Abstract
The main thing we know reading Faulkner is that we don't know the main thing. . . . Yet Faulkner keeps pointing our attention to the very main thing that we don't know.
Working from that premise, Parker shows how Faulkner's orchestration of dark secrets with delayed revelations creates the suspense through which we must understand his novels. In each work "something" happens. Something so terrible--betrayal, incest, brutal rape, murder--that it has been repressed or cloaked in secrecy. What that something is, or how Faulkner reveals it or hides it critically shapes our understanding of his art and achievement. Parker's study not only illuminates the special difficulties of reading Faulkner, but also suggests a great deal about the theory of fiction in general, and about how we read and interpret other complex works of modern or American fiction.
Working from that premise, Parker shows how Faulkner's orchestration of dark secrets with delayed revelations creates the suspense through which we must understand his novels. In each work "something" happens. Something so terrible--betrayal, incest, brutal rape, murder--that it has been repressed or cloaked in secrecy. What that something is, or how Faulkner reveals it or hides it critically shapes our understanding of his art and achievement. Parker's study not only illuminates the special difficulties of reading Faulkner, but also suggests a great deal about the theory of fiction in general, and about how we read and interpret other complex works of modern or American fiction.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Place of Publication | Urbana |
| Publisher | University of Illinois Press |
| Number of pages | 168 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9780252011559 |
| State | Published - 1985 |