The Fusion Of Southern Tradition And Modernistic Artistic Techniques In Absalom, Absalom

William Faulkner is usually considered as a traditional local writer rooted in the southern tradition, whose works reveal a deep sense of "Southernness"; meantime, he is also regarded by many others as a very important figure in the experimental stage of modernism, and his work Absalom, Absalom is referred to as the ultimate innovation of novel writing ever since James Joyce. Faulkner skillfully blended southern literary tradition with modern artistic techniques in this work:on the one hand, he has inherited many such traditions of southern literature as home literature, estate literature, and Gothic novel and then injected fresh innovations to make a style of his own; on the other hand, he has made great contributions to the development of modern literature through his bold innovation and experimentation in his writing techniques. In Absalom, Absalom, the traditional themes of southern literature is developed in a modern way and creative techniques are applied to meet the demand of the traditional subjects and narrative pursuit as well. Faulkner represents us the familiar traditional southern stories in a way of modern artistry, thus giving rise to a unique aesthetic effect.This thesis is mainly divided into three parts: the first one describes the social state of mind of the South prior to and after the civil war, as well as their conservative way of looking backward, as reflected in Absalom, Absalom as its fundamental theme. This part focuses on the inheritance, innovation and even betrayal of traditional southern home literature in Absalom, Absalom, which led to Faulkner’s prominent position in literary history and enforced great influence upon many of the coming writers.In the second part, it is mentioned that the creation of Absalom, Absalom was taken up at a time when modernism began to spring up, and many modern techniques have emerged in this work, including anachronism, expression of consciousness, multiple narrative levels, open-ended structure form, symbolism and metaphorization of Greek mythology and Bible.The third part, generally based on the former two, analyzes the unique artistic style and aesthetic effect in the Absalom, Absalom. Faulkner preserves the traditional way of narration while setting dramatic conflicts to enhance stories. In the meantime, the gothic style serves for the modeling of characters and the novel’s theme. Similar to the quartet in the music, three dimensional and cascading structures make varieties of sound mix together, which indicates Faulkner’s capability in unifying the form and content in his writing.