Temporal Ordering In Faulkner's Six Short Stories

William Faulkner is one of the most creative American modern writers and spokesmen of literature of American South. His creativity is excellent not only in novels but also in short stories. His short stories have never been overlooked, and have occasioned and continue to occasion more critical attention from many critics all over the world. The thesis selects six from his stories, namely"A Rose for Emily","Wash","There Was a Queen","A Justice","That Evening Sun", and"Barn Burning". It attempts to discuss these six stories from the temporal ordering perspective, and thus explores the influence of his view of time on literary creation.This thesis attempts to offer an analysis of temporal ordering in the six short stories by applying the theory of Genette's narrative model and its theory in progress. Anachrony, including three chronological deviations, analepsis, prolepsis, and co-occurrence, refers to the linear order in Genette's model. After the classification of the three anachronies, the thesis studies in detail the narrative time in these six stories by reconstituting the chronological sequence. It is found that Faulkner materializes analepsis in prolepsis narrative and has actualized the reversibility of time in narrator's recounting.Upon close analysis of Faulkner's employment of analepsis, prolepsis and co-occurrence in these six stories, this thesis facilitates readers to gain a better understanding of Faulkner's conception of time and thus reveals that the purpose of some of Faulkner's structural complexities is to keep his material in a state of flux or suspension. Intentionally, Faulkner attempts to achieve the emotional and aesthetic effect of continuity and fluidity in narrative. The discussion of Faulkner's handling of time also helps to dig into his fixed time pattern in writing his stories.By doing so, the thesis attempts to reveal Faulkner's cyclic and static views of time, and explore the influence of his views of time on his creativity of fictional world. It is his writing in such a way that makes his literary creation an infinite and extending world. In the analysis of Faulkner's view of time in his literary creation, the research has found that Faulkner was brilliantly successful in his revision of stories for incorporation into novels. Moreover, it is also found that the guiding principle underlying his short stories writings accords with his novels'. Both these two genres are inherently unified into Faulkner's total achievement in literature.The thesis concludes that the concept of time as fluid is what Faulkner stresses and it reveals Faulkner's philosophy of time, which considers life as a continuous flow. He believes that there are no pauses or stops between the past and the present in history, but only continuity. This thesis contends that Faulkner's complex and complicated handling of time is meant to represent such continuity and fluidity.