On The Spatial Form In The Sound And The Fury

The language of modern novel is experimental in general as it puts more emphasis on the description of consciousness and shows less interest in the outer facts that traditional poetics emphasizes. Instead of using omniscient point of view, it tends to use single point of view or multiple perspectives in narration. Besides, it shows great complexity in dealing with time. Firstly, it avoids arranging time with a chronological order; secondly, the whole plot involves lots of references. Because of these, the critics of modern literature put more emphasis on the analysis of language and structure. "Spatial Form in Modern Literature", an essay published by the American scholar Joseph Frank in 1945, traces the evolution of form in modern literature. It has put forward a very important concept, juxtaposition in the analysis of the works of James Joyce and Marcel Proust. This thesis intends to analyze William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury based on the theory of Spatial Form.The Sound and the Fury is one of his most famous Deep South novels which set in the imaginary Yoknapatawpha County. And it is known for its innovative techniques such as stream of consciousness and great complexity both in content and form. Faulkner separates this novel into four sections with a non-chronological order and takes human consciousness as the main content of his novel. In the novel, the past and the present are interweaved together, the voices are multiplied and the narrative features are complicated, which reflect the complexity of the inner world of the Compsons as well as the great contrast of the past and the present.By analyzing the language and structure of The Sound and the Fury, the author attempts to figure out the spatial forms existing in the novel based on the theory of Joseph Frank and explore the complex inner world of the characters. Through a careful analysis of the novel, the author comes to the following conclusions:(a) in the novel, spatial forms can be traced in three levels and by way of juxtaposition in different levels, many kinds of spatial forms can be traced in the novel, to be more specific, they are:orangenformig, time temporal and image; (b) by analyzing the relations between spatial form and time in the novel, the author finds that on the one hand, time is organized and represented through spatial form; on the other hand, the employment of spatial form reflects Faulkner’s philosophy of time, i.e., he advocates people to forget the past, live in the present and look forward to the future.Through the analysis of the spatial form of The Sound and the Fury, this research will offer people a more thorough understanding of the novel by providing a new approach to explore the modern novel. The research can also make the reading of modern novels like The Sound and the Fury a much easier job for readers.