Absalom, Absalom!
Absalom, Absalom! is a novel by William Faulkner , first published in 1936, which tells the story of the American South before, during and after the American Civil War and focuses on Thomas Sutpen, a man who appeared in Yoknapatawpha County in 1833 and around whom there are many myths . The story is told from the perspective of Harvard student Quentin Compson; a character that Faulkner introduced as early as 1929 in his novel Schall und Wahn .
Absalom, Absalom! is considered one of the most important English-language novels of the 20th century. It had a considerable influence on the award of the Nobel Prize for Literature to Faulkner in 1950. In addition, the novel was voted the “best novel about the southern states” by American jurors in 2009.
content
The story of Thomas Sutpen is told in a nested manner. In the summer of 1909, Miss Rosa asked Coldfield, an old, single woman and sister-in-law of Sutpen, Harvard student Quentin Compson, to come and see her. Before her death, she would like to tell of the demise of her family and in particular of the "demon" who made a significant contribution to it. The young Compson is suitable for this for various reasons. So his grandfather was one of the few friends old Sutpen had in Jefferson. In addition, Quentin's above-average intellect and possible literary ambitions also make him suitable for writing down the story if necessary. Quentin notes to Miss Coldfield that she is dying to tell the story and wants to tell why God allowed the South to lose the war .
Miss Coldfield relates how Thomas Sutpen came to Jefferson, Mississippi , on horseback one day , carrying nothing but two revolvers and strange coins that he used to pay for a French architect . He also has a group of wild slaves with him. He appropriates a piece of land and builds a villa on it, which the architect designs. Sutpen calls her Sutpen's Hundred and resides twelve miles from town. Sutpen himself lives as a savage with his slaves, fights and fights with them and organizes horse races.
To improve his reputation in the city, he marries young Ellen Coldfield, the older sister of Miss Rosa Coldfield. Ellen is the daughter of a Methodist trader. The marriage has two children: Henry (born 1839) and Judith (born 1840).
One night, to her horror, Ellen finds out that Sutpen is still taking part in battles against other slaves in front of a desolate retinue of slaves, and that his two children witness them. Ellen understands that he wants her son to see this, but she finds it incomprehensible with Judith.
In the next chapter, Quentin waits to leave again to meet Rosa Coldfield, and he sits with his father, who is smoking a cigar and telling him about Sutpen's previous years in Jefferson.
Sutpen showed up in Jefferson on a Sunday morning in 1833. He was 25 years old and looked like someone who had overcome a serious physical illness with the last of his mental strength. He had nothing but two revolvers with him and rode his horse into town to move into a room at Holston House . Even then, he said, he caught the attention of the city, but every morning before sunrise he locked his room and rode away, which gave rise to many legends about sutps. He never drank at the bar (Quentin's grandfather later said that at first it was just because he had no money to drink) and Sutpen avoided any questions about himself.
Sutpen negotiated with the Indians and paid with Spanish coins, the last money he had. He got a hundred square miles of uncultivated land. He disappeared for two months and then returned with a group of filthy slaves and a French architect to build the house on his estate that he would later call Sutpen's Hundred .
Legends quickly grew up around Sutpen's wild slaves. It has been observed that he uses them like hunting dogs to scare off game while hunting. Sutpen spoke French to the slaves, even if it was strongly falsified by his own dialects. Some of Jefferson's residents believed that he spoke to them in wicked tongues. After years of work, the villa was ready. Sutpen had worked naked with the slaves to keep his clothes clean for the next step.
Sutpen borrowed the first seed from General Compson to get his cotton plantation going. His person was still a mystery, but Sutpen began to invite men over for long drinks and card games. There were fist fights with slaves, but early Jeffersonians suspected Sutpen would soon be picking a wife. So one day Sutpen arrived at church in his fine clothes and he courted Mr. Coldfield's daughter - Miss Ellen. The wild evenings at Sutpen's Hundred ended.
One day Sutpen disappeared and returned with supplies for his villa. Townspeople feared he was involved in criminal activity and a group of men, led by the sheriff , wanted to confront him. Sutpen himself met her halfway, then rode up to Mr. Coldfield, offered Ellen a bunch of flowers, and left the men on the left. He made several visits to Ellen Coldfield and eventually married her while townspeople arrested him and dragged him before a judge. Their fears were unfounded and were shattered by General Compson and Mr. Coldfield.
Ellen is known to cry on her wedding day. Her father had requested a small wedding, but Sutpen was for a big celebration. With the help of Ellen's aunt, over a hundred invitations were sent out, but only ten people came. A large group of residents gathered in front of the house and threw dirt at the groom as they left the church.
This section of the novel is mainly concerned with Miss Rosa Coldfield and her story. Mr. Compson talks about her because Quentin asked him why Miss Rosa is reporting about Sutpen when she would like to surrender him to oblivion.
Miss Rosa's mother died in childbirth and her older sister Ellen had been married to Sutpen for seven years at the time. Miss Rosa was raised by the aunt who had once supported Sutpen's wedding. Rosa learned to hate her father for losing her mother. One day the latter killed himself for various reasons, and when Ellen died during the Civil War, Miss Rosa moved to Sutpen's Hundred. Her sister Ellen had made her promise to save Judith.
There is another storyline around Judith, the one around Charles Bon, whom Henry meets by chance at university and takes home. Charles and Judith approach each other romantically, which Thomas Sutpen tries to forbid. Charles is his son from his first marriage to a woman from Haiti . It is left to speculation whether Charles knows of his parentage and is acting out of revenge (Sutpen left the woman when he learned that she was carrying black blood) or whether Charles is becoming a victim of himself. Henry eventually shoots him.
Sutpen himself is also the victim of an act of violence. When he approaches 15-year-old Milly Jones in 1869 and impregnates her, she is murdered by her grandfather Wash Jones with a scythe, along with Milly and the toddler.
Narrative structure
Absalom, Absalom! Because of its narrative structure, it is one of the great novels of the 20th century, albeit one of the most difficult. There are five different narrators, four of whom can only tell the story from their own point of view and sometimes even deliberately lie or falsify the story. There is no ultimate truth.
The story begins with Miss Rosa Coldfield, who wants to tell one last life confession to the Harvard student Quentin and wants to tell about the decline of her family and, to a large extent, about the man she chose as the culprit for her misfortune: Thomas Sutpen, often referred to as a demon .
The second chapter introduces a new narrator, Mr. Compson, Quentin's father, who tells what his grandfather - the Civil War general - told him. Grandfather Compson was one of the few friends Sutpen had in Jefferson. In such passages, as told by Father Compson, Sutpen also has a say in a first-person narrative situation .
Quentin Compson finally puts together everything he has been told about Sutpen and tells it at Harvard as a story about the old south to his roommate Shreve, who reacts enthusiastically to this southern tale and drives Quentin more and more to keep telling it.
Shreve also becomes a narrator when he reproduces the narrative and continues to speculate how the individual scenes may have played out.
There is also an authorial narrator who tells of people's attempts to recount Sutpen's story. In the penultimate chapter he finally intervenes himself and reports on a scene that had taken place during the civil war - a meeting between Henry and Sutpen.
main characters
The following list shows the main characters in the novel.
Thomas Sutpen
Sutpen is the leading figure in the novel. The story begins with him. He was born in West Virginia in 1807 . He was one of many children from a poor Scottish-English family whom he suddenly left at the age of fourteen. Seven years later he married a Haitian woman who gave birth to a son (Charles Bon). When Sutpen learns that the woman has "Negro blood" in her, he leaves her. Sutpen appears in 1833 in Jefferson, the capital of Yoknapatawpha County , and buys the property he calls Sutpen's Hundred with Spanish money. He marries Ellen Coldfield, who has two children, Henry and Judith. Furthermore, Sutpen has a daughter (Clytemenstra) with one of his slaves. Sutpen is a powerful landlord whose moods seem almost "demonic" to relatives. He served in the American Civil War and became a colonel . He is murdered by Wash Jones in 1869.
Ellen Coldfield
She is the second wife of Thomas Sutpen. She was born in Tennessee in 1817 as the daughter of Goodhue Coldfield. She is the mother of two children (Henry and Judith) and died in 1863 during the Civil War. She is an inconsistent and easily aroused person.
Henry Sutpen
Son of Thomas Sutpen and Ellen Coldfield. Born in 1839 to Sutpen's Hundred. He attends the University of Mississippi, where he meets Charles Bon, the half-brother he is going to shoot to prevent the incestuous marriage between Charles Bon and Judith. He previously served alongside Bons in the Civil War, just like his father. When he shoots Charles Bon, he may just be acting as his father's tool. Like him he is strong in will, even if he lacks insight. Henry is also romantically transfigured. He died on Sutpen's Hundred in 1909 in the fire that destroyed the house.
Judith Sutpen
Daughter of Thomas Sutpen and Ellen Coldfield. Born in 1841 to Sutpen's Hundred. She has a strong character. She has a relationship with Charles Bon who she doesn't know is her half-brother. After his murder, Judith lives on as an " old maid ". She dies on Sutpen's Hundred in 1884.
Eulalia Bon
Born in Haiti as the only child of a French sugar cane owner. In 1827 she married Thomas Sutpen and they divorced in 1831. She is the mother of Charles Bon.
Charles Bon
Son of Thomas Sutpen and Eulalia Bon. He was born in 1831 and is an only child. He was left with the mother by the father. Then they move to New Orleans . Charles Bon attended Mississippi University in 1859 and met Henry Sutpen there. At this home there is a liaison with his sister Judith, who is his own half-sister. Charles Bon fought like his father and half-brother in the American Civil War on the side of the southern states and made it to the rank of lieutenant . He is shot dead by Henry Sutpen in front of Sutpen's Hundred in 1865.
Clytemnestra Sutpen
Daughter of Thomas Sutpen and a slave. She was born in 1834 at Sutpen's Hundred, where she died in 1909 during the fire that she set herself. She grew up as a down-to-earth carer, especially for Judith.
Pink Coldfield
Daughter of Mr. Goodhue Coldfield. She was born in 1845, making her the much younger sister of Ellen Coldfield and the aunt of Henry and Judith Sutpen. These children - especially Judith - should save Miss Rosa. At this point, Miss Rosa also lives on Sutpen's Hundred and "replaces" the deceased sister. After the war and the death of her sister, a marriage between her and Thomas Sutpen was in the air for a short time, but this ended with an insult to Miss Rosa by Sutpen and the departure of Miss Rosa from Sutpen's Hundred. The novel begins with her narration. She died of old age in 1910.
Wash Jones
Father of Melicent Jones and grandfather of Milly Jones. Wash lives in an abandoned fishing camp at Sutpen's Hundred. He does several jobs for Thomas Sutpen and drinks with him. In 1869 he killed Sutpen with a scythe.
Milly Jones
Wash Jones' young granddaughter, who gives birth to Thomas Sutpen's child at the age of fifteen. The three are murdered together by their grandfather, Wash Jones, shortly after their child was born in 1869.
Charles Etienne de St. Valery Bon
Son of Charles Bon and his secret mistress in New Orleans. Clytie brings him to Sutpen's Hundred in 1871. The violent man married a black woman in 1879 who gave birth to a child.
Jim Bond (Bon)
Son of Charles Etienne de St. Valery Bon. Born in 1882, he disappears in the great fire in 1909.
Mr. Compson
Son of General Compson , the man who served with Sutpen and who was his friend at home in Jefferson.
Quentin Compson
Son of Mr. Compson and grandson of General Compson. Born in Jefferson in 1891, he attended Harvard University in Massachusetts from 1909 and died there in 1910 when he threw himself from the bridge into the river. He is informed about the history of the Sutpens through Miss Rosa and Mr. Compson. Also protagonist in Faulkner's earlier novel Schall und Wahn and the short story That Evening Sun.
Shrevlin McCannon ("Shreve")
Fellow student of Quentin, to whom he told the story of Sutpen at Harvard. Born in Alberta, Canada in 1890, he is obsessed with Quentin's tale of the southern states. He attended from 1909 to 1914, the Harvard University and is then a fighter pilot in the Royal Air Force in the First World War .
The title
The title of the novel refers to the biblical story of Prince Absalom , who once set out to fight against his father David. In a metaphorical sense, patricide is meant - the killing of the father by the son, be it physical, psychological or just symbolic. Faulkner himself described Absalom, Absalom! once with the words: "Sutpen was a man who wanted sons and whom the sons destroyed".
reception
The novel has been criticized by contemporary critics for its intricacy, its pompous style (consisting of overly long sentences, some of the longest in literary history), and its convoluted, redundant narrative with deviating details.
In a post about Faulkner's novel on Furious Fiction , writer and essayist Diane Roberts named Absalom, Absalom! possibly the greatest American novel of the 20th century. Roberts and presenter Mark Mustian agreed on the heavy narrative structure of the novel, which Diane Roberts also praised.
Absalom, Absalom! has also been referred to as the Great American Novel of the 20th century several times , including in various blogger projects for English-speaking readers. including Arthur Hirsch in The Baltimore Sun . Hirsch published the related article in the Baltimore Sun on November 16, 1997. The title was: The real great American Novel: 'Absalom, Absalom!' Faulkner: His ninth novel, for its span, its revelation, its American essence, stands above all others in reaching for the literary absolute. Hirsch emphasizes at the beginning that Faulkner is said to have called his own work (possibly intoxicated) the best novel ever written by an American when he handed over the manuscript. Elsewhere, Hirsch highlights the many characters in the novel when he cites it as a murder story , Greek tragedy , historical drama , Freudian family nightmare, and Gothic ghost story . Absalom, Absalom! be a work whose plot is storytelling, whose four narrators reach for the truth and can only reluctantly claim it for themselves. The reader has to work his way through different types of narration, which means that in some places one can only speculate about the real procedure. That and many other things make the novel unique.
An independent panel of critics and readers from Oxford American Magazine named Absalom, Absalom! In 2009 the greatest southern novel of all time. You can tell from the novel that it is the work of an author who has taken his vision to the extreme . Faulkner's work is the novel by an American who is closest to being an analogue of Joyce's Ulysses . The article also recognized Faulkner's modernity and his uncompromising narrative.
Individual evidence
- ^ The Best Southern Novels of All Time ( Memento from October 31, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ http://faulkner.lib.virginia.edu/display/wfaudio06_1
- ↑ Richard Godden: Absalom, Absalom! In: Encyclopædia Britannica . Retrieved April 11, 2018 .
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVT-oleU4NA
- ↑ http://paperpopsong.wordpress.com/2012/09/30/the-great-american-novel-project-absalom-absalom/
- ↑ http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1997-11-16/news/1997320006_1_absalom-great-american-novel-faulkner
- ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/01/magazine/how-william-faulkner-tackled-race-and-freed-the-south-from-itself.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0