序言

Professor Zhang Xi begins this original and provocative study of William Faulkner by situating the writer within a central aesthetic dynamic of the traditional and the modern.The division corresponds with the central historical dynamic that governed Faulkner’s life as well as his work，namely，the relationship between the ante-bellum Southern world and the twentieth-century contemporary world.Like many Southerners，Faulkner was deeply sensitive to the“Lost Cause”mentality that viewed the antebellum South and the Civil War fought to defend it as an era of mythic proportions that subsequent generations would never be able to match.What made Faulkner distinctive within this“Lost Cause”backward look，was his equal fascination with his contemporary，modern world，a world that was trying to forget rather than remember，trying to break away，not only from Southern infatuation with the past，but from everything that the past stood for.The historical division became in Faulkner’s work an aesthetic and thematic division that provided it with an extraordinary tension，at times approaching an almost unbearable intensity.Such division is the source of much of the difficulty in reading Faulkner，since he could never fully heal that tension，virtually the source of his power and profundity.

Professor Zhang Xi explores the tension primarily in terms of different aesthetic and thematic levels，what，in very general terms，he calls the lyrical style and the realistic style.The lyrical style，especially vivid in Faulkner’s use of“long sentence”stream-of-consciousness，is subjective，meditative，and is characterized by incessant qualification，the“flourishing modifiers”that extend the action，but delay its completion.The lyric style is what Professor Zhang Xi calls the“contemplative”style，derived from romantic and French symbolist poetry，revealing a character’s psychological depths rather than his or her determination to alter the conditions that have created them.

The realistic style is what Professor Zhang Xi calls the“long-distance perspective，”characterized by shorter sentences，a more detached，often comedic account of its material，and a focus on the possibility of productive change in a character’s human affairs.Realism serves as a counterpoint to the lyrical，rescuing the text from its subjective，sometimes neurotic depths，and situating it in a plausible world in which contemplation might realize itself in significant action.While the complete reconciliation of these two forces is rare in Faulkner’s work，their very existence as potentially complementary forms of expression and action provides an element of hope in the fiction.

In the history of Faulkner criticism there are many studies of the fiction that focus on the narrative thrust，the way in which characters carry out their projects，successfully or not，as well as a few cogent studies of the poetry.Professor Zhang Xi’s special contribution to Faulkner studies is his ability to focus on the“poetry”of the fiction，what happens when the lyric mode becomes central to that narrative thrust through the use of“qualifiers”that not only add description to the narratives but also character depth to the extent that“qualification”becomes a character in itself，fully implicating（and implicated by）the process of dramatic event.To some extent this is characteristic of James Joyce’s Ulysses，the difference being that action in Faulkner is far more robust than in Joyce，in whose work lyric might be said to overcome the“realism”of novelistic action.

In addition to this emphasis，perhaps Professor Zhang Xi’s most original insight into Faulkner is his argument that the dual style of lyric and realism begins in the writer’s one-act verse play，The Marionettes，written in 1920.Pairing the play with the novel，As I Lay Dying，Professor Zhang Xi identifies a structure that exemplifies that lyric/ realistic division：an interior level of“core/family speakers as lyric chanters”and an exterior level of“outer/ neighbor speakers as story tellers.”This multiple perspective can be found in The Marionettes，as well as in Oscar Wilde’s Salomeand the poetry of Browning and Tennyson.The interior“chanting”style incorporates the frequent qualifiers of the lyric mode，virtually making the act of qualification into the protagonist of the sentence.Action is suspended；the sentence“spreads stagnantly on a static plane.”As the hero and heroine of the verse drama chant their relationship of union and separation，the unnamed choral figures signal the simple plot of seasonal change.As an example of what Professor Zhang Xi refers to as“the contrasting relationship between exquisitely conceived scenes connected by a simple plot，”The Marionettesinitiates what will become Faulkner’s“basic structural frame.”

In As I Lay Dying，the members of the Bundren family，in separate monologues unknown to the others，explore the significance of Addie’s death from their individual perspectives，while the chorus of neighbors and townspeople provide description of the death itself，which constitutes the basic narrative of the novel.From this outside perspective comes a larger，more encompassing view of the entire social，geographical，and cultural context of the Bundrens：“the noisy sound of the underclass.”The novel thus is a major step in Faulkner’s need to incorporate in coherent form the inner，lyric monologues of the characters and the outer choral figures that“prompt the course of the story.”

These tensions，and Faulkner’s different handling of them are the central concerns of Professor Zhang Xi’s study.In Light in August，for example，there is a central figure，Joe Christmas，who functions as the chanter，his voice and psychic struggle for identity a version of the lyric monologue，while a series of outside“supporting roles report the story from a traditional point of view，”bringing the plot of the novel forward.It is in Absalom，Absalom！however，that Faulkner most successfully brings these clashing forces together.The technique of“suspension”can sometimes seem to halt narrative action entirely，as if forbidding an ending and therefore a productive result to human effort.Such suspension，however，creating a sense of past，present，and future all equally deferred，can also imply possibility and therefore hope.Each time zone becomes“a moment bearing the past and simultaneously looking forward.”

With the help of Professor Zhang Xi’s emphases，we can see a prevalent structure in Faulkner’s fiction that seems to me to provide an important and useful insight in how to read it.The relation between main clauses and qualifying clauses in Faulkner’ssentences reflects a division that characterizes all his work.Within the sentences there is what I would call a horizontal thrust，a movement forward toward utterance that completes a thought，an action，ultimately a human life.Within that horizontal thrust，however，there invariably intrude the vertical dives downward—the complications，the contexts of all action，the history，the built and natural world，in a word everything that implicates forward motion.And so we move through a Faulkner text haltingly，a step or two forward followed by several steps downward.On the one hand，the movement forward is unintelligible，possibly pointless without the complementary context，which explains how and why the movement has been undertaken.On the other hand，the vertical interruption，the dip downward，while filling in the gaps，illuminating the forward movement，can become a form of paralysis，death by drowning，if it cannot return to the surface to complete the verb，to make a full sentence.The tensions of past and present，meditation and narrative，tradition and originality，are the central experiences of reading Faulkner，an experience that Professor Zhang Xi has greatly enriched with this study.

Donald M.Kartiganer

Professor of Faulkner Studies Emeritus

University of Mississippi