, he also wrote extensively for the "culture industry,"
and the works he produced for it--including short stories,
adaptations, and screenplays--bore many of the hallmarks of
consumer art. His experiences as a Hollywood screenwriter
influenced him in a number of ways, many of them negative, while
the films turned out by the "dream factories" in which he labored
sporadically inspired both his interest and his contempt. Faulkner
also disparaged the popular magazines--though he frequently sold
short stories to them.
To what extent was Faulkner's deeply ambivalent relationship
to--and involvement with--American popular culture reflected in his
modernist or "art" fiction? Peter Lurie finds convincing evidence
that Faulkner was keenly aware of commercial culture and adapted
its formulae, strategies, and in particular, its visual techniques
into the language of his novels of the 1930s. Lurie contends that
Faulkner's modernism can be best understood in light of his
reaction to the popular culture of his day. Using Theodor Adorno's
theory about modern cultural production as a framework, Lurie's
close readings of "Sanctuary," "Light in August," "Absalom Absalom
," and "If I Forget Thee, Jerusalem" uncover the cultural history
that surrounded and influenced the development of Faulkner's
art.
Lurie is particularly interested in the influence of cinema on
Faulkner's fiction and especially the visual strategies he both
deployed and critiqued. These include the suggestion of cinematic
viewing on the part of readers and of characters in each of the
novels; the collective and individual acts of voyeurism in
"Sanctuary" and "Light in August"; the exposing in "Absalom Absalom
" and "Light in August"of stereotypical and cinematic patterns of
thought about history and race; and the evocation of popular forms
like melodrama and the movie screen in "If I Forget Thee,
Jerusalem." Offering innovative readings of these canonical works,
this study sheds new light on Faulkner's uniquely American
modernism.
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