Sartoris
Sartoris is a novel by the American writer William Faulkner , first published in 1929. The novel is an abridged version of the work Flags in the Dust , which was published in 1973 in the original. Sartoris was first published in German in 1961 by Rowohlt Verlag .
action
At the center of the novel, which is set in 1919 and 1920, are three generations of the aristocratic southern Sartoris family, the descendants of the civil war hero Colonel John Sartoris, whose shadow still hangs over the family: The "old" Bayard, a banker, who is hard of hearing and tired of life; his sharp-tongued aunt Jenny and his grandson, the "young" Bayard. He has just returned from the First World War, feels guilty for the war death of his brother John and feels that the family tradition is a burden. He can only express himself and try to forget in the high speed of his newly purchased automobile and in other breakneck actions. The plot is contrasted by the characters of the dreamy-intellectual Horace Benbow, also a war veteran, and his sister Narcissa, who finally falls in love with Bayard and marries him. In a car accident during one of Bayard's trips, the grandfather, the "old" Bayard, dies; his grandson is fleeing the consequences of his actions. He dies a little later during a test flight with a new type of aircraft. On the same day, Narcissa gives birth to his son.
Literary meaning
With this novel Faulkner laid the foundation stone for his southern states novel cycle; the action takes place for the first time in the imaginary Yoknapatawpha County ; many characters and themes from his later novels appear here for the first time. Jean-Paul Sartre published a thoroughly positive review in 1938, in which he particularly praised the skilful portrayal of time as an “inextricable tangle of past and present”. In addition to an intensive reflection on the legacy of the American South and its psychological effects, the novel with the character of the young Bayard Sartoris also contains a timely reference to the Lost Generation .
The Sartoris family also appears in his later work The Undefeated , while Horace Benbow is a main character in Faulkner's novel The Sanctuary . The deeds of Colonel John Sartoris are also mentioned several times in the book Light in August .
literature
- Herbert Henss: William Faulkner's novel 'Sartoris' as a literary work of art. Hueber, Mainz 1964.
- Ute Müller: William Faulkner and the German post-war literature. Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2005.
- Jean-Paul Sartre : Sartoris by William Faulkner. In: Writings on literature . Rowohlt, Reinbek 1986.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Der Spiegel 27/1961: Faulkner: Fifteen translators.
- ↑ Ute Müller: William Faulkner and the German post-war literature . Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2005, p. 27
- ↑ Ute Müller: William Faulkner and the German post-war literature. Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2005, p. 176
- ^ William Van O'Connor: William Faulkner. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis 1970, ISBN 0816601933 , p. 10