Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury - Experimental Subjectivity and Benjy's Narrative
Explore a 50-minute lecture from Yale University's "Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Faulkner" course, focusing on William Faulkner's "The Sound and the Fury." Delve into the novel's origins, including influences from Shakespeare's Macbeth and theories of mental deficiency by John Locke and Henry Goddard. Examine the experimental subjectivity in Benjy Compson's narration, a mentally challenged character whose innocence shields him from his family's decline. Analyze Faulkner's use of smell as a narrative device, particularly in relation to Benjy's sister Caddy and her perceived innocence. Investigate how Faulkner's narrative techniques protect Benjy from loss by allowing him to move seamlessly between past and present. The lecture covers topics such as idiocy as innocence, Freudian concepts of smell, and the syntactic consequences of losing Caddy in the narrative.