English 482.002
Winter 2007
3437 Mason
10-11:30am T,Th
William Faulkner
Prof. Scotti Parrish
3164 Angell Hall
sparrish@umich.edu
Off. Hrs: Thursdays 1-3
Grader: Jessica Schore
In 1953, Faulkner wrote: “Beginning with Sartoris I discovered that my own little
postage stamp of native soil was worth writing about and that I would never live long
enough to exhaust it, and by sublimating the actual into apocryphal I would have
complete liberty to use whatever talent I might have to its absolute top.” This course will
give you the opportunity to explore that indeed immense talent working over its native
soil of Mississippi. We will focus on the period from 1929 to 1942, the long decade of
Faulkner’s greatest achievements, reading: The Sound and the Fury, As I Lay Dying,
Light in August, Absalom! Absalom!, The Hamlet, and Go Down, Moses. We will look at
a number of his short stories in their original places of publication, namely The Saturday
Evening Post and Harper’s. We will also screen a few of the films he collaborated on as
a writer: Today We Live, To Have and Have Not, The Big Sleep, and The Southerner.
The extensive collection of Faulkner materials at the Special Collections Library at
Hatcher will give us the resources to trace Faulkner’s manuscript changes, view the
evolution of his book publications, and read extensive criticism. You will produce a
short written response to each of his novels, and produce a longer, researched analytical
paper (8-10pp) at the term’s end on a theme of your choosing. Of interest to us
throughout the course will be: Faulkner’s narrative practices, the epistemology of the
reader, the meaning of land and property, how ‘race’ is rendered as a detective story, and
of course, ‘the south’ as both “vanquished” cultural periphery and traveling show.
Books: (available at Shaman Drum)
The Sound and the Fury (1929)
As I Lay Dying (1930)
Light in August (1932)
Absalom! Absalom! (1936)
The Hamlet (1940)
Go Down, Moses (1942)
Reading: As this will be a course with student discussion, and assignments related to
each novel, it is essential that you not fall behind in your reading. Each one of you has
his/her own way of raising your reading from the level of relatively passive plotfollowing to a more engaged analysis in which you produce multi-leveled meaning; for
some this is taking notes; for others, creating ‘keys’ in the back of your book; for still
others, flagging key passages that you read a number of times. Whatever your system,
you should perform that kind of reading before class each day; you should have
something to say if I ask you: “what did you think?” Faulkner produces more questions
than he answers, so you can bring in a series of questions rather than feel like you already
need to have definitive answers.
Attendance and Participation: Any absences beyond two unexcused absences will
count against your grade. You can participate in large discussions, small groups, and/or
come to office hours to talk. All participation will be remembered and will help your
grade; moreover, it helps YOU hone your thoughts and become a more articulate adult.
Small Papers: For each novel, you will produce a short written response. For S&F, it
will be a close reading of a passage that I will determine. It will be no more than 2pp. I
will decide the other assignments as we go, but one will deal with Faulkner’s revision
process; one will respond to scholarly criticism; one will involve applying some narrative
theory to a text; one will probably deal with the issues of historical memory and another
with racial construction. We will see what you are interested in! My hope is that these
small papers will allow you to build gradually and variously a collection of ideas, and
different kinds of knowledge about Faulkner’s works. They will allow you to try out
different approaches, and broaden your own analytical methods. By the time you turn to
conceiving of your final paper topic, you will have a number of different tools at your
disposal.
Final Paper: This will be an 8-10pp paper due three days after the final class. In it I will
expect you to use two secondary sources (criticism or theory). It may be about just one
novel or it may trace a theme through a number of novels. You will need to check in with
me about the topic a few weeks before due date. The goal of this paper is for you to: look
deeply into a text or into an issue; make up your own questions; become an expert on
some dimension of Faulkner’s meaning-making practice; produce an original reading
based upon solid evidence; write beautifully and with verve.
Plagiarism: It’s wrong because you steal intellectual property; you are an idea or a word
thief; moreover, you cheat yourself out of learning something. Don’t use another’s words
or ideas without specific citation. I have sent people to the Dean’s office when this has
occurred in previous classes; in other words, I take this issue seriously.
Grade: To arrive at a base grade, I will count your small papers as 60% and your large
paper as 40% of that grade. I will then account for participation and attendance and
adjust accordingly.
Class Trip to Special Collections Library to see Faulkner collection!
Syllabus:
Jan 4
Introductions; close reading of opening of S&F
Jan 9
The Sound & the Fury: Benjy’s section
Jan 11
The Sound & the Fury: Quentin’s section
Jan 16
The Sound & the Fury: Jason’s section
Jan 18
Jan 19
The Sound & the Fury: Dilsey’s section
2pp paper due 3pm under my office door
Jan 23
As I Lay Dying: to 99
Jan 25
As I Lay Dying: to 176
Jan 30
As I Lay Dying: to 261
Feb 1
Feb 2
Light in August: to 118 (through Chapter 5)
A I L D diagram project under door by 3
Feb 6
Light in August: to 200 (through Chapter 8)
Feb 8
Light in August: to 319 (through Chapter 13)
Feb 13
Light in August: to 392 (through Chapter 16)
Feb 15
Light in August: to 507 (the end!)
Feb 20
3pp LIA project due in class: an analytical paper on some issue of racial
construction/ representation in the novel; discuss papers in small groups
and show the 1965 documentary, William Faulkner’s Mississippi, in class
Feb 22
Absalom! Absalom!: to 70 (through Chapter 3)
Feb 27
VACATION
Mar 1
VACATION
Mar 6
Absalom! Absalom!: to 176 (through Chapter 6)
Mar 8
Mar 12
Absalom! Absalom!: to end
A!A! project due at 3pm in my office
Mar 13
The Hamlet: “Flem”
Mar 15
The Hamlet: “Eula”
Mar 20
The Hamlet: “The Long Summer”
Mar 22
Mar 23
The Hamlet: “The Peasants”
The Hamlet response due in my office by 5pm
Mar 27
Go Down, Moses: Saturday Evening Post version of “The Bear”
Mar 29
Go Down, Moses: “The Bear”
April 3
Go Down, Moses: “The Bear”
April 5
Film Screening in class; be working on final paper
April 10
Film Screening in class; be working on final paper
April 12
Discuss films and large themes of course
April 17
Bring in rough draft of final paper; small group work
April 20
3pm final paper due under my office door
Assignment #2: diagramming As I Lay Dying
The point of all these short assignments is to break down the multi-faceted
process of understanding a work of literature and creating a thoughtful, polished
analytical paper. Last week we practiced close reading; in theory, by making yourself
aware of how closely you can read a single passage, ALL of your reading becomes more
intense and nuanced. A different way to gain knowledge about a text—instead of
applying a microscope to one passage in a close reading—is to telescope out in order to
understand the thematic or behavioral geography of an entire text. In this exercise, you
supply the particular theme or action whose movement you want to trace and map over
the course of the book. One theme could be narrative perspectives; you’d map or
diagram who tells the story, when, how many times, etc. Other categories could be:
animals, or injuries, or financial transactions, or labors performed. In a paper, if you
were to write about a theme, you would want to isolate the moments of its appearance, in
order to look at the development of that theme/action in a kind of high relief. This
assignment, therefore, will help you practice that stage of abstraction because it is easy to
get lost in the thicket of books; sometimes too, students think they are abstracting a
narrative when they are only giving plot summary; so we’ll work on refining this
distinction.
You can create your diagram/map by hand or on the computer; keep it all on one
page though; on the bottom, or on an attached sheet of paper, explain in just a sentence or
two what your diagram/map showed you about the novel.
Due Friday at 3pm in my office.
I Want To Vanish
I want to vanish
This is my fondest wish
To go where I cannot be captured laid on a
decorated dish
Even in splendour this curious fate
Is more than I care to surrender
Now it’s too late
Whether in wonder or indecent haste
You arrange the mirrors and the spools
To snare the rare and precious jewels
That were only made of paste
If you should stumble upon my last remark
I’m crying in the wilderness
I’m trying my best to make it dark
How can I tell you I’m rarer than most
I’m certain as a lost dog pondering a sign post I
want to vanish
This is my last request
I’ve given you the awful truth
Now give me my rest
Elvis Costello, from All This Useless Beauty (1996)