An Analysis Of Narrative Strategies In William Faulkner's Short Stories From The Modernist Perspective

William Faulkner(1897-1962)was celebrated as one of the avant-garde modernist writers in 20 th century America.In his works,he made bold experimentation in modernist writing techniques in order to reveal the trauma and plight of modern people,making profound contribution to the modernist writings as well as the world literature.In his life,Faulkner had written many modernist novels and short stories with experimental writing techniques.Most of his works were set in his fictional world Yoknapatawpha county,which was created based on his hometown in southern America.And these works further composed the Yoknapatawpha Sage,which is well known in world literature.Since the scholarship of Faulkner started in the early 1900 s,the novels of Faulkner have won the extensive attention of scholars worldwide;however,his equally brilliant short stories have been neglected for long time.This paper chooses Faulkner's three short stories That Evening Sun,Barn Burning and Wash as the object of the study,and mainly studies the narrative strategies in these three short stories from the modernist perspective.In the first chapter,the paper offers a brief introduction to William Faulkner and his main works.And this chapter is composed of three part.The first part gives an introduction to the experiences of Faulkner and his main works.Then the second part provides a brief introduction to the contents of the three short stories.At last,the thirdpart is about the layout of the paper.The chapter two is literature review,which is made up by four parts.The first part offers a presentation of the literary review of Faulkner in abroad.The second part is about the literary review of Faulkner in China.And the third part gives an introduction to the study of the three short stories.The fourth part introduces the theoretical framework of the paper,including modernism,especially modernism in literature,and narratology.Chapter three is the main part of the paper.It studies the experimental narrative strategies in the three short stories,which is made up of four parts.Firstly,the first part studies the narrative structures of the three stories.By focusing on the repetitive pattern in That Evening Sun,epiphany of Wash in Wash and initiation of Sartoris in Barn Burning,the paper explores the Faulkner's innovation in narrative structures of modernist writings.Then the second part analyzes the experimental narrative point of view in Faulkner's three short stories,including the employment of multiple points of view in Barn Burning,the child's point of view in That Evening Sun and the third-person limited point of view in Wash.All these show the flexibility and modernity of Faulkner's narrative point of view.The third part analyzes the three short stories from the perspective of narrative time,the discontinuity in That Evening Sun,the cyclic narrative order in Wash and non-chronological order in Barn Burning,elaborating on Faulkner's the modernist concept of time.Lastly,the fourth part discusses the narrative references employed by Faulkner in the three short stories to delineate the characteristics of characters and deepen the themes of the stories.The chapter four discusses the profound theme displayed in Faulkner's short stories,which approaches two aspects.The first part studies the spiritual crisis of modern people.Haunted by the past and facing the unknown future,southern people found themselves caught in dilemma,desperately struggling to find their way out.The second part discusses the prospect for modern people.As a humanist writer,Faulkner held out optimistic view that although modern people were constantly confronted with facing different crisis in the modern society,they displayed potential to break through all the obstacles because of their persistence,courage and other merits.The fifth chapter is about the conclusion of the paper,including main findings,limitations and suggestions for further study.