Abstract
Faulkner expresses his own code of values; there are a number of such old fashioned virtues as honor, courage, generosity of spirit, and compassion that he admires; but he is too complex a novelist to impose this code on his characters. Intensely curious about people of all sorts, the evil as well as the good, the degenerate as well as the so-called normal, he portrays them with a genuine effort at imaginative understanding of what basically motivates their lives. Even his worst villains, a Popeye, a Flem Snopes, a Jason Compson, is endowed with some redeeming human trait. Even a collection of stories like Go Down, Moses bears out the impression of Faulkner’s universality of vision. He is aware of the continuing power of the past on the lives of the present generation and its shaping influence on the future. His sense of cultural continuity, his reverent but not uncritical evaluation of the Southern historical past, his respect for the deeply-rooted myths and mores of the folk in Yoknapatawpha, clearly link him in part with the conservative outlook.1
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Allen Guttman, The Conservative Tradition in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1967, p. 74.
William Faulkner, Go Home, Moses. New York: The Modern Library, 1942, p. 3.
Frederick L. Gwynn and Joseph L. Blotner (eds.), Faulkner in the University. Charlottesville: The University of Virginia Press, 1959, p. 267.
William Faulkner, Soldier’s Pay. New York: Liveright, 1926, p. 295.
Harry Modean Campbell and Ruel E. Foster, William Faulkner. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1951, p. 45.
Hyatt Howe Waggoner, William Faulkner. Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1959, p. 89.
William Faulkner, Sanctuary. New York: Penguin Books, Inc., 1947, p. 74.
William Faulkner, Requiem for a Nun. New York: Random House, 1951, p. 134.
Olga N. Vickery, The Novels of William Faulkner. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1959, p. 41.
William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury. New York: The Modern Library, 1946, p. 97.
William Faulkner, Light in August. New York: The Modern Library, 1950, p. 197.
Cleanth Brooks, William Faulkner. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1963, p. 50.
William Faulkner, The Wild Palms. New York: Penguin Books, Inc., 1939, pp. 28–29.
William Faulkner, New York: The Modern Library, 1951, p. 109.
Parshley. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1953, p. 143.
William Faulkner, The Hamlet. New York: The Modern Library, 1940, p. 95.
William Faulkner, The Town. New York: Random House, 1957, p. 15.
William Faulkner, The Mansion. New York: Random House, 1959, p. 239.
Robert Penn Warren, “William Faulkner,” in William Van O’Connor (ed.), Forms of Modern Fiction. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1948, p. 134.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1971 Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, Netherlands
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Glicksberg, C.I. (1971). Faulkner’s World of Love and Sex. In: The Sexual Revolution in Modern American Literature. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-3236-0_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-3236-0_9
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-247-5036-8
Online ISBN: 978-94-010-3236-0
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive