faulkner narrative styles
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Faulkner's Narrative StylesAuthor(s): J. E. BunselmeyerSource: American Literature, Vol. 53, No. 3 (Nov., 1981), pp. 424-442Published by: Duke University Press
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Faulkner'sNarrative
tyles
J.
E. BUNSELMEYER
Universityof Massachusetts
T HE VISION
at theheart
f Faulkner'sworks s of life s
a
process
I
of accretion, f
overwhelming
onnectedness. his vision s
embodiedn
the
yntactictyle hat
haracterizes
aulkner's
arration
and marks hrase hythms
s "Faulknerian."Works s differents
The
Hamlet
and
Light
n
August hare syntactictyle hat
quates
events nd
ideas, past and
present, ypiling up
clauses; the style
transformsn individual xperience y linking t to everything
around it.
Stylisticnalysis dentifies
he
dominantfeatures f
Faulkner's haracteristic
tyle s well as thevariations
n
style
hat
createdifferencesn tone,
ranging
from comedyto thoughtful
contemplation.pecifically,
peech cttheory nd
transformational
analysis f
grammatical
atterns ield nsights
nto
the
ways by
whichnarrative
yntax
reates one nd
point
fview.
The
communication
f point
f
view
s, perhaps,
hebasic "trans-
action"of literaryanguage.' n literarynd ordinary arratives,
events re
related rom
n
evaluativeiewpointfor
example,
n
the
tellable ales
mposed pon
dinner
uests).
n Towarda
Speech
Act
Theory f
Literary
iscourse,
ratt onsiders his valuative
ttitude
as inherentn "the
iterarypeech
ituation" ecausethe author
r
speaker
s "not
only
reporting
ut also
verbally
isplaying
state f
affairs,
nviting
is
addressee(s)
to
join
him
in
contemplatingt,
evaluating t,
and
responding
o it. His
point
s
to
produce
n
his
hearers otonlybelief utalso an imaginativendaffectivenvolve-
ment
n
the tate f
affairs
e
is
presenting
nd
an
evaluative tance
toward
t."2 n
Faulkner's
ales, he
evaluative tancevariesfrom
comic detachment o
empathy
with
a
character's
ontemplation;
1
John Searle,
Speech
Acts: An
Essay
in the
Philosophy
f
Language (Cambridge,
Eng.: Cambridge
niv. Press, 969), p. I7, discusses
peech
as an active
transaction.
2
MaryLouise
Pratt, oward a SpeechAct Theory
f
Literary iscourse Bloomington:
Indiana Univ. Press,
977),
p. I36.
American Literature,
Volume
53,
Number 3, November
98I.
Copyright
I98I
by
Duke
Universityress.
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Faulkner's
arrative
tyles
425
these
ifferencesn
tone nd
point f
view
recreated
y
different
syntactic
tyles.
Thestylisticeatureshatmark he ontemplativeone ll inher-
ently
nvolvevaluation
ecause
hey resent
yntactic
elationships.
Narration
iffersrom he
mere
ecounting
f
events-in
ntent
nd
in
style-as
abovhas
pointed
ut.He
found hat
when vents
ere
merely
eported,
heywere
hrasedn
the
imple
ast
ense;
when
evaluation as
builtnto
he
narration,
t
was
throughdepartures
from asic
narrative
yntax,"
hrough
yntactic
ransformationshat
"suspendhe
ction,"
ntroduce
valuation,nd
transform
xperience
byframingt na point fview.3hus, he yntactictylen which
a
tale s
told
alters he
way
events
nd
charactersre
evaluated.
Faulkner's
ontemplative
tyle,
hich
raws
eadersnto he
rocess
of
thoughtnd
evaluation,s marked
y
many f the
syntactic
features
oted y
Labov
n
the
valuative
ectionsf
natural arra-
tives,
iterature's
losest
in.The
foregrounded
eatures
hat
luster
in
Faulkner's
ontemplative
assagesre:
negatives,
hich
efine
hat s
bywhat
s
not nd
nvite
udgement
f
both hroughomparison,rovidingnLabov'swords,a way fevaluat-
ing
events
y
placing hem
gainst he
background
f other
vents
which
might
ave
happened,ut
which
idnot"
pp.
80-8I);
appositives,
which re
so
lengthynd
so
numerous
hat he
original
noun s
lost
ight
f
as
it
is
amplified
nd absorbed
y
all
the
hings
t
stands or nd
an
be
equated
ith;
double
modifiers
hichbring
n a wider
ange f
imultaneousvents"
(Labov,
p.
388),
inviting
n
evaluation f
the
relationship
etween
attributes;
comparisons
hat xplicitlyvaluate hatsbywhat t s like;
or-clauses
hat
mbed he
consideration
f
alternative
orms f
action
or
perceptionnd
nvite
valuation
hrough
uxtaposition.
These
yntacticendencies
ave n
common "mode
f
ordering"
experience;
n
act
s
amplified,
ften
oubled
r
tripled,hrough
comparisons,egative
omparisons,r-clauses,oubled
modifiers,
and
appositives.4n
Faulkner's arrationf
contemplation
hese
stylistic
eaturesluster
ogether,
orming
oregrounded
atterns
3
William
Labov,
"The
Transformation
f Experience
n
Narrative
yntax,"
anguage
and the nner
City
Philadelphia:Univ.
of
Pennsylvania
ress,972),
pp.
37I-73 and
388.
4
Richard
Ohmann
n Shaw: The
Style nd the
Man
(Middletown, onn.:
Wesleyan
Univ. Press,
962)
argues
that "We
order
xperience s we
order
anguage...."
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426
American
iterature
that bsorb
he
eadern
the
processf
thoughtnd
engage
im
n
an
evaluative
ointf
view.
Faulkner'somedys free fthese tylisticeatures.he comic
passagesre
markedy
very
ifferentyntactic
tyle hat
oesnot
suspend
he
ction, ut
rather
ushest onward
y
piling p
indi-
vidual
vents.
tacking
eparate
ctions
nto
coordinate
yntactic
structures
liminates
he
evaluation
nherentn
subordination.
n
Faulkner's
omic
assages,
ctionsre
ccumulated,ne
t
a
time,s
the
entence
rows o
the
right;
he
right-branching
ernels
move
from
ne
action
othe
next
o
rapidlyhat
heres no
pausefor
evaluationr contemplation.his syntactictyle reates more
distanced
omic
erspective
nthe
narrated
vents.
he
viewpoints
of
comedy
nd
contemplation
iffer;
reud
even
thought
hat
contemplation
nterfered
ith he
omic
ffect.5
n
Faulkner's
rose,
this
nterferences
quite
iteral t
the
evel
f
syntax,or
his
con-
templative
tyle
reaks
p the
low f
action y
embedding
valua-
tion.
His
right-branching
omic tyle
peeds he
flow
f
action; y
heaping p
deeds, he
style
minimizesach
event
nd
creates
distancedttitudeoward he ction. hese ontrastingatternsf
syntactic
xpansion
reatehe
differing
ones f
comedy
nd con-
templation;he
ualityhe
wo
tyles
hare
s
the
Faulknerian"
ense
of
rowded
ccumulation.
Differences
n
the
one nd
styles
f
comedy
nd
contemplation
are
nicely
llustrated
ythe
pening
assagesf
the
wo
ections
f
"Was."6 hese
passageslso
llustratehat
entral
o both
tyles
s
a
kind f yntacticccretionhatuits thematiciew f ife scom-
posed f
nterconnected
ayers f
relationships
etween
imes
nd
people.
he
first
ection
resents
he
ontemplative
ntroduction
o
Isaac and
to
thematic
erspectives
n
the
past nd
possession.
appositive
Isaac
McCaslin,Uncle
ke,'
ast
eventy
nd
doubling
nearer
ighty
han eever
orroborated
nymore,
appositives
a
widower
ow
and
uncle
o
half
county
nd
father
5
Sigmund
reud, Jokes
nd
the
Comic,"
trans.
James
trachey,
n
Comedy:
Meaning
and
Form, ed.
RobertW. Corrigan
San
Francisco:Chandler,
965),
p.
26I.
6
William
Faulkner, Was," in Go
Down,
Moses
(New
York:
ModernLibrary,
940),
PP. 3-4-
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Faulkner's
arrative
tyles
427
negative
to no one.
negative
this
was
not
omething
articipated
n
or
or-clause/neg. even eenbyhimself,utbyhis elder ousin,
appositives
McCaslinEdmonds, randson
f saac's
father's
sister nd so descended
y
thedistaff,etnot-
negative
withstandinghe
nheritor,
nd n histime
he
appositive
bequestor,
f thatwhich ome
had thought hen
nd
triple
dj.
some
till
hought
houldhavebeen
saac's since
clauses
hiswas
thename n which
he itle
o the and
had
first eengranted
rom
he ndianpatent
and which ome
of thedescendants
fhis father's
negative slaves till ore nthe and.But saacwasnot
appositives
one of
these
-a widower hese wenty ears,
ho
negative
in
all
his
ife
had
owned
but
one
object
more
doubling
thanhe couldwear
nd carryn his
pockets
nd
hishands t one time, nd thiswas
thenarrow
iron ot nd the
tained ean
mattress hich
he
used camping
n thewoods
for eer nd
bearor
or-clauses
for
ishing
r
simply
ecausehe loved
he
woods;
negatives
who
owned
no
property
nd
never
esired
o
since
neg./comparisonhe arthwasnoman'sbut llmen's, s light nd
double dj. cl. air and
weather
were; who ived till
n the
triple
dj.
cheap
frame
ungalow
n
Jefferson
hichhiswife's
clauses
father
ave
them n
their
marriage
nd
which
his
wife
had
willed o him t herdeath
nd
which
appositive
he
had
pretended
o
accept, cquiesce o,
o
humor
negatives
her,
ase her
going
butwhichwas not
his,
will
or
or-phrases
not,
hancery
ying
wishesmortmain
ossession
r
appositives whatever,imselfmerely oldingt forhiswife's
sister nd her hildren
ho had lived n
t
with
doubling
him
ince
his wife's
eath,
olding imself
comparison
welcome o ive
n one room f t as
he had
during
or-clauses
his wife's ime r she during er ime
r the
sister-in-lawnd
her hildren uring
herest
f
his
and
after.
neg./or-phrase
not
omething
e had participated
n
or even
appositive
rememberedxcept rom
hehearing, he istening
come o himthrough ndfrom is cousinMcCaslin
doubling
born
n
850
and sixteen ears
is enior nd
hence,
his
own
father
eingnear
eventy
hen saac, n
appositive
only
hild,
was born, ather
isbrotherhan
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428 American
Literature
comparisons
cousin,nd atherhisfather
han
ither,
ut f
appositive the ldtime,
he lddays.
The entire
astparagraph
s an appositiveo the preceding
ne;
withinach
paragraphhe
numerousppositivesontinually
ualify
and equate,eparatingubject
nd verb ntil ften he
onnection
between
he
ubject
ndthe ction f
the erb s lost
ight
f. n
the
firstaragraph,
heres noverb,
or heresno meaningful
ction or
Isaac to make except o refuse
o act). Appositives
avethe yntactic
effect f deleting
gentspresentn the
deep structure
nd thus
diminishing
ctors
and
events
n
the surface
tyle.
n the
deep
structure:Isaac was) "past seventy"; Isaac was) "a widower";
(Isaac was) "uncle to
half
a
county"; Isaac
was)
"father
o
no
one." McCaslin
was) "grandsonf saac's
father'sister"; McCaslin
was) "descended
y the distaff";
McCaslinwas) "the
nheritor";
(McCaslin
was)
"the
bequestor."
n the surfacematrix, nly
eight
lines
nto
hepassage,
oth saac
and
McCaslin
re transformednto
all the other
nouns theirnames can be
equated
with
(widower,
uncle,grandson,
escendant),
which
all
imply
heir elationship
o
others. he act of appositionecreasesndividuationnd emphasizes
relationships;
he appositivesmove the surface
tyle ven
further
into he
realm f thepassive
nd awayfrom
irect, ctive tatements
such as "McCaslin bequeathed." n
Faulkner's surfacesyntax,
McCaslin's
action of bequeathings transformed
nto McCaslin's
identitys
inheritornd bequestor; he syntactic
ppositionbsorbs
McCaslin'spotential or
ndividual
ction nto
network f
equated
relationships.he over-all
tructuref the
passagehas the same
effect: he ndividual ections ave no individual xistence,or ach
depends
for
meaningupon its relationship
o what comes
before
and after. he last paragraph
s
an
appositive
o
the
precedingne,
and the secondparagraph
egins
with
pronoun
hat
has
no
ante-
cedent: thiswas
not
something."
uch
pronouns
sually
efer
ack
to
something,
ut
here the
only
referents
Isaac's
appositional
identity.
uch syntactictructuresllow
for nconclusive aragraph
structure
nd
punctuation,
hich reinforce he thematic
oint
of
view hat hererenoclear eginningsrendingsoevents. hus, he
vast
number f
appositives
stablishes
hrough tyle,
wo
themes:
that
here re
few
solated ctions
r actors
n
life's egends,nd that
legends row,
bit at
a
time,
ntil
hey
nundate
onsciousness.
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Faulkner's
arrative
tyles
429
The
overwhelming
aze
of
relationships
s
reinforced
y
other
elementsf
tyle-by umerous
r-phrases
nd
adjective
lauses nd
bytheredefinitionfthings ytheir pposites,hrough egation.
Likethe
ppositives,
he
djectivelauses
re kind f
doubling,
or
they eepgiving
urther
nformation
bout he
preceding
lause:
"thatwhichomehad thought
hen nd some
till houghthould
havebeen
saac's ince
hiswasthename
n which
hetitle
o
the
landhad
firsteen
ranted
rom he ndian
atent
nd which ome
of
the
descendants
fhis
father's
laves till
ore n
the and."
saac
and hishome
requalified y
many uch
lauses: who
n
all his
life,"who wned oproperty,"who ived till,"which iswife's
father
adgiven,"
which is
wife adwilled,"andwhich e
had
pretendedo
ccept."
he
clauses
ontinually
edefine
hat asgone
beforen
ight
fthe
ast.
he
or-constructionslso
expand escrip-
tion
n
an
evaluativeirection:
which
eused
amping
n the
woods
fordeer
nd
bearor
forfishingr simply
ecause
e lovedthe
woods"; holding imself elcome o
ive
n
one
room
f
t
as he
had
during
is
wife's ime
r he
during
er
ime rthe ister-in-law
andher hildrenuring he est f hisand after." ike the pposi-
tives,
his
yntactic
onstructioneadsfurther
wayfrom he nitial
startingoint o all the
hingshatmight e
substituted
or
t,
nd
thus
resents
he
point
fview
hat
ctions
nd
people
an
and do
replace
ach
ther. he
process
f
defininghings
y ther,
urround-
ing things
s extended
y Faulkner'sse of
negatives
o
identify.
Isaac"owned o
propertynd
never esired o since he arth
was
no
man's." saac's
repeated elationshipo his
house s thathe
will
notown t;the mportanthingbouthisrelationshipo the tory
he
tells s that
e doesnot wn teither
ince e did
notparticipate
in
t.
Definitionfrealityr
relationshipsy
what hey renotpulls
into he
reader's
onsciousnesswice
s many hings t once: not
ust
Isaac
who
owns
no
land,
but thosewho thinkhe
should,
nd
those
whodo
not;
not
ust
McCaslin wned
he
and nd
participated
n
the
annual
race,
but
also
Isaac who
refuses
wnership
nd
who
providesnarrativerame
or
story
boutmenwho
would
ossess
andowneachother. hisredefinitionynegation,ikethe trings
of
djective
lauses,
tretches
he
eader'sonsciousness
y he
yntax,
which
mbeds
ll
the
dded
detailsnto
hemiddle f the
entence,
between
ubject
nd
verb-if
the
process
f
apposition as not
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430
American
Literature
eliminatedhe
ubjectnd verb
ltogether.
he
heavy mbedding
reaches he imits
f
what
he
mind an contain nd makes
he
readereel,hroughyntax,henumbingense f world nwhich
numerousonnections
nd
nterrelationships
re
at
least s
real
as
action.
In
contrastothe
ontemplativeone
hat
pens he irstection
f
"Was," he
econdection
eginswith
he omic
reationf
action.
The
tyle
f
he
arration
hifts
ramatically:
2
When
he
and
UncleBuckranback
o thehouse
rom
iscoveringhat
Tommy's
url
had
run
again, hey
heardUncle
Buddy
ursing
nd
bellowingn
the
kitchen,hen
thefox
nd
and
dogs cameout of the
kitchen
nd
crossed hehall nto
he
dogs'room nd
they eard hem
run
hrough
he
dogs'room nto
his
nd
UncleBuck's
oom,
hen
they
saw them
ross
hehall
gain ntoUncle
Buddy's
oom
nd
heard
hem
run
through
ncle
Buddy's
oom
nto
hekitchen
gain
nd
this
time
it sounded
ike
the
whole
kitchen
himney
ad come
down
nd
Uncle
Buddy ellowingike steamboatlowing
nd this ime
the ox
nd
the
dogs
nd
five r
six
ticks
f
firewood
ll
came
utofthe
kitchen
ogether
withUncle
Buddy n the
middle fthem
itting
teverything
n sight
with
nother
tick.
t was
good ace.
The
syntax
reates
he
hythms
hich
move he eader
hroughhe
bizarreace
round he
house; t also
createshe
point f
view hat
the
race
nd the
haracters
nvolvedn it are
bizarre.
he lengthy
sentence
s clear
because he
kindof
transformation
mployedo
joinelementss right-branching.s thereadermoves hroughhe
sentence
ach
clause
follows,
n
time
nd
logic,
whatever
receded
it:
"Whenhe
and
UncleBuckranback
.
. .
they
eard
Uncle
Buddy
cursing. .
.
then the fox and
the dogs
came out .
. . and they
heard
themrun
.
. . then
they
aw them
crossthe hall."
The
percep-
tionof
this
eries fseparate,
ast
ctions s dueto the
syntax, hich
grows toward
the
right,
ather han
embedding
ppositives nd
adjective
lauses between
ubjects nd
verbs.
The few
participial
phrases ass unnoticed n thegeneralforegroundingf theright-
branching yntactictyle.
he
separate
ctions re
equated
by
the
separate ndependent
lauses
of
nearlyequal length.
The
right-
branching
chieves
rhythmicower
uitable
o
a
race
nd
s
appro-
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Faulkner's
arrative
tyles
43I
priatelyroken y
he
ronic,taccato
eneralization:
It
was
a
good
race."
Such
variation
n
phrase
hythmocuses
ttention
n
the
shortentence,hich srepeatedttheveryndof the tory,s a
kind
frefrain,
pplyingatirically
ot
only
o
the
bumbling
unt
of thefox
nd
dogsbut lso
to the
qually
umblingemi-annual
huntsf
Buck
nd
Buddy or
url
nd
of
Sophonisba
or husband.
The
piling
up of
separate
ctions,
hrough
ight-branching
nde-
pendent
lauses,
reates
galloping
hythm
hat
reduces ach
individual
eedto blurred
nsignificance.
The
differencen
tone
between
hefirst
nd second
ections
f
"Was"-between hecontemplativentroductionnd thecomic
tale-is
due
to the
difference
etweenhe
valuative
mbeddingf
appositives,
egatives,
nd
adjective
lauses nd
the
accretionf
quick,
ight-branching
ctions.
et
both
yntax
atterns
hare
he
"Faulknerian"
uality f
accumulating
hings
f equal
weight:
neither
yntaxattern
rants
rammaticalriority
o
certainndi-
vidual
ctionsver
thers.
n
action r
contemplationhe haracters'
and
readers'
minds
must ort
hroughn
accumulationf
related,
ratherquatedventsorignificance.
The
sense
f
connectednessf
all
actions,ast nd
present,
hich
is
conveyedythe
yntactictyles,
s also
expressed
ythe
ircular,
repetitivetructure
f
"Was."The
hunt sa
recurrent
itual
nacted
toconfirm
social
ode hat s
outdated;he
torysended
s it
was
begun. ust
s the
yntaxarallels
nd
equates
vents,o does
the
patterning
f the
parallel
unts: uck's
orTurl
and
Sophonisba's
for husband-both
uck nd
Turl
head or he
woods. he
hunter
and hunted refurtherquatedby thesimilarityf theanimal
metaphorshat
express
he
dehumanization
nd
entrapment
f
both-for
xample,
hen
Uncle
Buck's
gnarled
eck hrust
orward
like
cooter's"s he
began
o
flush,"
circle,"nd
bay"
url
p.
8).
Their
ntrapmenty odes
rom he
ast
s
further
uggestedy
he
settings:
uck nd
Buddy
ave
given
ver
he
unfinished
ig
house
to the
numerous
laves
hey retend
opossess
nd
havenoreal
use
for;
ophonisba
retends
o
dignityy
nsisting
hat
thers
all
the
ramshacklelantation arwick:when heywouldn'tall t War-
wick,
he
wouldn'tven eem o
know
what
hey
ere
alking
bout
and
twould ound
s if sheand Mr.
Hubert wned
wo
eparate
plantations
overing
he
same
rea of
ground,
ne on
top
of the
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432
American
Literature
other"p. 9).
A
similar
iscrepancy
xists
etween
he
names
fthe
characters
nd
their
eality.
uck nd
Buddy
schew
heir nach-
ronisticirth ames, heophilusndAmodeus; ophonisbaries
tolive
up
to
hers nd fails.
ommy's
url s
named,
ike a
race
horse,s his
mother's
ssue;
his
bsence
f sir-names the
emantic
symbol
f his
enslavement.
e
proves wice
year
hat
his
own
enslavement
lso
nslaves
hose
who
pretendoown
nd
namehim.
In the
frame
tory
saac
rejects
retensionst
ownership,hich
others
resume
is ast
name
ntitlesim
o.
Even
he rchaic
tage
props othe
itual
untfor
xample,
ophonisba's
ending
uck he
red ibbon romround er hroat)nderlinehe bsurdityf iving
by social
odesof the
past,
which
anction
ossessionnd
which
categorize
Tomey'surl's
rms
hatwere
upposedobe
black ut
were
ot
uite
white"p.
29)
differently
rom
uck's nd
Buddy's.
Obviously,
Was"
examines
he
semantics
f
racism, he
ways n
which
words
rom
world
which
was"
continueo
determine
perceptions,
nfluence
ctions,nd
enslave
eople.
he
encodingf
present
eality y
anachronistic
erbal
maps"7
rom he
past s
reflectednthe etting,henames, he itle,ndthe tructurefthe
action f
"Was,"as
well
as in its
syntactic
tyles.
Whether
he
narrative
yntaxf
"Was" s
comic
r
contemplative,
t
conveyshe
entrapmentfman n
an
accretion
f
elationships.
The comic
and
contemplative
tyles
re
present
hroughout
Faulkner's
orks,
s the
ollowing
nalysis
f
passages
rom
ight
n
August,The
Bear," he
Sound nd
the
ury, s
LayDying,
he
Hamlet,
ndTheReivers
llustrates.s
n
"Was" he
narrative
tylesmay emixedna givenwork: hererecontemplative
assages
n
comic
ovelsuch s
TheReiversndcomic
assages
n
novels
bout
subjects
uch
s
dying
nd
burying
hat
re
not
rdinarily
onsidered
comic. he
differenceetween
arrative
tyles
nd
tones
s due to
a
difference
n
the
degree
f concentrationf
stylistic
eatures;
s
Dolezel
pointsut
n
Statisticsnd
Style:
The overall
haracter
f
style
s
called
orth
y
he
egree
f
presence
or
absence)
f
certain
modeofexpression,atherhanby tsexclusivese (or complete
7
S.
I.
Hayakawa coined the terms
"maps" and "territories"
n
Language
and
Thought
in Action
(New York:
Harcourt,
Brace, I939), esp. ch. 2
on
"Symbols."
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Faulkner's
arrative
tyles
433
suppression)."8hedegree
f
embedded
valuation
r the
degree
of
foregroundingf
right-branching
ctions
reates ifferences
n
narrativeone.Of course,hereremixed ones etweenomedy
and
contemplation.
his
omewhatinary
istinctionf
the nds f
Faulkner's
arrativeontinuum
s
intendedo
clarifyowvariation
in
syntactic
tyle
ontributeso
varieties
f tone nd
differencesn
point
fview.
InLight n
August,
TheBear,"
ndThe
Sound nd the
Fury,
the
rocessf
evaluations
presented
n
the
ame yntactic
tyle
hat
beginshe irst
ectionf
Was"
ndfromhe
ame
mpatheticoint
of view.Themanymbeddingsotonly eflecthe ontemplative
stylef mind r
act
as
a
"mirror
f themind,"o use
Chomsky's
phrase;9
hey
lso nvolve
he eader
n
sorting
hrough
elationships
between
he
lements
mbedded
hrough
pposition,
egation,
r-
clauses,
ouble djectives,
nd
explicitomparison.he
effectf
these
ransformations
n
the
narrativeyntax
s toengagehe eader
inthe ct
f
valuation,
or
xample,
n
the
houghts
f
Joe
hristmas
as he
weighs
he
trangeness
f
his
xperience:
Thatnightstrangehingame nto ismind.
neg./doubling
He
layready
or
leep,
without
leeping,
ithout
comparison
seeming
o
need
the
leep,
s
he
would
place
his
negative
stomach
cquiescent
or
ood
which t
did
not
or-clause
seem
o
desire
r
need.
t
was
strange
n
the
negatives
sense
hathe could
discover
either erivation or
doubling/neg.
motivation
or
xplanation
or
t.He found hat
he
was tryingo
calculate he
dayoftheweek.
comparison
It
was
as
though
ow
and
at
ast
he
had an
actual
double dj. andurgent eedtostrike ff he ccomplished
appositive/neg.
ays oward
ome
purpose
r
act,without
ither
or-phrases
falling
hort r
overshooting."
The
words escribe
he
processs well
as the
contentf
thought.
The syntactic
tyle efinestates
f
thinking
nd
feeling y what
theyack
throughhe
foregroundingf
negatives,
hich
mply
n
8
Lubomir
Dolezel,
"A
Framework or the
Statistical
nalysis
f
Style,"
n
Statistics
and Style, d. LubomirDolezel and RichardBailey New York:American lsevier,
969),
pp. IO-II.
9
Noam
Chomsky, eflectionson
Language (New
York:
Pantheon, 975), p.
4.
10
Light
in
August
(New York:
Modern
ibrary,
932),
p.
3I7.
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434
American
Literature
evaluation
f he
houghts
by lacing
hem gainst
he ackground"
(Labov,
.
380)
of bsent ualities:
erivation,
otivation,
xplana-
tion. hroughhenegatives,hepassage resentshepoint fview
that
uch xplicit
onnections
re absent
regardless
f the
motiva-
tions
nd explanations
hat
might
e
given fterward).
y
bringing
into onsciousness
othwhat
s and s
notpresent
n theprocess
f
thought,
he
yntactic
tylenvites point
f
view oward
ontem-
plation.
he
or-clauses,
omparisons,
nd
doubling
f
djectives
nd
nouns lso
bring
n a wider
ange f imultaneous
vents"
Labov,
p.
388)
and invite
omparative
valuations
f sleep
nd
hunger,
desirendneed, aysnd cts,ndof he ensef imelessnessnd ts
inherentpposite-the
eedto
order
ime.The
viewpoint
hat
thought
s
a
process
frelating
nd
connecting
s
built nto
the
syntactic
tyle.
The samenarrative
tylemarks
ther
assages
hat resent
on-
templation
nd createshe ame
ffect
fengaginghe
eader
n
an
evaluativetance,
point
f
view. or example,
he
ontemplation
of
he
meaning
f hewilderness
ndof
he ear
nvolves
n
attitude
toward oth heprocessndthe bject fcontemplation.
negative
He
had lready
nherited,hen,
ithout
ver
aving
double
dj.
seen
t,
he
ig
ld
bearwith ne
rap-ruined
oot
thatn
an
area
lmost
hundred ilesquare
ad
appositive
earned or
imself
name,
definiteesignation
comparison
like
living
man:-theong egend
f orn-cribs
appositives
broken own nd
rifledf
hoats
ndgrown
igs
doubling
and
ven alves arried
odilynto he
woods
nd
appositive devoured . .-a corridorfwreckagend destruc-
doubling
tion
eginning
ackbefore
e was
born...
Syntactically,
hebear s
transformed
nto
legend
hrough
pposi-
tion;byfurther
pposition,he
egend
fhis
ctionss
transformed
into corridor
f
wreckage
nd destruction.
he
bear scontinually
defined
y ll
the hings
e stands
or nd
canbe equated
ith: e
s
"an
anachronism,
ndomitable
nd invincibleut
of
an old dead
time,
phantom,
pitome
nd
apotheosis
f the
old
wild ife
the ldbear, olitary,ndomitable,ndalone;widoweredhildless
and
absolved fmortality-old
riam
eft f
hisold
wife
nd
out-
11
"The Bear," n
Go Down, Moses,
pp.
I92-93.
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Faulkner's
arrative
tyles
435
lived ll
his sons."
he
appositives
xtend
he
relationship
etween
the ear
nd
the ast ack oPriam. he
bear nd ts
egend
re
lso
expandeds they re defined ynegation:thasnotbeen een; t
speeds not
ast ut ather
ith
he uthlessnd rresistibleelibera-
tion
f
locomotive";
t
is
"not
malevolent
ut
ust
oo
big,
oo
big
for hedogs
which ried o
bay t . . . toobigfor he
very ountry
which
was tsconstricting
cope"; t is
"not ven mortal east."
The
negationxtendshe wareness
f
what
he
bear
might
ave
been,
ut
s
not not fast, ot
malevolent,otmortal) nd thus
impliesn
evaluationfwhat t s.Like
he ppositives,
henegatives
bringdditionalayers fmeaningnto onsciousness;oth yntax
patterns
eparateubjects
nd verbs,nd obscure
irect onnections
between
gents
nd
events.
ften heorder f
subject
nd
verb s
reversed,
urtherbscuring
onventionalyntactic
onnectionsnd
involvinghe reader n
the process f sorting
hroughhe parts
of
he
entenceor ignificance:a
corridorfwreckagenddestruc-
tion
eginning
ack
beforehe
boywas
born, hrough
hich
ped,
not
ast
ut
ather ith he uthlessnd
rresistible
eliberationf
locomotive,heshaggy remendoushape."The bear's ction s
introduceds a clause
escribingurther
he ppositivecorridor);
the ctor
omes ast.Other
entences
re patterned ith hesame
inverted
yntax: thedoomed
wilderness. .
through hich an
. . . the
ld
bear." ike he haracters,
he eaderenses utdoesnot
know
he
ause or vents
the ubjectfthe entence)
ntil ast.A
syntactictyle
hich
minimizes
ubjects
r absorbshem
y pposi-
tion s
the erfecttyle or
stablishinghenarrative
erspective
hat
theprocessf ife s less processf ndividualction han fthe
contemplation
f ntricateelationships
nd
nterconnections.
Quentin's
ontemplationf time nd
itsrelationshipo action
concludes
ith
n
explicit
tatementf a point f view
hat s also
latent
n
the
yntaxatterns
hat ransform
xperience
nto valuation.
When
he
hadow
f he
ash
ppeared
n the
urtains
it
was
between
even
nd
ight
'clock
nd
hen
was
in
time
gain, earing
he
watch.
t was
Grand-
father'sndwhen ather
ave
t
omehe
aid,
comparison Quentin,giveyou hemausoleumf llhope
nd
doubling desire;
t's ather
xcruciating-lypt
hat
ou
willuse
t
to
gain
he
educto
bsurdum
f
ll
human
xperience
hich
an
fit
ourndividual
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436
American
Literature
neg.
omparison
eeds
o
betterhantfittedis
r
his
ather's.
or-phrase/neg.
give t
to
you
ot
that ou
may
emember
ime,
negative but hat oumightorgettnow nd hen or
negative
moment
ndnot
pend ll
your
reath
rying
o
negative
conquert.
Because
o
battle
s
everwon
he
aid.
negative
They renot ven
ought.
he
field
nly
eveals
o
doubling manhis
wn
folly
nd
despair,
nd
victory
s
an
doubling
illusion
f
philosophers
nd
fools.12
The
explicit
omparisons,
egatives,
r-phrase,
nd
doublingof
nouns
and
modifiers
ll
have
the
same
effect:f
transforminghe
event, hegift fthewatch,ntoan evaluation flife.The syntax
emphasizeswhat
cannot
be
won,
conquered,
ought,
emembered,
possessed,
nd
establishes
he
point
ofview
that s
stated
xplicitly
in the
concluding
oda:
life's
ctions
eveal
to
man"
only
his
own
folly
nd
despair."
he
closeness
fthis
vision
f
ife o
the
passage
in
Macbeth
hat
ontains
he
novel's
itles
reinforcedy
he
loseness
of
Faulkner's
yntactic
tyle
nd
the
style f
Macbeth's
peech
n
despair:
negative/appositiveife's ut walkinghadow,poor layer
doubling
That
truts
ndfrets ishour
pon
he
tage
appositive
And
hens
heard o
more.t
s a
tale
doubling
Told
by
n diot,
ull
f ound
nd
fury,
negative
Signifying
othing.
(V,
v,
24-8)
This is
notto
saythat
Faulkner
oundhis
style s
well
as his
title
n
Macbeth,
ut
merely
hat he
ontemplativeone
n
boths
established
through nearlydentical yntactictyle hat uits hevision flife
as
a
succession
f
hadows
ignifying
othing.
This vision
s
reinforced
otonly
by
the
syntactic
tructures
f
Faulkner's
narrative
tyle,but also
by the
over-all, rchitectural
structure
f
these
works.
The
four-part
tructure
fThe Sound
and
the
Fury
is an
extended
pposition
hat
equates
each
character's
evaluation f
the
ignificancef events. he
relationship
etween
he
four
oints
f
view s
parallel;
hey ile
on
top
of
each
other,
reating
layersof consciousness. he recurrentunts n "The Bear" and
"Was"
are
also parallel;
the
action
progresses
n a
cyclical ashion.
12
The
Sound and
the
FturyI929;
rpt. New
York: Random,
Vintage, 946),
p. 93.
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Faulkner's
arrative
tyles
437
Just s
theover-all tructuref
"Was"
moves
n a
circle,
o does
the
structuref
Light n August,which
ends
as it begins
with Lena's
meandering.aulkner'sarger arrativetructuresre ofa piecewith
the
yntactictructures
f
his narrative
tyle.
oth tructures
mbody
a
repetitiveision f
ife's ventswhich
s
consistent
ith
Quentin's
contemplative
valuation,
nherited romhis
father nd his father's
father-"that
o battles ever
won" and
that victorys an
illusion
of
philosophers
nd
fools."
This
vision
s sharedby
Faulkner'scomic
novels,which
also
present
ife s
movementn a
circle.The
differences in the
focus:
the comicpassages ocuson the foolishnessf the momentswhen
men
believe heir
ctions
an
result
n
victory.n
these
moments,
charactersirect
heir ctions n
a linearfashion
oward
goal that
is never
eached; he
inear,
ight-branching
yntactictyle
aptures
both the
direction f
the
actionsand
the
insignificance
f
each
individual
motion. he
piling p
of
parallel ctions
quates hedeeds
and creates
senseof accretion nd
speed.
n
short, he narrative
syntaxreates comic
erspective.
Thehorse uction n The
Hamlet
contains he ncient omic on-
test
etween
reed nd
gullibility.
rom
thepoint
f
view
of
victims
and
losers, uch events
re not
funny;
fromthe
more distanced
perspective
f
the
spectator,hey re.As in
the second
section
f
"Was,"Faulkner
ngageshis
audience
n
thedistanced omic
tance
through
he
syntactic
tyle
of
the narration.
n
The Hamlet
the
cavorting f the
uncaught, ut
bought-and-paid-for,orses s
pre-
sented
n a
right-branchingtylethat
contrastswith the
highly
embedded, valuative tyleof contemplation. ecause the comic
style
as
ittle
mbedding,he
right-branching
f
clauses
nd
phrases
of
equal
weight
llows
one action
o
supplant nother
apidly.
"Get tohelloutof
here,Wall " Eck
roared.
e
dropped o
the
floor,
coveringis head
withhis
arms.
The
boy
did
not
move,
nd
for
he
third ime he
horse oared bove
he
unwinkingyes
nd
the
unbowed
and
untouchedead nd onto he
ront eranda
gain
ust
s
Ratliff,till
carrying
he
ock,
an
round
he orner f the
house nd
up
the
teps.
Thehorsewhirled ithoutreakingrpausing.tgalloped othe ndof
the
veranda
nd
tookthe
railing
nd
soared
utward,
obgoblin
nd
floating,n the
moon. t
landed nthe ot till
unning
nd crossedhe
ot
and
gallopedhroughhe
wrecked
ate
nd
among he
verturnedagons
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438
American
Literature
and the till ntact ne
n
whichHenry's
ife till
at,
nd on down
he
lane nd nto he
oad.13
The dominant
tylistic
eature
s
the
epetition
f
and,"
n
equating
conjunctionhat oesnot nvite valuation
n
the ame
way
s
sub-
ordinating
onjunctions,
hich xpresselationships
n
causality
r
time.
And . . and . . . and . . ."-the horse uns n as themen
ran on in "Was."The foregroundingf theright-branchings
so
heavy hat he ew mbeddedlementso not
deter he
low
f
the
action:
the two participial hrases
re
placed
toward he
right;
he
one
adjective lause s insignificant.he style
s
distinguishedy
the
high"degree" f right-branching;statisticalount s notnecessary
to
understanding
hat he
comic tone s
conveyed y
a cohesion
f
syntacticeatures
f a
distinctlyifferent
ind than
those ssociated
with contemplation. he same comic tone and style dominate
Ratliff'se-tellingf theepisode t thegeneral tore: It was
in
my
room nd it was on thefront orch nd I could hearMrs.Littlejohn
hitting
t
overthehead withthatwashboard n thebackyard ll at
the ame ime. nd
itwas
still
missing verybodyverytime.reckon
that'swhat thatTexas man meantby calling hembargains: hat
man
would need to be powerful nlucky o everget close enough
to
one of them to get hurt" p. 314). Ratliff's oncluding oda
provides he pointof view he wisheshis auditors o adopt,but the
comic
stance s implicit n the preceding entences escribing he
repetitive ovementsf thehorse.The principle f repetitions the
comic
principleunderlying lapstickhumor such as the Marx
brothers';n
Bergson's
erms, uch
repetition
s comic
because ts
mechanicalnatureremindsman of the limitations laced on his
vitality y mechanical
nd
bodily orces. he repetitivetylemaybe
funnymerely
ecause
repetition
verdone
r
not
going anywhere
belongs
to
comedy,
or
laughter
s
partly
reflex nd
like
other
reflexes
t
can be conditioned
y
a
simple epeated attern,"
s
Frye
points ut.'4The repeated atterns
f
this yntactictyle arallel he
patterning
f
the
action;
the rapid,mechanical epetitioneminds
Ratliffnd
the
eader
f
the bsence
f
thought
hat
ets
men
gulled.
The comic ccasion n Faulkner's ovels soften n occasionwhen
13
The Hamlet
193I;
rpt.New
York: Random, intage,
958),
p. 308.
14
NorthropFrye, "The
Mythos of Spring: Comedy" from Anatomyof Criticism
(I957;
rpt.New York:Atheneum,970), p. i68.
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Faulkner's
arrative
tyles
439
actions
taken ithout
ontemplation.
n the
ontemplative
assages,
characters
ealize
hat
o
goal
s ever
chieved;
n the omic
assages
charactersctwithouthinkingfultimateutilities.n TheReivers
the
llusive
oal s
winning
race;
he
omic
erspective
oward
his
hope
s
present
hemomenthehorse
s-whenMillie
nnounces:
"Man
standing
n
the
back
yard
hollering
Mr.
Boon
Hogganbeck
t
the
back
wall of
the
house.
He
got
omething ig
with
him."
We
ran, following
oon, through he kitchen
nd out
into the
back
gallery.
t was quite dark
now; the moon
was
not high enough
yet
o
do
anygood. Two
dim
things,
little ne and
a big
one,
were
tanding
n the
middle of the back yard,the littleone bawling"Boon Hogganbeck
Mister
Boon
Hogganbeck
Hellaw.
Hellaw"
toward he
upstairs
windows
untilBoon
overrode
imby imple
olume:
"Shut
up
Shutup Shut
up "
It
was
Ned. Whathe
had withhim
was a
horse.15
The
amusing
oint f
view s
due to some
extent o the
verbal
excess:
he epetition
f
"Boon
Hogganbeck ister
oon
Hoggan-
beck Hellaw.
Hellaw"
nd
"Shut p Shut
p
Shut p "
conveys
the xcitementfthe haracters,he motionalxcess hat verrides
contemplation.
he
repetitionf
similar
hrasingt the
beginning
and
ending f
the
assage
einforces
his
erspective:
He
got
ome-
thing
igwith
im"-"What e had
with
him
was
a
horse." his
syntactic
tyle
s theperfect
tyle
or
races-of
men and horses-
because he
yntax
aptures
he ense f
motion;
or
xample,
n
the
two aces
n
The
Reivers:
I
cut
him
as
hard as
I could. He
broke,
altered,
prang gain; we
had
alreadymadeMcWillie a present ftwo lengths o I cut him again; we
went
nto
the
second ap
two lengths
back and
traveling
ow on
the
peeled switch
until
the gap
betweenhim
and Acheron
replaced
Ned in
what
Lightning
alled his
mind, nd he
closed
it again
until his
head
was
once
more
t
McWillie'sknee . .
. (p.
272-73).
. . .
McWillie
whipping
uriously
ow
and
Lightning
esponding
ike
a
charm, xactly
ne
neck
back;
if
Acheron
had
known
any way
to
run
sixtymiles n
hour,
we
would too-one
neckback;
f
Acheron ad
decided
to
stoptenfeet
efore
he wire,
o
would
we-one
neck
back
(p.
297).
The
right-branching
yntactictyle
aptureshe
actual
movement
of
the
action as in
"Was"
and The
Hamlet;
the
repetitiveness f the
15
TheReivers New
York: Random,
intage,
962),
p.
II5.
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440
American Literature
passagesuggestshat earlyll races rerepetitive
nd
doomed
o
be ost y head.The comic imitations
re
no
different
rom
hose
recognizedn contemplation,ut uch aces re comic ecausehe
actors eepmoving
oward mere
llusion
f
victory.
This llusion
s also at the
heart f the
bsurdist
omedy
f
the
bizarreuneralrocession
n
As
LayDying.
eath nd
burying
an
only ecomeubjects
or
omedy
hen
hey rovide
he
ccasion
or
the iving o ssert hat anger alls the ital eeling"-the
uman
tendencyo "seize n opportunities,"o grab little
more f ife.16
However,
he
opportunism"
ecomes
bsurd hen ts
goals
ecome
unworthyfthe xpenditurefenergy-merelyogoto town rto
getnewteeth. he opportunism
f
Faulkner's
bsurdist
omedy
s
less
brainy"han
he
opportunism"anger
hinks
nderlies
omic
greed.n fact, he ackof thoughts whatmakes he pportunism
absurd s the haracters,hemules,nd themother'soffinll swirl
off
n
the
lood:
Cash
ried ut hefell ff
ndDarl
umped oing nder
e
went nder
and
Cashholleringo catch er
nd
hollering
nd
DeweyDell hollering
atme Vardaman ouVardaman ouvardamanndVernon assedme
because e was seeing er ome pandshe umped nto hewater gain
andDarlhadn't aught eryet.
..
The
mules ived p againdiving
heir
egs
tiff
heir
tiff
egsrolling
slow nd then arl again
nd
hollering
atch
erdarl
atch er
head
her nto he
bank
darl
nd
Vernonwouldn't
elp
nd then
arl
dodged
past hemules.
..
"Where
s ma,
Darl?"
said. You never other.
You
knew he s a
fish ut
you
et
her
get way.""17
The syntactictylemakes he actions wirl round ach other,
inundatingpportunityor hought.he piling p ofthe epetitive
actionss highlightedy the repetitionf "and" and of specific
words.
ardaman,
honarrateshis izarre
arody
f
rossing
o he
other
world,s,
of
course,
imited
n
contemplative
bilities
y
his
age. His perceptionf this ccretionf separatectionss not so
different
rom
enjy's
n
The
Sound
nd
the
Fury: They
ook he
flag ut,
nd
hey ere itting.hen hey ut he lag ack ndthey
16
Suzanne Langer,
"The Great
Dramatic
Forms:
Comic Rhythm,"
from
Feeling
and
Form (1953), as reprinted n Comedy, ed. Marvin Felheim (New York: Harcourt, Brace,
Jovanovich, 962), pp.
248
and
243.
17,AS
I
Lay Dying 1930; rpt. New York: Random, Vintage, 1957), pp. 143-44.
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Faulkner's
Narrative Styles
44I
went
o
the able, nd
he
hit nd the ther
it.
Then
hey
went
n,
and wentlong he ence"
p. 23). The
repetitiveness
fthe
ctions
describeds emphasizedythe tylenwhich heyre described.
Of course, enjy'syntax
epresents
he
pitome
n lackofcontem-
plation; e literallyannot onnect,elate,
nd evaluate
vents,
nd
while his s not
omic n an acknowledgeddiot,
t s
in
menwho
pretendo
reason ut hare
enjy'stylefmind. enjy
nd Varda-
man re
patheticecause
hey recaughty ge and
nheritance
n
the
ccretionf actions
hey id not ause nd cannot
nderstand.
The patheticuality bout
hem s directly
onnectedo theirack
of bilityothink. s Freud emindss,human atureaughs t the
pathetic-athildrennd
diots nd hump acks"-perhaps
ecause
"we seean unncessaryxpenditure
f
movementhichwe should
spare urselvesfwe were
arryingut
the ame ctivity"nd "our
laughterxpressespleasurable
ense f he uperiority
hich efeel
inrelation"o anotherpp. 254-55).
In this ense,
ardaman nd
Benjy
re expansions
f the
comic
uality
f other aulknerian
charactersho are nvolved
n
activitieshey
o not
fully ompre-
hend, he utilityfwhich hey ave ot ontemplated.
Many f
the ctions hat
ccupy he
omic
cenes
n
Faulkner's
novelsmight
ecome ragic
f thecharactersnvolved
ngaged
n
contemplationftheirnsignificance,
f
the tylen whichhey ere
presented
nvolvedvaluation.
s Richard ewallpoints
ut,one
criticalspect
f tragedy
s contemplation,raduation
from he
conditionfpain ndfear
o he ondition
f uffering-whichs the
condition
f pain nd fear ontemplated."18
aulkner's
omic tyle
embodieshe ack of contemplationn its rapid, ight-branching
accumulation
f actions.
he
more
contemplative
assages
re
marked y
a
syntactic
tyle
hat
mposes
ontinual
valuation
f
what s by
ll
that s
related
o
t-by
all that
recedes
t,
tands
n
oppositiono it,
or
can
be
equated
with t.
The contemplative
r
comic
oint
fview
rows
rom he
tyle
f he
narration,egardless
of
whether
he uthor
r
a
character
s
doing
he
narrating.
his
consistencyetween tyle
nd toneaccounts
or the
consistency
between assageswith differentormal arrativetructuresnd
for
he ersistence
f he Faulknerian"
oice
n
the
oices
fdifferent
18
RichardB. Sewall, The Vision
of
Tragedy New Haven, Conn.:
Yale
Univ. Press,
I959), p.
6.
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442
American Literature
characters.
further
enseof
consistencyn Faulkner's
narrative
style erives rom
ualities hared
by the contemplative
nd comi'c
styles,which both present n inundationof consciousness-by
thought
r
by
action.The syntactic
ccretion
hatmarks aulkner's
narrative
tyles ransforms
ndividual
xperienceshrough
yntactic
connectionshat
reate world
n which verything
srelated. oth
the contemplative
nd comic
styles onvey
relationshipsetween
layers
f experience,einforcing
hrough tyle he persistent
aulk-
nerian
hemes f the nterconnectedness
f all times, eoples,
nd
actions.