FAULKNER´S POLYPHONIC NOVEL : A STUDY OF FOUR NOVELS BY WILLIAM FAULKNER IN LIGHT OF BAKHTIN´S AND TODOROV’S THEORIES OF THE NOVEL

Suad  M. ITANI

The present dissertation attempts to study the narrative style(s) and language of four novels by William Faulkner in the light of the Russian critic Mikhail Bakhtin's views on the novel and language as they are reflected in his works, especially in his The Dialogic Imagination and The Problems of Dostoevsky's Poetics. The dissertation also benefits from the ideas of Tzvetan Todorov on the narrative and the reader's response as they are reflected in his The Poetics of Prose, Theory of the Narrative, and especially his illuminating essay called "Reading as Construction."

This study aims to fill in a gap in the Faulknerian studies. Throughout the years of study of the Faulknerian novel, I have felt several times that Faulkner's intentions have been misunderstood. The problem of point of view is at the heart of the matter as I see it. Bakhtin shows us that the novel's origin lies in its diversity since it is written in the language that people use and it reflects their diverse ways of looking at themselves and their world. Therefore the novelist who employs the language of the people cannot ignore this diversity which must show in his work. A masterful writer like Faulkner thus welcomes the multiplicity of social voices, which Bakhtin calls polyphony, in his fiction. This, however, does not mean that the novelist has no point of view. On the contrary, the novelist orchestrates these voices in order to convey his themes, which are reflected in the subject matter of his work.

Todorov, in his turn helps us differentiate between Faulkner's viewpoint and that of his narrator. In "Reading as Construction," he presents us with a system of reading which help the reader understand the role of the narrator as separate from the author. Todorov also shows us how the reader has to identify with the narrator as his knowledge of the fictional world depends on the narrator.

I believe that Faulkner does not take sides with a narrator or a character, although like a reader of his work he might like some of his characters and dislike others. The confusion of some critics comes from their need to find a unified point of view or message in every novel they read. For this reason they attempt to force an artificial unity on Faulkner's novels. When this attempt fails they accuse Faulkner of being confused or the work of being defective for its lack of unity. For lack of space, this study limits itself to four controversial though well received Faulknerian novels, namely; The Sound and the Fury, As I Lay Dying, Light in August, and Absalom, Absalom! to show that unity is not a requirement for a novel, but that diversity is.