On Faulkner's Stream-of-consciousness Art In The Sound And The Fury

William Faulkner, the most important and the leading figure of the American Southern writers, is a great and successful avant-garde experimenter in modern literary techniques. His greatest contribution to modernist literature is his technical innovation in novel writing, most notably his development of the stream-of-consciousness technique. His masterpiece, The Sound and the Fury is usually considered to be the first stream-of-consciousness novel in American literature. It tells the history of the decline and fall into social and moral decay of one of the Southern aristocratic family, the Compsons, in which his writing techniques come to perfection.Faulkner was recognized as the first master of the stream-of-consciousness novel in American literature, some critics analyze or discuss the techniques in his stream-of-consciousness novels, but it is a rare case that they systematically analyze the stream-of-consciousness technique in The Sound and the Fury. Therefore, a monographic study of it becomes the subject in this thesis.This thesis analyzes several fictional methods in this novel which concern the stream-of-consciousness technique, including multiple points of view, circular narrative structure, free association and interior monologue. Taking examples from the fiction, the readers will have an idea of the features of each method, and how Faulkner depicts his characters'inner world through the manipulation of those methods. With the wide use of stream-of-consciousness technique, Faulkner succeeds in revealing the content and process of human consciousness to the readers. His ingenious employment of this technique serves the theme of the novel: the decay and deterioration of the Compson family and the Southern aristocracy. Not surprisingly, he is admired as a master of stream-of-consciousness technique. In a word, The Sound and the Fury is a typical stream-of-consciousness novel. This thesis studies the application of four main stream-of-consciousness techniques in the text, including three Chapters:Chapter one introduces William Faulkner and his masterpiece The Sound and the Fury as well as some literary comments on it. Chapter two illustrates the development of the stream-of-consciousness literature in history. Chapter three analyzes the application of four main stream-of-consciousness techniques in The Sound and the Fury: multiple points of view, circular narrative structure, free association and interior monologue. The stream-of-consciousness technique endows special charm on The Sound and the Fury. And Faulkner's experimental spirit will encourage later generations forever.