Time, Space And Self——On William Faulkner's Absalom,Absalom!

This thesis is a study of self on William Faulkner's famous work Absalom. Absaloml. It aims to explore how time and space is manifested in relation to the self, which is set within such time and space. The Introduction starts off the discussion by outlining the notion of self-interpretation as one which has its roots in early American literature, which greatly affects Faulkner's writing. The interpretation of meaning mostly depends on the bias of the perceiver; there is thus no absolute value,good or evil, except in the eyes of the beholder. Being a Southern American himself,he can not be remove the defeated past from his mind. His writing becomes a quest for liberation from the ghosts of this pastChapter One demonstrates the rise of the self horizontally in time, specifically the relationship between the past and present,arguing that although the self is set in "time past", time may also be a potential trap that does not allow the self to extend beyond it. To some extend, oneself is always located in the past, memories form our self-consciousness. The more the past memories, the greater their cumulative influence. The past would break down the individual will and energy for sustaining selfhood. Quentin is the typical character who is always indulged in the past and couldnt find his self. Essentially, however, the self is a spatial being which moves in a fluid environment. As Faulkner said, "time is a fluid condition which has no existence except in the momentary avatars of individual people"(Malcolm 141). This is taken up in Chapter Two which examines the nature of the self, while redefining and extending the scope and nature of space. The notion of space is the core of selfhood. The self is autonomous space, a sacrosanct area that preserves one's sense of self and individuality. The meaning of space does not rely on the norm but on the symbolic meaning. In response to the simple question "Who is Thomas Sutpen?", the story tells from four storytellers' to their recons' point of view about theirreconstructed characters. Sutpen denies Bon means he himself had achieved a position of power in the patriarchal systemrboundar boundary-crossing. He attempts to dissolve the boundary itself by the ruthless denial of his past, the physical deterioration of Sutpen's Hundred reflects its builder's moral degeneration. Irwin John T calls this book"a moral fable of which the materials derive from Southern life but the meaning-at Faulkner's best-are quite without geographical limit.. . ." (Irwin 34). Having examined the dialectic which exists between time and space, I finally attempt to show in Chapter Three that historical realism has been served by an ominiscient and trustworthy narrator; tragedy, by a plot uncomplicated but conspicuous display of symbolism and unique style.The reader's conventional expectations of the book which presents a stable worldview and clear way of reacting to an incident do not work here, the readers' emotions would swing abruptly from one extreme to another. The novel which breaks such a relationship between the text and the reader, however, allows the reader scope for personal development and growth through space for imagination. In the interaction between the text and the reader that results, the reader becomes aware of himself as an interpretative self who is self-created, or self-actualized,as he reads and interprets. The readers may in the process confront ample impediments. The readers' self is to be challenged.