Reading Faulkner: The Sound and the Fury, Glossary and Commentary.
Zeitlin, Michael
Reading Faulkner: The Sound and the Fury, Glossary and Commentary,
by Stephen M. Ross and Noel Polk. Jackson: University Press of
Mississippi, 1996. xi, 196 pp. $45.00 cloth, $17.50 paper; Reading
Faulkner: Sanctuary, Glossary and Commentary, by Edwin T. Arnold and
Dawn Trouard. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1996. xviii, 280
pp. $45.00 cloth, $17.50 paper.
THESE IMPRESSIVE VOLUMES ARE PART OF THE Reading Faulkner Series
edited by Noel Polk and conceived by James Hinkle, who, as Polk explains
in the Series Preface, "established its principles, selected the
authors, worked long hours with each of us in various stages of planning
and preparation, and then died before seeing any of the volumes in
print. The series derives from Jim's hardcore commitment to the
principle that readers must understand each word in Faulkner's
difficult novels at its most basic, literal, level before hoping to
understand the works' 'larger' issues" (p. vii).
Based on Hinkle's insistence on minute attention to detail, the
Reading Faulkner Series also reflects Hinkle's conception of an
ideal community of Faulknerians dedicated to reading the novels aloud,
and hence to the communal circulation, exchange, and discussion of
Faulkner's meanings. As Polk relates, "we spent hours with
each other and with other Faulkner scholars reading the novels aloud,
pausing to parse out a difficult passage, to look up a word we
didn't understand, to discuss historical and mythological
allusions, to work through the visual details of a scene to make sure we
understood exactly what was happening, to complete Faulkner's
interruptions, to fill in his gaps, and to be certain that we paid as
much attention to the unfamiliar passages as we did to the better-known
ones, not to let a single word escape our scrutiny; we also paused quite
frequently, to savor what we had just read" (p. viii).
Reading through these glossaries, one feels the intensity of the
authors' desire to understand and appreciate every nuance and
detail of "the art of William Faulkner" (p. xi)--and hence, in
keeping with the glossary genre, to track meanings to their home in and
beyond the cosmos Faulkner claimed he owned. In the words of Edwin
Arnold, "We ... hope that this reading will aid in basic
understanding of Faulkner's world, encourage close examination of
Faulkner's text, and arouse further discussion of his intentions
and meanings" (p. xv). In necessarily evoking a fairly substantial
"idea of the author" as central agency and cause, these
glossaries repeatedly reinforce a sometimes elusive truth: that myriad
meanings achieving point and coherence (or even splendidly suggestive
incoherence) are those Faulkner himself intended. Naturally, that fact
should not be felt as incompatible with the knowledge that there is
always a dynamically evolving remainder or surplus that perpetually
exceeds what can be imputed to Faulkner's intentions.
Some of these "surplus" meanings (as engendered
especially by these two novels above all) are personal, private, woven
into our own egos, and one sometimes resists yielding them even to
Faulkner (or to what Ross, Polk, Arnold, and Trouard show or suggest
Faulkner means). In this sense, Ross and Polk are perhaps too generous
in anticipating "that one pleasure of this volume for our readers
will be in finding differences from their own, sometimes previously
unquestioned, assumptions about what a particular passage
'really' means" (p. x). Well, it is not always a pleasure
to have to give up one's meaning, even in the face of compelling
evidence. Still, in the final analysis, one must be grateful for the
evidence given in these glossaries, whose richest final effect is to
invite us, even the Canadians among us, to say, "No, you wait. Let
me play a while now": for no matter how tight or comprehensive the
weave of the net-work that one lays across Faulkner's turbulent
textuality, some meanings--perhaps even facts and allusions--will
inevitably escape it.
Rich with valuable information and keen insights, Ross's and
Polk's volume on The Sound and the Fury keys its entries to line
and page numbers of the Corrected Text, in both the Vintage
International (New York, 1990) and Random House (New York, 1984)
editions. The glossary proper is preceded by an elaborate six-page
chronology of events and time levels in Benjy Compson's narrative.
Working through this chronological schema, one gains a vivid perspective
on the staggering complexity and dimension of what Faulkner achieved in
this first section of the novel and beyond.
Designed to serve both new and seasoned readers of Faulkner, the
glossary entries themselves are focused as much on major as on minor or
seldom-noticed aspects of the novel. An example in the former category
shows how worthwhile it is to be given a lucid articulation of a major
theme: "44:7 Bad health is the primary reason for all fife. Created
by disease, within putrefaction, into decay Mr. Compson's humor
serves his nihilism and cynicism, which works powerfully throughout the
novel, especially on Quentin. Father's and Mother's arguments
about Uncle Maury and their constant sniping and whining take place in
the presence of the children, with devastating cumulative effect on
them" (p. 29). Other entries invite us to notice or linger over
precious details that one might otherwise risk moving past too quickly:
"64:19 the cushion came back and Caddy held it above Mother's
head While Mother finally tearfully embraces Benjy, Caddy performs a
lovely deception by holding the forbidden cushion so that Benjy can see
it but Mother cannot: by holding the cushion where Benjy can see it she
induces him to stop crying, to stop resisting, while he is in his
mother's lap; she then draws Mother 'back in the chair'
where she lies crying" (p. 36). Some entries offer useful
speculations about internal relational patterns: "112:4 Quentin has
shot all of their voices through the floor of Caddy's room See
105:25. The source of the image of shooting Herbert Head's voice
may lie in the association Quentin makes between Head and the
thoroughbred horse, for this is the horse that had to be shot after it
threw Quentin and broke his leg" (p. 94). And some entries point to
historical discourses and contexts well worth exploring further:
"252:9 I wouldn't bet on any team that fellow Ruth played on
The source of Jason's antagonism toward Babe Ruth may be the rumor
that Ruth was part Negro. This rumor maintained some currency during the
late twenties and into the late thirties" (p. 173). In addition to
the knowledge it imparts and the perspectives it opens to view, the
glossary is in itself a living demonstration that one cannot read the
novel too slowly, and this is its ultimate pedagogical value.
From its opening gloss on the title of the novel to its five-page
chronological appendix, Arnold and Trouard's volume on Sanctuary,
which keys itself both to the Library of America Edition of William
Faulkner: Novels 1930-1935 (1985) and to the Vintage International
paperback text (New York, 1993), consistently rewards the reader,
student, and scholar with shrewd insights and absorbing material.
Especially admirable is its frank handling of matters as sensitive and
"scandalous" now as they were in 1931: "219:27
you'll say Yes Yes and you'll crawl naked in the dirt and the
mire for him to call you that.... Such a man could also introduce Temple
to yet unimagined sexual passion; he would break down her silly
pretenses and release her fundamental emotions. See Temple and Red later
in the book (344:16/238:30). Ruby's description, however, also
reminds us of her own father after he kills Frank; in one sense she
admires her father for his brutal display of authority" (p. 69).
Such entries trace for the reader especially valuable pathways of
significance, as does the following: "198:6 Coop Student nickname
for Ricks and Ward Halls, the two women's dormitories at the
University of Mississippi at this time. The name involves a sexual
joke--that hens are kept in a coop to lay eggs--and anticipates the
houses of prostitution in Memphis: the female dorms will be compared to
the Memphis bordellos, one of the many ways Faulkner heightens
resemblances between proper and improper" (p. 40). Other kinds of
entries point to historical, cultural, and biographical contexts while
supplying their nuggets of helpful knowledge: "195:32 F.F.V. First
Families of Virginia, a somewhat satiric description applied to
native-born, rather pompous Virginians who considered themselves
superior to Southerners from other states, because of their leading role
in the founding of the United States" (p. 35); "312:39 kimono a loose fitting gown, suggesting the exotic and sensual. Estelle
[Franklin] Faulkner wore kimonos following her return from Shanghai,
China after divorce from first husband, Cornell Franklin" (p. 163);
"389:16 At first they thought he was blind ... he did not learn to
walk and talk until he was about four years old Symptoms associated with
syphilis. (The adult Popeye is also impotent, another effect of the
disease.) An obvious comparison can be made between baby Popeye and the
Goodwin baby, which is also clearly very ill" (p. 238).
Even the most experienced reader of Faulkner is bound to glean much
valuable insight and knowledge from these meticulously researched,
eminently practical, and intellectually suggestive glossaries.
MICHAEL ZEITLIN
University of British Columbia
