Re: Hemmingway and WP


Subject: Re: Hemmingway and WP
From: Ted B Atkinson (tatkin2@UNIX1.SNCC.LSU.EDU)
Date: Fri Jul 16 1999 - 12:46:36 EDT


On Thu, 15 Jul 1999, Alphonse Vinh wrote:

> Cleanth Brooks has discussed Faulkner's stoical world-view with great
> understanding. In Faulkner's universe, divine transcendence is not a given.
> There are believers amongst his characters, of course, since his terrain was
> the South, which if not always believing, is at least Christ-haunted.

From LSU, one of Cleanth Brooks's old stomping grounds, I offer this:
What is so often overlooked about Faulkner's supposed "stoical world-view"
is that this prevailing interpretation stemmed as much from the political
concerns of the New Critics as it did from earnest literary exegesis. The
model of passive endurance that the Stoic provides was useful in
counteracting the influence of the radical writers of the 1930s, for
example, who promoted art that meant to encourage social activism. I say
this, not to advocate one approach over the other, but merely to call
attention to a relevant subtext.

>
> When Faulkner talks about going through the pain, he is not speaking of
> accepting suffering for the sake of Christ who suffered and died on the Cross
> so that men might be saved. The people who have Faulkner's greatest
> admiration are people like Dilsey, of whom he says, "and they endured."
>
> //Alphonse
>

The Faulkner of 1929, perhaps. However, this is not the Faulkner who
wrote to Richard Wright in praise of _Black Boy_, or the Faulkner who
created the likes of Joe Christmas. Arguing that Faulkner's "greatest
admiration" was reserved for Dilsey's endurance implies that Faulkner
accepted, or at least failed to recognize, the unjust terms of her
predicament. Sure, Faulkner credited Dilsey with having the most sense in
the Compson household, but isn't that a rather dubious distinction?

What does this have to do with Percy? I would argue that Faulkner was no
more the Stoic than Percy. As I see it, both saw the inherent dangers in
striking that pose.

Ted Atkinson



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