Masters Thesis

Time and myth in The Sound and the Fury and Absalom, Absalom!

This thesis examines William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury (1929) and Absalom, Absalom! (1936) and his use of the complex relationship between time and myth as a social critique of the Old South. In this thesis, I read Caddy Compson and Thomas Sutpen as inversions of the myths of the Southern Belle and the Southern Cavalier who challenge and problematize the Old South's traditional cultural model. By specifically exploring how cultural myths prevent the acceptance of history in each novel, I argue that Faulkner not only critiques the South's dependence on myth to evade reality, but also calls for the need to reject unhealthy myths.

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