The book offers a reading of Faulkner s novels
through the prism of elegy, in an attempt to solve
the as yet unsettled clash between Faulkner s dark
subject matter and the wonderful poetry used for its
narration. Diverting the focus of attention from the
dominant tragic elements in Faulkner s novels to the
antithetical voice of peaceful elegy hidden beyond
them, it exposes unexpected continuities between
traditional elegy and Faulkner s modern prose.
Intertwining the psychological with the aesthetic,
the book provides new insights into the meaning and
function of Faulkner s recurrent refrains, and
groups them together, for the first time, as markers
of a particular genre that struggles with loss.
Specifically, it examines As I Lay Dying, Absalom,
Absalom!, and Requiem for a Nun as Faulkner s prose
elegies , and shows how, by writing these novels,
Faulkner was redefining his art and language, and
himself as a writer.
The book will be especially useful to Faulkner
scholars, students, and readers, or anyone who finds
interest in artistic procedures, and in the angle at
which rhetoric devices and resurrective practices
are juxtaposed.
through the prism of elegy, in an attempt to solve
the as yet unsettled clash between Faulkner s dark
subject matter and the wonderful poetry used for its
narration. Diverting the focus of attention from the
dominant tragic elements in Faulkner s novels to the
antithetical voice of peaceful elegy hidden beyond
them, it exposes unexpected continuities between
traditional elegy and Faulkner s modern prose.
Intertwining the psychological with the aesthetic,
the book provides new insights into the meaning and
function of Faulkner s recurrent refrains, and
groups them together, for the first time, as markers
of a particular genre that struggles with loss.
Specifically, it examines As I Lay Dying, Absalom,
Absalom!, and Requiem for a Nun as Faulkner s prose
elegies , and shows how, by writing these novels,
Faulkner was redefining his art and language, and
himself as a writer.
The book will be especially useful to Faulkner
scholars, students, and readers, or anyone who finds
interest in artistic procedures, and in the angle at
which rhetoric devices and resurrective practices
are juxtaposed.