Dry September

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Dürrer September (in the original Dry September ) is a short story by the American writer and later Nobel Prize winner for literature, William Faulkner , which was first published in January 1931 in Scribner's Magazine and in the same year was included in a revised form in the anthology Thesis 13 and later in the Collected Stories and has been reprinted in numerous other collections. The German translation by Elisabeth Schnack was first published in 1965 by Fretz und Wasmuth Verlag in Zurich.

Title page of the edition of These13 (1931)

The story focuses on the hypocrisy in the southern states of the United States of America and the fateful effect of rumors . In this story, Will Mayes, a black man, is lynched by a rumor that he has raped a white woman.

Creation and publication

The short story was written in 1931 during a very creative phase of Faulkner. The writer had published the critically acclaimed novels Schall und Wahn (1929) and When I was dying (1930) and in 1931 he achieved a kind of commercial breakthrough with Die Freistatt , which led to the two earlier novels being intensely read by readers and critics. In the following year, 1932, a fourth successful novel was written, Licht im August . Furthermore, other short stories were created during these four years.

After it was first published in Scribner's Magazine and included in the Thesis 13 collection , which comprised thirteen short stories by Faulkner, Dürrer September quickly became one of the author's most popular short stories. Located in Yoknapatawpha County , Faulkner's fictional narrative landscape in the American South , the story conveys a thoroughly representative impression of the narrative forms, motifs and themes used by Faulkner. Regardless of the fact that the fictional location in the south of the USA with its diverse social and cultural tensions as well as its myths and legends or even humorous traditions forms a rich basis for Faulkner's poetic work, the short story is by no means spatially limited in the sense of a local color. but portrays a focal point of life not only in its diversity, but also in its contradictions and incomprehensibility. From the point of view of literary criticism, the story, along with A Rose for Emily , That Evening Sun and Barn Burning, is generally regarded as one of Faulkner's best-known and artistically most successful short stories , some of which Faulkner himself conceived as preliminary studies for his great novels.

It appeared again in 1950 in the Collected Stories of William Faulkner , which contained almost all of the short stories published to date. In 1961 she appeared again in the Selected Stories of William Faulkner.

In German-speaking countries, most of Faulkner's works appeared in the American original and in translations only after the Second World War . The Diogenes Verlag brought in 1968 three years after the first publication of the German edition of the collected stories of Faulkner under license the story collection Dry September and eight other stories out. The stories were translated by Elisabeth Schnack. Dürrer September was anthologized in various collections and reissued several times, for example as part of the master stories , also published by Diogenes Verlag.

content

First part

A lively discussion that takes place at the barber's is reproduced . The barber doesn't believe the rumor that Will Mayes touched the affected lady (Miss Minnie Cooper). He is then referred to as a nigger lover and accused of putting the word of a black over that of a white woman. The barber emphasizes his demeanor and does not think anything has happened. He knows the intended Will Mayes and doesn't believe that he did anything. He does not find the affected lady (an unmarried woman) credible and asks heartily that the matter be dealt with correctly and that the sheriff should take it into his own hands ( lynching ), which the barber strictly condemns.

All but two of the gentlemen present let the barber convince them. A youth named Butch eagerly believes the rumor and a traveling salesman is influenced by him. Still, the scene seems almost smoothed out when a man named McLendon appears. He also believes in the rumor and wants to mobilize people for his cause. The scene ends with all the men joining McLendon except the three barbers. However, the barber, who believes in Will Mayes' innocence, runs after them to prevent the worst.

Second part

The second part shows the day of Minnie Cooper, the lady in question. She is an old maid who has condemned relationships with men. She lives with her disabled mother and an aunt. While she once spent the afternoons in company, she now suffers greatly from her loneliness. After the failed relationship with a banker, she seems to have fallen into isolation and is fighting her mental decline with whiskey . She is a failed person with no goals or hope.

The rumor that concerns them and so vehemently dominated the first part of the short story is not mentioned in the very short second part. There is only one representation of Miss Minnie Cooper.

third part

In the third part, the barber (Hawkshaw) joins the men around McLendon. At first they believe that he has changed his mind, in fact he wants to dissuade them from their plan. They drive out of town in two cars to a warehouse where Will Mayes is the night watchman. "Hawk", as the barber is briefly called by the others, touches on a number of issues, such as the fact that a lady like Miss Cooper could not be entirely trusted. Nobody listens to him.

They find Mayes, who protests his innocence. The men are willing to kill him on the spot, but McLendon wants Mayes to get into the car instead. When the latter refuses, there are brief scuffles in which Mayes is beaten by the men. Mayes, who flogs wildly, also meets the barber Hawkshaw, who then hits back. When everyone is driving out of town in the car, the barber suddenly wants to get out; McLendon tells him to jump out of the car, which he eventually does. He is hiding on the side of the road when the cars (without Mayes) return. He may fear that the men will be after more violence and this time turn against him. The cars drive by and he walks back into town.

fourth part

In the fourth section, the narrator returns to Miss Minnie Cooper, who is getting ready to go out into town with friends. The friends want to know how she is doing after the rape . They think that if she wants to get over the shock, she has to tell them everything. They are apparently looking for gossip information . Miss Minnie reacts frustrated to be in the public eye again. She is followed with lustful looks on the street and finds out that her so-called friends are hardly better than McLendon's mob.

After going to the cinema, she suffers something like a nervous breakdown and has to be put to bed with a fever and undressed. Many of her friends doubt that rape or the like ever took place.

Part five

The very short fifth part closes the short story. McLendon returns home after the murder to find his wife still awake. He confronts her about not wanting her to stay up and wait for him and reacts very aggressively and violently. His wife seems to have come to terms with his almost sadistic streak and only defends herself with cheap excuses such as that she could not sleep. After a brief outbreak of violence, the situation calmed down again.

Leitmotifs

The rumor

The rumor about the black Will Mayes that he did harm to the white Miss Minnie dominates the whole short story. It remains a rumor that the characters either believe in - like the teenage Butch and McLendon - or they don't - like the barber. A clarification of what is true and what is only rumor never takes place. If there is a change of perspective on Miss Minnie, the rumor will not be addressed and she will dispute any guilt regarding Mayes' fate. Mayes himself does not speak until the third part of the story. He protests his innocence, but is not believed.

The weather

The dry weather seems to be partly to blame for the emotionality of the men. The first sentence of the short story says in the original: “ Through the bloody September twilight, aftermath of sixy-two rainless days, it had gone like a fire in a dry grass - the rumor, the story, whatever it was. “The narrator also connects the dry, humid weather with the rumor and the murder at other points in the text. (" Lifeless air ", " spent dust " and " wan hemorrhage of the moon ", all in the third part, where the mood spills over and leads to the murder of Mayes). After Mayes' death towards the end of the third part, it is said that the dust flies around the returning wagons and almost absorbs it. The men become one with the weather and thus its spawn.

prejudices

An important motive that drives men to lynch is the prejudice that a black man cannot be trusted in dealing with a white woman, no matter how implausible she may be. A dry September shows what prejudice can lead to. The short story is absolutely credible and neutral at all times. Fates like that of Emmett Till (which was to occur in 1955) show that prejudices in the south have not been reduced to the present day and that a black person is classified as less credible than a white person.

A good thirty years later, the author Harper Lee dealt with the subject in her southern novel Who the Nightingale bothers and brought it once more to the public. Faulkner himself devoted himself to the topic again in 1932 in his novel Licht in August .

Victim

The dominant victim of the story is the white woman Miss Minnie Cooper. The old maid is already victimized by her social position, since she has no husband and is sexually frustrated. Whether the black Will Mayes ever touched her immorally remains open, because Miss Minnie is dead silent on the matter.

Will Mayes is the real victim as he is killed by the angry mob and loses his life. Before that, he intensively affirmed his innocence; on his side is the barber Hawkshaw, who campaigned for Mayes (in vain) with the mob.

The entire short story is dominated by a victim question. Even McLendon's wife is portrayed as a victim of a domestic tyrant at the end. Nevertheless, the narrator's descriptions remain neutral. He does not evaluate or comment, but merely describes.

Structure and narrative form

Narrative and plot lines

In Dürrer September Faulkner combines two largely independent threads of action: the story of a lynching and that of an aging woman who is desperately trying to turn back time. The two storylines are linked by the rumor spread by Minnie Cooper about the shame inflicted on her that triggers the hunt for the black Will Mayes.

Each of the two storylines has its own group of people and its own locations. There are also differences in the prevailing display mode. While the lynching story is largely presented in a scenic and dialogical way, the Minnie Cooper plot is dominated by the epic narrative.

Spatial-temporal relationships between the two courses of action consist in the concentration on the scene of Jefferson, the capital of Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha County, and the fact that, apart from a reversal, the events are compressed to a few hours on a late summer evening. However, the differences are more numerous and more significant than these similarities: Both parts each have their own circle of characters and their own locations such as the barber shop, the vicinity of Jefferson, McLendon's “birdcage” house on the one hand and Minnie's parents' house, the “square” and that Cinema on the other hand. Likewise, the structure of the story initially emphasizes the impression of coexistence rather than integration: the different phases of the lynching story are presented in accordance with an alternating principle in chapters I, III and V, while the fate of Minnie Cooper is described in chapters II and IV. The various chapters are only linked between I and II, where the problem of Minnie's credibility leads over to the presentation of her life story. Differences between the individual storylines can also be found in the respective dominant display mode: The type of display in the lynching story is largely scenic-dialogical, whereas the Minnie Cooper story is characterized by an epic narrative style in the entire second chapter and for large parts in the fourth chapter.

The act of lynching

The act of lynching, which has priority in its scope and position in the short story, focuses on the preparation and aftermath of a crime; Despite the victim motive that runs through the story, as Hoffmann shows in his analysis, it is not so much about the crime itself or the victim Will Mayes as it is about the perpetrator. In this way the murder is omitted in terms of the plot; the narrative focuses on a series of men who happen to meet on a September evening and then become murderers and accomplices. In his interpretation of Dürrer September Hoffmann shows how this process and its consequences form the inner process and determine the structure of the story.

The first chapter of the story describes the stage of decision-making and begins with a description of the various reactions to the rumor about Miss Minnie Cooper and a Negro. As an example of Faulkner's narrative technique, the action-like exposition is designed as a dramatic scene with a thematic mirror function. In addition to their utterances and linguistic comparisons, the figures involved are drawn and contrasted by bundling non-linguistic means of expression such as looks, gestures and their position as well as movement in space. The partially missing narrator commentary is replaced by a conspicuous metaphor .

The opposing opinions are initially built up by two outwardly strongly different characters as representatives: While Hawkshaw, as a middle-aged man with logical-psychological arguments, represents his view and embodies the voice of reason or humanity, his opponent, the youthful hothead Butch, is as Featured exponent of racial fanaticism and the cult of the white woman. Through his invectives and insinuations, he proves to be a typical representative of the ideologically fixed and narrow-minded figures in Faulkner's literary work. The other people present remain nameless and are only of importance insofar as they promote the dispute with their partisan or mediating comments. Occasionally in this context indirect metaphorical value accents are set that develop a comical - satirical effect, for example with the appearance of the fanatical "drummer" with his soaped beard "like a desert rat in the moving picture" (German: "like a desert rat." in the moving picture ”, p. 170).

The appearance of the third person named at a later point in time is characteristic of Faulkner's design of the leadership and the dramatization of the events in phases. The preliminary climax of the escalating conflict, the increasing emotionalization of which is clearly highlighted by the irrational outbreak of southerners' resentment against the northern states, is marked by the appearance of the former troop commander McLendon, who turns this previously undecided conflict. His appearance is emphasized in a memorable way through graphic concretizations of the impression of strength and violence; in addition to the highlighted “heavy automatic pistol” (German: “heavy automatic pistol”), his authoritative behavior and especially his provocative speeches serve not only the purpose of a character drawing, but also the motivation of the subsequent events. McLendon von Faulkner portrays McLendon as a type of unscrupulous demagogue through his skillful combination of pathetic phrases, pseudo-logical arguments and ultimate demands in connection with psychological means of pressure such as threatening looks, curses and expressive movements . With the exception of Hawkshaw, nobody is able to escape this psychological and psychological pressure that he exerts on his environment; the events set in motion by him from now on take their course inexorably according to its own laws. At this point the narrative contains a sociological component through reference to the phenomena of mass suggestion as well as the lack of moral courage and its culpable consequences; Nevertheless, Faulkner does not forego psychological complication and deepening by using non-linguistic means of expression, such as movements and looks, to express the inner scruples and remorse of those involved.

The escalating confrontation between Hawkshaw and McLendon in this scene also forms a kind of thematic mirror spot in which the principles of humanity and non-violence are represented by Hawkshaw on the one hand and the undisguised aggressiveness and brutality in the form of McLendon on the other. McLendon's triumphant departure in contrast to his initial appearance already suggests the outcome. Faulkner, however, keeps the conclusion open insofar as he lets Hawkshaw make one last attempt to avert calamity and thus create a tension bridge to the third chapter. The collection of direct and indirect reader signals that is typical for Faulkner already indicates that Hawkshaw's efforts will fail.

After the Minnie Cooper flashback, the third chapter contains a direct link in terms of time and plot to the end of the first chapter, but it represents a new phase within the lynching events. Even at the beginning it becomes apparent that Hawkshaw and his rational arguments are completely ineffective; Rational considerations are increasingly being replaced by irrational and aggressive or brutal expressions of feeling and violence. McLendon gives the impetus for this, but has no more control over it in detail. The attitude of those involved, which was still differentiated in the first chapter, is replaced by a conformism , the external counterpart of which is a kind of robot-like mechanics of the movement of men. Apparently, the men act out of a psychological compulsion, which can be understood as the “demonic of evil” or from a psychological point of view as a form of mass hysteria . The perversion of the whole situation reaches its climax when even the hitherto “mild” and always restrained Hawkshaw lets himself be carried away to violent negroes. The linguistic design emphasizes the compulsiveness of his behavior, especially through the even sequence of the sentences.

Hawkshaw's exit from the car shortly thereafter is an illuminating and meaningful gesture that has been interpreted differently by the interpreters of the narrative. Partly it was understood as a sign of resignation and the insight that the course of things was inevitable, partly it was interpreted as a sign of his disgust and disgust for what will inevitably follow. It is also conceivable, however, that his exit at this point in time is a reaction to his recognition of his own failure and possibly even as an expression of his fear of further uncontrolled and uncontrollable action. The fact that the sign language at the end of the chapter clearly emphasizes his involvement in guilt against his will speaks in favor of such an interpretation.

What is striking in this scene is the multiple references to the dust, which, characteristically, appears in close connection with the grass or weeds ("weeds") a total of fifteen times in the chapter and as a central symbol not only the futility of efforts to Expresses the need to withdraw from injustice and violence, but also refers to the perverted attitude and guilt of the entire Südstadt. The dust not only surrounds the men who murdered the negro, but is rather omnipresent: It lies over the "sqare", the social center of the city, as well as over the entire surrounding country and ultimately also appears as eternal dust ("eternal dust “), which absorbs the momentary.

With the dust as a natural accompaniment and part of the environment, Faulkner creates a symbolic analogy relationship between people and space that gives the event a deeper dimension. Another leitmotif of the story is the stifling heat that weighs on everyone. Initially, this stifling heat in the barber shop is represented by sweating, especially among leaders Butch and McLendon. Later in the third chapter everyone suffers from the heat, even Hawkshaw. The close connection between dust and heat not only stands as a sign of culpable entanglement in the sense of a purely analogical symbol, but also refers to the causes of their behavior that are independent of humans, which generate hatred and violence. In this way, the double function of space, which is characteristic of the narrative, becomes recognizable both as a medium of reflection and as an indication of causal relationships. Without knowing it, for Faulkner, people are prisoners of their situation, whose aggressiveness is accordingly described in one place as a flight. The imagery also expresses this moment of imprisonment: The space in which people live is described as closed on all sides: the sky is like the interior of a "brass hell" (German: "brass hell") and is called in another passage it, people seemed to breathe and live in a bowl of molten lead.

This moment of being at the mercy or imprisonment is most impressively designed by Faulkner in his story in the fifth and final chapter. The last chapter shows McLendon on his return home, not very relevant in terms of plot, but extremely meaningful thematically. On the one hand, the hollowness of his phrases is exposed through his own brutal behavior towards his wife; on the other hand, the narrowness and order of your spatial environment suggests the narrowness of his ordered bourgeois life, in which he has obviously not yet found his way after his experiences in the completely different world of war.

Against this background of the last chapter, his previous actions can also be interpreted as an attempt to escape the "birdcage" (German: "Vogelkäfig") of his own home, whereby the meticulously depicted circumstances and processes after his return also illustrate the failure of his efforts. As in the first chapter, his violent movements and hot eyes refer to the unresolved inner tension; the unabated heat also leads to renewed, even more severe physical agony.

Typical of Faulkner's narrative technique, the story ends with a characteristic frozen moment , the stopping of the flow of narrative in a static image: McLendon stands exhausted at the window; everything has sunk into immobility; there are no more noises, not even those of insects.

This final tableau, in which McLendon remains in a dark world between the cold moon and the lidless stars (“knitting between the cold moon and the lidless sars”), with the introduction of a cosmic perspective finally expands the psychological and social area of ​​the narrative to become universal -human out. The moon, whose different positions in the sky mark the passage of time, is equally in clear relation to elementary human action and experience. Initially, “the wan hemorrhage of the moon” (German: “die pale bleeding of the moon”), analogous to “bloody September twilight” (German: “bloody September twilight”) and the dust, suggests the atmosphere of violence and death; then the moon stands out from the dust and emphasizes the contrast between the heavenly and earthly realms. In the end, the "cold" moon and the stars refer to the abandonment of a disturbed and tormented world in which no salvation or salvation can be expected any more.

In this respect, the lynching story in Faulkner's tale turns out to be not only a portrayal of social grievances in (southern) American society, but also a study of human behavior in extreme situations, which also contains a metaphysical component in that it symbolizes the hopelessness of the constitution of the makes people aware of being thrown back on themselves.

The Minnie Cooper story

The Minnie Cooper story, which is linked to the narrative thread of the lynching incident through thematic similarities, also shows a multitude of aspects of meaning that can be summarized as a further attempt by people to break out of a confining, hopeless situation. The nature, circumstances and causes of frustration are different in both cases: Minnie's situation, her idle or idle days ("idle and empty days") are due to her aging and the associated increasing isolation in private as well as social area conditioned; she is unmarried and leads a secluded life after a disappointing love experience. The entire second chapter of the story describes this process of loneliness in the form of an analepsis and reveals Minnie's various attempts to hide her own inner state from the eyes of others, as well as her efforts to make her life bearable by escaping into illusion. The mask she wears is evident both in her look (“bright, haggard look”) and in the choice of address “cousin” instead of “auntie”, which she claims for herself , and in the whiskey bottle, in the new clothes and especially in their regular visits to the cinema. The apparently fictitious story with Will Hayes as well as the one previously rumored by her about another man are presented in this context only as further, disastrous steps on their way into the illusion.

Various similarities or parallels to the living conditions or circumstances of McLendons are striking: If he finds his success in war, then for Minnie her short time at the top of the town's social life has a comparable meaning . While McLendon lives internally isolated from his wife as a prisoner in a "birdcage", Minnie leads a joyless, frustrating life with mother and aunt in their little house ("small frame house"). For both of them, Will Mayes is ultimately the means to escape from their unfulfilled or empty life and to regain social prestige and respect, at least for a short time.

In other respects, however, there are also analogies between the fate of Minnie and that of her victim: Both experience the insincerity and mercilessness of a society that is determined by prejudice in its thinking and acting. While Will Mayes becomes a scapegoat because of his racial affiliation, Minnie, an aging maid, is exposed to the secret glee of her alleged friends. Above all, Minnie's breakdown at the end clearly illustrates the mendacity of interpersonal relationships based on the discrepancy between sympathetic assistance on the one hand and pitiless curiosity on the other. This is emphasized linguistically by Faulkner through the repeated use of the adjective "bright", which assumes an ambivalent meaning in the respective context ("cheerful" or "bright" on the one hand and "garish" or "blank" on the other hand). In contrast to Will Mayes, Minnie is not completely helpless at the mercy of her tormentors, but instead devises a ruse out of her wishful thinking that brings her brief success.

The fourth chapter deals with Minnie Cooper's brief success and the complete disillusionment that followed immediately, as well as her physical breakdown. Even at the beginning there is hardly any doubt that Minnie's turnaround or rebirth will come to an ominous end. Similar to how the imminent disaster is announced atmospherically at the beginning of the lynching story through metaphors ("bloody September twilight"), Minnie's excited state of mind refers to linguistic clues such as her fragility in the new dress ("fragile in her fresh dress “) On the tragic outcome of their company. Unlike the continuously evolving lynching plot, this chapter of the Minnie Cooper plot is characterized by the immediate clash of a short rise and a sudden fall. Immediately after her triumphal procession through the streets of the city, the first signs of hysteria are unmistakable in her sudden urge to laugh when entering the movie theater. At first she can still suppress her laughter before it doesn't want to end. Psychologically, this can be explained by the discharge of their pent-up, excessive excitement, which is reduced when the tension subsides at the end of the confrontation with the city dwellers. In addition, this uncontrolled laughter is at the same time an expression of an existential shock when she suddenly realizes how futile and absurd her convulsive endeavors for social participation are, which she is denied. At the same time, at this moment, she becomes aware of the illusion of the world of cinema. This “shock of recognition” for her is triggered by the sight of the young couples who step between her and the screen and thus the unreal illusion and dreaminess of both her own dream world and the world of film events (“silver dream ”).

Typical of Faulkner's narrative style is the fact that Minnie's inner state is only expressed through indirect means and a lot remains open, for example the question of whether she is even aware of the consequences of her actions. The impression of the inscrutable and abysmal that is created in this way is not only characteristic of Minnie, but also of a large part of the characters created by Faulkner.

Thematic and structural integration of the storylines as a whole

Despite the difference in the external circumstances and events in the two storylines of the short story, a number of clear parallels emerge at the end of the Minnie Cooper story and the lynch murder story, which are important as integrating moments for the narrative as a whole and the unity of meaning of the story.

At the end, McLendon returns to the confines of his domestic "birdcage", while Minnie again withdraws to the seclusion of her parents' house: in both cases the attempt at liberation failed. In the end, McLendon stands at the window, physically exhausted in the stifling heat, while Minnie suffers a complete psychological and physical breakdown, where she has probably perceived the experience with greater awareness. Last but not least, both conclusions contain inherent interpretations and evaluations of what happened, which in the case of Minnie are expressed through expressive behaviors such as her laughter and in the other case through spatial references and constellations such as the moon and earth. In this respect, Faulkner's short story creates a unit of meaning, since in both strands of the narrative the external and internal isolation of people and the perversion of (inter-) human relationships are clearly revealed.

The epic integration of the individual parts or aspects does not take place through the plot or the characters, but through the overarching subject matter, which in addition to psychological and sociological elements also includes metaphysical aspects. The title of the short story refers to the multidimensionality of the narrative as a whole by means of linguistic ambivalence: Dry September not only creates the impression of the drought and dryness of an autumn month, which is caused by heat and rain, but also points to the problem on a psychological level the beginning of the aging process in the case of Minnie and the disappointing living conditions in the case of McLendons. At the same time, the late summer drought points in a supra-personal or social respect to the explosive character of the heated social situation in the city. Like the majority of the narrative and linguistic means used, the title is entirely functional for all levels of the epic or narrative process and forms a central unifying symbol for the individual aspects and parts of the short story.

In addition, the signaling function of the metaphor and the key words used as a leitmotif in Dry September ensure a thematically controlled epic integration of this short story. For example, metaphorical expressions such as “hot glance”, “bloody twilight” or “violent suspension of air” combine different areas of reality into a whole of meaning or expression and reinforce their mutual dependence. The noticeably increased use of complementary words or expressions such as “blood”, “dead”, “violent” or “furious” creates an increasingly condensing atmosphere of violence from the start, which is functional for the action and for the death of the negro foreshadows. In this way, Faulkner makes the narrative omission of the crime possible and also ensures a linguistic-symbolic link between the two narrative parts.

Such a connection between two largely independent storylines corresponds to a technique characteristic of Faulkner, which is also evident in the structure of a large part of his novels and also characterizes the predominantly contrapuntal structure of his Collected Stories . Through the connection of the Minnie Cooper story with the lynching plot, the short story gains its specific effect through the revelation of basic human structures and thus underlines the exemplary aspect of the narrated event. The two narrative parts are complementary in this regard, with the principle of violence and brutality being embodied as the more active moment by McLendon, while Minnie's more passive behavior focuses more on the aspect of escape from reality as a result of her suffering from isolation, loneliness and inner emptiness highlights. Hawkshaw, on the other hand, as a character in history, opposes these emotional constitutions or attitudes with the standard of reason or rationality, which becomes the standard for the others. Furthermore, the danger of conformism , prejudice and social bias is revealed in both narrative parts, above all through ideological narrow-mindedness or fixation on the part of men and the liking of gossip and social intrigues on the part of women. Faulkner's short story thus conveys a general picture of the deformation of man and his interpersonal and interpersonal relationships, which in the end is put into a more universal frame of reference as a cosmic picture: Man, even McLendon, is ultimately helpless; he is, as Hoffmann puts it in his interpretation of the story, “a beaten man, even where he hits”, and deserves pity, which would confirm Faulkner's humanistic view, also or especially in this short story.

Editions of works (selection)

English

  • William Faulkner: Dry September. In: William Faulkner: Collected Stories. Vintage (Random House), London 1995, ISBN 009-947921-4 , pp. 169-184.

German

Literature (selection)

  • Gerhard Hoffmann: Faulkner • Dry September. In: Karl Heinz Göller et al. (Ed.): The American Short Story . August Bagel Verlag, Düsseldorf 1972, ISBN 3-513-02212-3 , pp. 235-246.
  • John K. Crane: But the Days Grow Short: A Reinterpretation of Faulkner's 'Dry September'. In: Twentieth Century Literature: A Scholarly and Critical Journal 31.4 (Winter 1985), pp. 410-20.
  • Lawrence Jay Dessner: William Faulkner's 'Dry September': Decadence Domesticated. In: College Literature 11.2 (Spring 1984), pp. 151-62.
  • John V. McDermott: Faulkner's Cry for a Healing Measure: 'Dry September'. In: Arizona Quarterly 32 (1976), pp. 31-34.
  • JB Vickery: Ritual and Theme in Faulkner's 'Dry September'. In: Arizona Quarterly , 18 (1962), pp. 5-14.
  • Edmond L. Volpe: 'Dry September': Metaphor for Despair. In: College Literature 16.1 (Winter 1989), pp. 60-65.
  • Joan D. Winslow: Language and Destruction in Faulkner's 'Dry September.'. In: College Language Association Journal 20 , 1977, pp. 380-86.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ One of the more significant changes that Faulkner made for publication in Thesis 13 was the rearrangement of Chapters I and II. The original version of Dry September begins with a review of Minnie Cooper's life; in the version later published in thesis 13 , Faulkner chose a dramatic beginning. Cf. Gerhard Hoffmann: Faulkner • Dry September. In: Karl Heinz Göller et. al. (Ed.): The American Short Story . August Bagel Verlag, Düsseldorf 1972, ISBN 3-513-02212-3 , p. 411.
  2. ↑ See Gerhard Hoffmann: Faulkner • Dry September. In: Karl Heinz Göller et. al. (Ed.): The American Short Story . August Bagel Verlag, Düsseldorf 1972, ISBN 3-513-02212-3 , p. 235 f. See also Michael Hanke: William Faulkner: A Rose for Emily . In: Michael Hanke (Ed.): Interpretations · American Short Stories of the 20th Century . Reclam jun. Verlag, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-15-017506-2 , p. 53 f.
  3. ↑ http://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/f/faulkners-short-stories/summary-and-analysis-dry-september/introduction
  4. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original dated August 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.nbu.bg
  5. ^ Collected Stories, William Faulkner, Vintage International, Random House Inc. New York, 1950, p. 169
  6. ^ Collected Stories, William Faulkner, Vintage International, Random House Inc. New York, 1950, 180
  7. ↑ http://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/f/faulkners-short-stories/summary-and-analysis-dry-september/introduction
  8. ^ Gerhard Hoffmann: Faulkner • Dry September. In: Karl Heinz Göller et. al. (Ed.): The American Short Story . August Bagel Verlag, Düsseldorf 1972, ISBN 3-513-02212-3 , p. 236f.
  9. ^ Gerhard Hoffmann: Faulkner • Dry September. In: Karl Heinz Göller et. al. (Ed.): The American Short Story . August Bagel Verlag, Düsseldorf 1972, ISBN 3-513-02212-3 , p. 236 f.
  10. ^ Gerhard Hoffmann: Faulkner • Dry September. In: Karl Heinz Göller et. al. (Ed.): The American Short Story . August Bagel Verlag, Düsseldorf 1972, ISBN 3-513-02212-3 , p. 237 f.
  11. ^ Gerhard Hoffmann: Faulkner • Dry September. In: Karl Heinz Göller et. al. (Ed.): The American Short Story . August Bagel Verlag, Düsseldorf 1972, ISBN 3-513-02212-3 , pp. 237f.
  12. ^ Gerhard Hoffmann: Faulkner • Dry September. In: Karl Heinz Göller et. al. (Ed.): The American Short Story . August Bagel Verlag, Düsseldorf 1972, ISBN 3-513-02212-3 , p. 238 f.
  13. ^ Gerhard Hoffmann: Faulkner • Dry September. In: Karl Heinz Göller et. al. (Ed.): The American Short Story . August Bagel Verlag, Düsseldorf 1972, ISBN 3-513-02212-3 , p. 239.
  14. ^ Gerhard Hoffmann: Faulkner • Dry September. In: Karl Heinz Göller et. al. (Ed.): The American Short Story . August Bagel Verlag, Düsseldorf 1972, ISBN 3-513-02212-3 , p. 239 f.
  15. ↑ See Gerhard Hoffmann: Faulkner • Dry September. In: Karl Heinz Göller et. al. (Ed.): The American Short Story . August Bagel Verlag, Düsseldorf 1972, ISBN 3-513-02212-3 , pp. 239-241 f.
  16. ↑ See Gerhard Hoffmann: Faulkner • Dry September. In: Karl Heinz Göller et. al. (Ed.): The American Short Story . August Bagel Verlag, Düsseldorf 1972, ISBN 3-513-02212-3 , p. 241 f.
  17. ↑ See Gerhard Hoffmann: Faulkner • Dry September. In: Karl Heinz Göller et. al. (Ed.): The American Short Story . August Bagel Verlag, Düsseldorf 1972, ISBN 3-513-02212-3 , p. 242.
  18. ↑ See Gerhard Hoffmann: Faulkner • Dry September. In: Karl Heinz Göller et. al. (Ed.): The American Short Story . August Bagel Verlag, Düsseldorf 1972, ISBN 3-513-02212-3 , p. 242 f.
  19. ↑ See Gerhard Hoffmann: Faulkner • Dry September. In: Karl Heinz Göller et. al. (Ed.): The American Short Story . August Bagel Verlag, Düsseldorf 1972, ISBN 3-513-02212-3 , p. 243 f.
  20. ↑ See Gerhard Hoffmann: Faulkner • Dry September. In: Karl Heinz Göller et. al. (Ed.): The American Short Story . August Bagel Verlag, Düsseldorf 1972, ISBN 3-513-02212-3 , p. 244 f.
  21. ↑ See Gerhard Hoffmann: Faulkner • Dry September. In: Karl Heinz Göller et. al. (Ed.): The American Short Story . August Bagel Verlag, Düsseldorf 1972, ISBN 3-513-02212-3 , pp. 244-246.