WEBVTT 00:01.867 --> 00:02.597 WAI CHEE DIMACK: OK. 00:02.600 --> 00:07.670 So we're starting on our final novel and I'm 00:07.667 --> 00:09.967 very glad its Faulkner. 00:09.967 --> 00:13.367 There's so many stories to tell about Faulkner, just 00:13.367 --> 00:16.727 about the composition of the novel. 00:16.733 --> 00:20.003 So this started out having a different title. 00:20.000 --> 00:23.200 It started out being called Dark House. 00:23.200 --> 00:26.100 So you can see that it really is right on the other side of 00:26.100 --> 00:27.470 the spectrum. 00:27.467 --> 00:29.467 And it's a really an interesting thing that actually 00:29.467 --> 00:33.927 this novel could be described as either Dark House 00:33.933 --> 00:37.873 or Light in August. So really, light and dark obviously are 00:37.867 --> 00:40.597 have the two constitutive parts of the novel, even 00:40.600 --> 00:43.700 though it's the light that has been highlighted in the 00:43.700 --> 00:45.830 present title. 00:45.833 --> 00:49.003 In fact, it could just as well have been dark. 00:49.000 --> 00:53.600 This is what Faulkner says about the title that we now 00:53.600 --> 00:59.770 have, Light in August. This is much later when he was talking 00:59.767 --> 01:05.767 about it at the University of Virginia in 1957. 01:05.767 --> 01:09.967 "In August, in Mississippi there's a few days somewhere 01:09.967 --> 01:13.367 about the middle of the month when actually there's a 01:13.367 --> 01:14.697 foretaste of fall. 01:14.700 --> 01:18.870 It's cool, there's a lambence, a luminous quality to the 01:18.867 --> 01:24.427 light, as though it came not from today, but from back in 01:24.433 --> 01:27.173 the old classic times. 01:27.167 --> 01:31.327 It might have fauns and satyrs and the gods from Greece. 01:31.333 --> 01:34.533 And that's all that the title meant. 01:34.533 --> 01:38.833 It was just to me a pleasant, evocative title, because it 01:38.833 --> 01:44.133 reminded me of that time of the luminosity older than our 01:44.133 --> 01:46.803 Christian civilization. 01:46.800 --> 01:50.870 Maybe the connection is with Lena Grove, who has something 01:50.867 --> 01:52.697 of that pagan quality." 01:52.700 --> 01:57.930 This a great entry point to the novel. 01:57.933 --> 02:00.873 It's about quality of light in Mississippi. 02:00.867 --> 02:05.027 So it has this very important, local dimension to it. 02:05.033 --> 02:10.933 But it also sees itself as completely looking back to an 02:10.933 --> 02:15.033 extremely long literary tradition, going back to the 02:15.033 --> 02:16.903 classic times. 02:16.900 --> 02:19.570 And in fact, it predates Christianity. 02:19.567 --> 02:22.797 So that's very important to consider this, that while 02:22.800 --> 02:26.370 Christianity is very, very important in this novel, but 02:26.367 --> 02:28.597 it's very important to remember that Faulkner 02:28.600 --> 02:31.800 actually also has a reference point that is older than 02:31.800 --> 02:33.270 Christianity. 02:33.267 --> 02:35.097 So because Faulkner was talking 02:35.100 --> 02:37.600 about fauns and satyrs. 02:37.600 --> 02:40.270 I think that those words are just words to most of us, so I 02:40.267 --> 02:42.927 just found some illustrations. 02:42.933 --> 02:47.273 This is from the Roman mosaics, the satyr. 02:47.267 --> 02:53.127 So you see basically it's like human beings, except, the feet 02:53.133 --> 02:55.373 are the hooves of a goat. 02:55.367 --> 03:00.797 So this is not a very pretty image of the faun. 03:00.800 --> 03:04.970 I think that in our minds, we tend to think of the faun as 03:04.967 --> 03:09.667 very delicate and graceful, but actually it has kind of an 03:09.667 --> 03:12.067 animalistic dimension to it. 03:12.067 --> 03:16.997 And this is probably looking more like our stereotypical 03:17.000 --> 03:20.330 image of the faun, very graceful, but nonetheless with 03:20.333 --> 03:22.473 the hooves of a goat. 03:22.467 --> 03:27.027 So in As I Lay Dying, we talked a lot about the 03:27.033 --> 03:30.073 relation between animals and humans. 03:30.067 --> 03:32.697 So it's very important to keep that in mind as well, just in 03:32.700 --> 03:36.330 the reference to the faun. 03:36.333 --> 03:41.933 Faulkner is invoking that whole uncertain boundary, and 03:41.933 --> 03:46.973 certain in betweenness between human and animal. 03:46.967 --> 03:50.867 And the satyr actually has an even long history. 03:50.867 --> 03:53.597 The faun basically is Roman. 03:53.600 --> 03:56.970 Satyr, it goes back to the fifth century BC. 03:56.967 --> 03:58.997 Basically it's Greek. 03:59.000 --> 04:03.200 And there's a whole genre called the satyr comedies, 04:03.200 --> 04:05.570 featuring this creature. 04:05.567 --> 04:10.327 It's again, looking for most part like a human being, but 04:10.333 --> 04:17.033 having the tail of a horse, and also the ears of a donkey. 04:17.033 --> 04:21.403 Just to see the way in which the satyr has been 04:21.400 --> 04:24.870 reactivated, and picked up and reincarnated in 04:24.867 --> 04:26.297 the twentieth century. 04:26.300 --> 04:30.230 Here is someone with the years of a satyr. 04:30.233 --> 04:34.073 We call them Vulcan's ears, but looking exactly like the 04:34.067 --> 04:36.427 ears of a satyr. 04:36.433 --> 04:39.173 And here is another image, basically the ears are the 04:39.167 --> 04:40.867 giveaway of this creature. 04:40.867 --> 04:45.697 Also it's small, not very noble looking compared to a 04:45.700 --> 04:48.570 human being, or to a god. 04:48.567 --> 04:51.997 So but Faulkner, even though he's interested in the satyr 04:52.000 --> 04:54.200 and fauns, he's not really writing about them. 04:54.200 --> 04:59.230 He's mostly interested in Lena and the fact that she is a 04:59.233 --> 05:01.833 pagan character to him. 05:01.833 --> 05:04.033 So the more on Lena. 05:04.033 --> 05:08.133 "She was never ashamed of that child whether it had any 05:08.133 --> 05:12.973 father or not, she was simply going to the conventional laws 05:12.967 --> 05:13.827 at the time... 05:13.833 --> 05:16.003 and find its father. 05:16.000 --> 05:18.470 But as far as she was concerned, she didn't 05:18.467 --> 05:22.127 especially need any father for it anymore 05:22.133 --> 05:23.573 than the women that-- 05:23.567 --> 05:28.767 on whom Jupiter begot children were anxious for home and a 05:28.767 --> 05:29.567 father." 05:29.567 --> 05:34.827 So Faulkner seems to be really interested in women who get 05:34.833 --> 05:36.833 pregnant out of wedlock. 05:36.833 --> 05:44.403 We've seen this in As I Lay Dying, in Dewey Dell, and the 05:44.400 --> 05:48.430 way in which that is the constant burden on her mind. 05:48.433 --> 05:50.703 And it seems that now he has gone to the 05:50.700 --> 05:52.970 other side of the spectrum. 05:52.967 --> 05:57.997 If pregnancy was a constant burden on Dewey Dell's mind, 05:58.000 --> 06:02.930 here it appears that it is not a burden at 06:02.933 --> 06:05.203 all on Lena's mind. 06:05.200 --> 06:07.870 And maybe that's why she's a pagan. 06:07.867 --> 06:11.927 It's that it's completely OK to be pregnant out of wedlock, 06:11.933 --> 06:16.833 not to have a father, not to have a wedded father as the 06:16.833 --> 06:18.873 father of your child. 06:18.867 --> 06:22.667 And the reason that is this case is that Jupiter has had 06:22.667 --> 06:28.727 this long history of having fathered many children who can 06:28.733 --> 06:30.573 point to Jupiter as the father-- 06:30.567 --> 06:32.097 Jupiter or Zeus-- 06:32.100 --> 06:34.630 as the father, but otherwise not having a human father. 06:34.633 --> 06:38.903 So it's a completely honorable thing to have a baby when you 06:38.900 --> 06:41.330 don't know who the father is. 06:41.333 --> 06:46.773 And the most famous example of course is someone called Leda. 06:46.767 --> 06:48.567 So you guys know-- 06:48.567 --> 06:52.897 picking two very chaste illustrations of Leda and the 06:52.900 --> 06:56.770 swan, Tht swan being Zeus, obviously. 06:56.767 --> 06:59.927 But if you would just go and look it up, you can find 06:59.933 --> 07:01.803 numerous other illustrations-- 07:01.800 --> 07:03.400 some not so chaste-- 07:03.400 --> 07:04.900 showing Leda and the swan. 07:04.900 --> 07:07.400 And this is the most famous example. 07:07.400 --> 07:10.130 Leda was married to someone else, and Zeus was just 07:10.133 --> 07:11.133 enamored of her. 07:11.133 --> 07:15.003 So he comes to her in the form of a swan. 07:15.000 --> 07:18.930 And the offspring, one of the most famous offspring from 07:18.933 --> 07:21.273 that union, was Helen. 07:21.267 --> 07:25.367 So basically the whole of The Iliad, the whole of The 07:25.367 --> 07:31.027 Odyssey really comes from this union between Leda and Zeus. 07:31.033 --> 07:34.503 And there would have been no epic at all if there had not 07:34.500 --> 07:37.870 been this union between Leda and someone 07:37.867 --> 07:39.967 who's not quite human. 07:39.967 --> 07:41.367 So here's another illustration. 07:41.367 --> 07:45.867 This one is Greek and this one is Roman, once again Roman 07:45.867 --> 07:50.367 mosaic, and many modern incarnations as well. 07:50.367 --> 07:52.997 Yeats also has a poem about Leda. 07:53.000 --> 07:56.700 So basically someone who goes down in history as-- 08:00.333 --> 08:02.673 even though it's not presented in this is way, but she's 08:02.667 --> 08:06.397 really going down in history as the most honorable instance 08:06.400 --> 08:10.770 of pregnancy outside wedlock. 08:10.767 --> 08:15.497 But Faulkner is also not writing Leda's story. 08:15.500 --> 08:18.170 He's writing Lena's story. 08:18.167 --> 08:23.727 So this is very much a case of the American Lena's updating 08:23.733 --> 08:29.503 the Greek Leda, even though maybe she doesn't know the 08:29.500 --> 08:32.830 father, or maybe she's not sure that she can get the 08:32.833 --> 08:36.733 legitimate wedded husband to be the father of the child. 08:36.733 --> 08:38.803 She's definitely going to go and she's 08:38.800 --> 08:39.970 going to get someone. 08:39.967 --> 08:44.167 So, "It was her destiny to have a husband and children 08:44.167 --> 08:47.867 and she knew it, and so she went out and attended to it." 08:47.867 --> 08:49.327 Completely matter of fact. 08:49.333 --> 08:52.573 This is the American case, it's not the old 08:52.567 --> 08:53.997 classic times anymore. 08:54.000 --> 08:57.130 In twentieth century America, you need to find a guy. 08:57.133 --> 09:03.933 So she's on the road to find this guy, whom she still 09:03.933 --> 09:07.373 thinks ought to be the actual father. 09:07.367 --> 09:13.667 So today's lecture is really about the updating of the old 09:13.667 --> 09:16.167 classic unwed mother. 09:16.167 --> 09:19.767 And this is the structure of today's lecture, the way that 09:19.767 --> 09:21.597 I've been talking about it, obviously you know that this 09:21.600 --> 09:24.300 is going to be a comedy on the part of Lena. 09:24.300 --> 09:27.570 So it's comedy and essentially sex as comic. 09:27.567 --> 09:32.427 But because this is a road novel, one of many, it also 09:32.433 --> 09:35.333 has an epic dimension to it. 09:35.333 --> 09:39.673 And another innovation that Faulkner is bringing to bear 09:39.667 --> 09:45.767 on the novel and that really is a serious updating of the 09:45.767 --> 09:48.427 classic epic comedy -- 09:48.433 --> 09:51.303 is the introduction of two allegorical 09:51.300 --> 09:54.000 names, Byron and Burden. 09:56.667 --> 10:00.897 I want to go back still, just linger with the classics for a 10:00.900 --> 10:04.600 moment in defining comedy in a particular way. 10:04.600 --> 10:07.800 Usually we just in think of comedy as like a Jane Austen. 10:07.800 --> 10:10.830 That would be comedy, it has a happy ending. 10:10.833 --> 10:15.603 But actually in the Poetics, Aristotle defines comedy in a 10:15.600 --> 10:18.630 slightly different way that actually is closer to the way 10:18.633 --> 10:22.603 that I would like to talk about comedy in this class. 10:22.600 --> 10:26.130 In the Poetics he says, "The participants in comedy were 10:26.133 --> 10:31.003 called komoidoi not from their being revelers, but because 10:31.000 --> 10:35.270 they wander from one village to another. 10:35.267 --> 10:37.267 So wandering, on the road. 10:37.267 --> 10:43.597 Persons who are inferior, not however going all the way to 10:43.600 --> 10:49.230 full villainy, but imitating the ugly of which the 10:49.233 --> 10:51.573 ludicrous is one part. 10:51.567 --> 10:57.067 The ludicrous that is, is the failing or a piece of ugliness 10:57.067 --> 11:00.127 which causes no pain or destruction." 11:00.133 --> 11:02.233 So this is a very counter-intuitive 11:02.233 --> 11:04.273 definition of comedy. 11:04.267 --> 11:07.367 A lot of it is not that nice. 11:07.367 --> 11:11.327 It has to do with villainous people, but not going all the 11:11.333 --> 11:13.803 way to full villain. 11:13.800 --> 11:17.630 Ugly people, but again, not going all the way so they're 11:17.633 --> 11:18.503 utterly despicable. 11:18.500 --> 11:21.600 It has a lot to do with people who are not noble. 11:21.600 --> 11:25.270 And that really is the classic definition of comedy. 11:25.267 --> 11:29.797 The emphasis really lands on the happy ending, that on the 11:29.800 --> 11:35.370 fact that they are low born, that they are low in another 11:35.367 --> 11:41.397 way, that they don't rise to the tragic height of nobility, 11:41.400 --> 11:47.570 which is the elevation proper to tragedy. 11:47.567 --> 11:51.427 Comedy is of a much lower elevation. 11:51.433 --> 11:54.973 So they are sometimes ludicrous, they are basically 11:54.967 --> 11:56.967 not admirable people. 11:56.967 --> 12:04.227 But one result of not being completely admirable is that 12:04.233 --> 12:06.533 they actually survive quite well. 12:06.533 --> 12:12.003 They actually manage to hang in there. 12:12.000 --> 12:16.830 So they bring no pain or destruction either to 12:16.833 --> 12:19.103 themselves, or to other people. 12:19.100 --> 12:21.600 Don't forget, this is the exact opposite of tragedy. 12:21.600 --> 12:25.400 We have mass destruction at the end of tragedy -- 12:25.400 --> 12:28.970 if you think about the tragedy of Troy, or the tragedies 12:28.967 --> 12:31.397 based on the story of Troy -- mass destruction. 12:31.400 --> 12:35.470 Here a comedy suggests that everyone is going to be able 12:35.467 --> 12:36.827 to survive. 12:36.833 --> 12:43.003 So with that definition in mind, let's think about the 12:43.000 --> 12:48.200 ways in which Lena is pagan, especially in relation to her 12:48.200 --> 12:52.770 sexuality, and way that Faulkner represents this 12:52.767 --> 12:56.497 aspect of the human condition. 12:56.500 --> 13:00.330 This is the story of how Lena gets pregnant. 13:00.333 --> 13:03.633 "She slept in a leanto room at the back of house. 13:03.633 --> 13:06.603 It had a window, which she learned to open and close 13:06.600 --> 13:09.830 again in the dark, without making noise. 13:09.833 --> 13:13.003 She had lived there eight years before she opened the 13:13.000 --> 13:15.030 window for the first time. 13:15.033 --> 13:18.573 She had not opened it a dozen times hardly before she 13:18.567 --> 13:21.427 discovered that she should not have opened it at all. 13:21.433 --> 13:24.303 She said to herself, that's just my luck. 13:24.300 --> 13:27.730 Two weeks later, she climbed again through the window. 13:27.733 --> 13:30.333 It was a little difficult this time. 13:30.333 --> 13:33.233 If it had been this hard to do before, I reckon I would not 13:33.233 --> 13:35.073 be doing it now, she thought." 13:35.067 --> 13:39.727 So the entire story what could have been seen as tragic, 13:39.733 --> 13:44.473 traumatic, devastation in person's life, one whose 13:44.467 --> 13:48.297 life's been ruined, all that is told through Lena's 13:48.300 --> 13:52.130 relation to the window, that she can open it without making 13:52.133 --> 13:54.833 a noise, that's she's done it a few times, and then she 13:54.833 --> 13:57.503 realized she shouldn't have done it, and then the final 13:57.500 --> 13:59.570 time it's very hard. 13:59.567 --> 14:03.097 But she wished that it had been that hard to begin with. 14:03.100 --> 14:10.070 So it's all told through this completely off focus off 14:10.067 --> 14:13.267 center relation to the main event. 14:13.267 --> 14:18.667 And it doesn't seem especially bad, really, even though it's 14:18.667 --> 14:20.567 a matter of inconvenience. 14:20.567 --> 14:24.267 And that really is what the pregnancy is to Lena. 14:24.267 --> 14:26.497 It is a matter of inconvenience. 14:26.500 --> 14:29.870 It is a nuisance, that it is not so easy for her to get out 14:29.867 --> 14:32.167 the window at this time. 14:32.167 --> 14:36.967 And just to remind us that Faulkner doesn't always write 14:36.967 --> 14:40.827 about sexuality in this way, let's just go back to a 14:40.833 --> 14:44.333 character who is completely non-pagan. 14:44.333 --> 14:52.033 And there's no more striking example than Quentin in The 14:52.033 --> 14:53.673 Sound and the Fury. 14:53.667 --> 14:56.697 So this is what he thinks about women's sexuality. 14:56.700 --> 15:00.570 "Delicate equilibrium of periodic filth between two 15:00.567 --> 15:02.067 moons balanced. 15:02.067 --> 15:04.427 Moons he said full and yellow as harvest 15:04.433 --> 15:06.173 moons her hips thighs... 15:06.167 --> 15:10.467 Liquid putrefaction like drowned things floating like 15:10.467 --> 15:14.267 pale rubber, flabbily filled getting in odor of honeysuckle 15:14.267 --> 15:15.727 all mixed up." 15:15.733 --> 15:23.003 So for Quentin and indeed for most non-pagan characters, 15:23.000 --> 15:26.030 there's a good part of the world that is repugnant, that 15:26.033 --> 15:29.203 is just really repulsive. 15:29.200 --> 15:34.170 And it turns out that women's sexuality is part of that very 15:34.167 --> 15:36.997 repugnant world. 15:37.000 --> 15:40.700 So it's not great to live in a world like that. 15:40.700 --> 15:44.570 And that's really why Quentin does what he does. 15:44.567 --> 15:49.327 For someone like Lena who is pagan, much of the world, in 15:49.333 --> 15:53.373 fact probably all the world is not repugnant. 15:53.367 --> 15:56.297 It's inconvenient, sometimes it's a little ugly, it's a 15:56.300 --> 15:58.670 little messy, but it's not repugnant. 15:58.667 --> 16:02.397 And that's why she is what she is. 16:02.400 --> 16:06.130 So this is one way we can think about Lena. 16:06.133 --> 16:09.373 And I should tell you that she's not the only character. 16:09.367 --> 16:13.197 So this novel is actually not that comic, but her share of 16:13.200 --> 16:17.030 the novel is comic in that way. 16:17.033 --> 16:23.133 But even though Aristotle defines comedy as basically 16:23.133 --> 16:28.733 the journey that is undertaken by ignoble persons, the more 16:28.733 --> 16:32.333 recognizable model obviously is the epic journey. 16:32.333 --> 16:35.433 So any time we think of someone traveling on the road, 16:35.433 --> 16:37.503 we think of the epic genre. 16:37.500 --> 16:39.070 And that is very much in play. 16:39.067 --> 16:41.697 We've seen it in play elsewhere in Faulkner. 16:41.700 --> 16:44.600 It's very much in play here as well. 16:44.600 --> 16:47.830 And this actually a kind of not so funny-- 16:47.833 --> 16:51.173 It's interesting to see what the tone of this is, of the 16:51.167 --> 16:54.027 description of Lena being on the road. 16:54.033 --> 16:58.273 "Though the mules plod in a steady and unflagging 16:58.267 --> 17:02.427 hypnosis, the vehicle does not seem to progress... 17:02.433 --> 17:06.973 like a shabby bead upon the mile red string of road. 17:06.967 --> 17:10.627 So much so is this that in the watching of it the eyes loses 17:10.633 --> 17:14.933 it as sight and sense drowsily merge and blend, like the rode 17:14.933 --> 17:19.503 itself, with all the peaceful and monotonous changes between 17:19.500 --> 17:24.400 darkness and day, like already measured thread being rewound 17:24.400 --> 17:25.870 onto a spool. 17:25.867 --> 17:29.627 So that at last, as though out of some trivial and 17:29.633 --> 17:34.033 unimportant region beyond even distance, the sound of it 17:34.033 --> 17:38.303 seems to come slow and terrific and without meaning, 17:38.300 --> 17:42.300 as though it were a ghost traveling a half mile ahead of 17:42.300 --> 17:43.630 its own shape." 17:43.633 --> 17:46.033 Great description. 17:46.033 --> 17:49.073 And it's on a different register. 17:49.067 --> 17:51.867 We can see that it's really on a different tonal register 17:51.867 --> 17:55.627 from Lena having trouble climbing out the window. 17:55.633 --> 18:00.933 And I would say that there's a complicated relation between 18:00.933 --> 18:05.033 the epic genre and the comic genre in this novel. 18:05.033 --> 18:10.633 On the whole, what the epic genre brings to this novel is 18:10.633 --> 18:15.873 the sense of a journey that somebody has to go on. 18:15.867 --> 18:20.767 It's not even especially pleasurable. 18:20.767 --> 18:23.827 It just stretches on. 18:23.833 --> 18:27.703 Yesterday listening more in terms of paradigms that we've 18:27.700 --> 18:29.070 been using. 18:29.067 --> 18:32.167 Tomorrow is going to be exactly like today, and going 18:32.167 --> 18:34.467 to be exactly like yesterday. 18:34.467 --> 18:40.127 It's the repetition of the same that defines this kind of 18:40.133 --> 18:41.473 epic journey. 18:41.467 --> 18:44.397 So it is peaceful and monotonous. 18:44.400 --> 18:48.470 And the image that Faulkner uses is that it's like an 18:48.467 --> 18:53.627 already measured thread being rewound onto a spool. 18:53.633 --> 18:56.803 There's absolutely nothing new under the sun. 18:56.800 --> 19:03.930 It is just an old story being told over and over again, and 19:03.933 --> 19:10.373 the complete exclusion of anything that is dramatic from 19:10.367 --> 19:12.097 this sense of the journey. 19:12.100 --> 19:15.830 So in many ways it's very hard to write a novel based on the 19:15.833 --> 19:17.333 fact that it's completely monotonous. 19:17.333 --> 19:18.873 And that's part the challenge. 19:18.867 --> 19:21.927 Although I promise you, the rest of the novel actually is 19:21.933 --> 19:23.433 anything but monotonous. 19:23.433 --> 19:28.903 But Lena's part of it actually aspires to be monotonous in a 19:28.900 --> 19:29.900 good sense. 19:29.900 --> 19:32.030 In a sense that there's really-- 19:32.033 --> 19:32.973 It's good. 19:32.967 --> 19:34.827 There's no dramatic development. 19:34.833 --> 19:36.433 There's no catastrophe. 19:36.433 --> 19:39.333 That's really what Faulkner has at the back of his head, 19:39.333 --> 19:42.973 is that catastrophe is what defines tragedy. 19:42.967 --> 19:46.367 Non-catastrophe is what defines comedy. 19:46.367 --> 19:51.867 So just to give you a sense of the way in which this epic 19:51.867 --> 19:56.027 journey is being incarnated and reincarnated in American 19:56.033 --> 19:56.673 literature. 19:56.667 --> 20:00.997 Two other very famous novels, Jack Kerouac's On the Road, 20:01.000 --> 20:05.200 and more recently this apocalyptic instance of that, 20:05.200 --> 20:08.430 Cormac McCarthy, The Road. 20:08.433 --> 20:11.873 Faulkner's On the Road is a little 20:11.867 --> 20:13.667 different from those two. 20:13.667 --> 20:17.627 So today we'll think all the ingredients that go into his 20:17.633 --> 20:20.473 making of his road novel. 20:20.467 --> 20:24.767 It has to do with kindness of strangers, it has to do 20:24.767 --> 20:30.197 something like switchability; if the journey is going to be 20:30.200 --> 20:33.230 pretty monotonous for Lena, there's 20:33.233 --> 20:35.203 got to be some variation. 20:35.200 --> 20:37.230 It has to alternate with something else. 20:37.233 --> 20:40.903 So it turns out that actually even though the protagonist 20:40.900 --> 20:44.830 herself too is peaceful for this story to be very 20:44.833 --> 20:48.473 dramatic, there will be other people, the supporting cast 20:48.467 --> 20:50.197 actually, who supplies the drama. 20:50.200 --> 20:53.600 So there's kind of a switchability between when the 20:53.600 --> 20:56.330 action or where the drama is going to come from. 20:56.333 --> 20:58.733 As far as Lena's concerned, the drama's going to come from 20:58.733 --> 21:02.573 the supporting cast, rather than from Lena herself. 21:02.567 --> 21:06.167 And this further switchability in terms of the relation 21:06.167 --> 21:07.967 between the weighty and the mundane. 21:07.967 --> 21:09.667 And then I'll talk about gerunds as well. 21:09.667 --> 21:12.797 So there's the outline of what is to come. 21:12.800 --> 21:16.170 But let's just stay with the kindness of strangers for a 21:16.167 --> 21:17.367 little bit. 21:17.367 --> 21:19.767 Lena has come quite far. 21:19.767 --> 21:25.367 And the reason that the journey is so peaceful and 21:25.367 --> 21:29.827 monotonous is that there's an endless supply of people who 21:29.833 --> 21:34.273 would do things for her, who will be the supplies of 21:34.267 --> 21:38.367 hospitality to keep Lena going. 21:38.367 --> 21:39.897 And that's who is very Greek. 21:39.900 --> 21:45.370 We know that hospitality is one of the key virtues in 21:45.367 --> 21:46.567 Greek culture. 21:46.567 --> 21:50.097 When a stranger comes, you're supposed to feed them, shelter 21:50.100 --> 21:52.930 them, give them presents when they go away. 21:52.933 --> 21:57.003 That is the understanding, the basic mode of exchange between 21:57.000 --> 21:59.900 human beings, is that you're good to people you are seeing 21:59.900 --> 22:03.300 for the first time, and that you never see again. 22:03.300 --> 22:06.530 So the quality, there's something of that in a way 22:06.533 --> 22:08.733 that Lena is being treated. 22:08.733 --> 22:14.703 "The evocation of far is the peaceful corridor paved with 22:14.700 --> 22:19.170 unflagging and tranquil faith and peopled with kind and 22:19.167 --> 22:22.027 nameless faces and voices. 22:22.033 --> 22:23.133 Lucas Burch. 22:23.133 --> 22:23.703 I don't know. 22:23.700 --> 22:26.630 I don't know of anybody by that name around here. 22:26.633 --> 22:27.273 This road? 22:27.267 --> 22:28.967 It goes to Pocahontas. 22:28.967 --> 22:29.767 He might be there. 22:29.767 --> 22:30.767 It's possible. 22:30.767 --> 22:32.927 Here's a wagon that's going a piece of the way. 22:32.933 --> 22:34.733 It will take you that far." 22:34.733 --> 22:38.273 So these people are completely faceless and nameless. 22:38.267 --> 22:40.927 They really are complete strangers. 22:40.933 --> 22:43.573 They are not meant to be remembered or to be 22:43.567 --> 22:47.027 encountered again, even though Faulkner sometimes actually 22:47.033 --> 22:49.373 picks up some of them in his other novels. 22:49.367 --> 22:53.167 But they're meant to recede into the background as part of 22:53.167 --> 22:57.567 that peaceful and monotonous corridor, which it is 22:57.567 --> 23:01.997 completely safe for Lena to travel. 23:02.000 --> 23:06.030 So it's the sense of guaranteed safety due to the 23:06.033 --> 23:10.233 guaranteed hospitality of strangers. 23:10.233 --> 23:16.833 But we know that the kindness of strangers has got to take a 23:16.833 --> 23:21.603 dramatic turn for there to be a good story to the novel. 23:21.600 --> 23:24.830 So we're actually seeing it very soon. 23:24.833 --> 23:30.373 And it comes about through Lena's 23:30.367 --> 23:32.227 interaction with a couple. 23:32.233 --> 23:35.833 She's been taken in by this couple. 23:35.833 --> 23:40.803 And it turns out that the arrival of Lena creates a 23:40.800 --> 23:44.900 major upheaval in the life of this married couple. 23:44.900 --> 23:48.630 So all of the sudden, Lena recedes into the background. 23:48.633 --> 23:51.973 So we can add to switchability, the 23:51.967 --> 23:54.897 switchability between foreground and background. 23:54.900 --> 23:59.000 Lena recedes into the background as the supporting 23:59.000 --> 24:01.300 cast comes to the foreground. 24:01.300 --> 24:05.100 so this is the exchange between the Armstids. 24:05.100 --> 24:07.870 "He cannot tell from her voice if she's 24:07.867 --> 24:09.797 watching him or not now. 24:09.800 --> 24:13.370 He towels himself with a split floursack. 24:13.367 --> 24:14.797 Maybe she will. 24:14.800 --> 24:18.000 If it's running away from her he's after, I reckon he's 24:18.000 --> 24:21.970 going to find out he made a bad mistake when he stopped 24:21.967 --> 24:25.467 before he put the Mississippi River between them. 24:25.467 --> 24:29.727 And now he knows that she is watching him, the gray woman 24:29.733 --> 24:34.903 not plump and not thin, manhard, workhard, in a 24:34.900 --> 24:39.670 serviceable gray garment worn savage and brusque, her hands 24:39.667 --> 24:43.197 on her hips, her face like those of generals who have 24:43.200 --> 24:46.400 been defeated in battle. 24:46.400 --> 24:48.000 You men, she says. 24:48.000 --> 24:49.200 What do you want to do about it? 24:49.200 --> 24:49.900 Turn her out? 24:49.900 --> 24:51.470 Let her sleep in the barn maybe? 24:51.467 --> 24:52.867 You men, she says. 24:52.867 --> 24:55.597 You durn men." 24:55.600 --> 24:57.970 So this is all we're going to-- 24:57.967 --> 25:00.797 I mean, we'll get one more, a little bit more of this. 25:00.800 --> 25:05.030 But this is really as far as Faulkner is concerned, this is 25:05.033 --> 25:07.773 completely adequate freestanding 25:07.767 --> 25:10.897 snapshot of the marriage. 25:10.900 --> 25:14.530 And I would say that it is as interesting as the marriage 25:14.533 --> 25:22.133 between Cora and her husband, Tull, except that it is at the 25:22.133 --> 25:24.233 moment a tension between the two. 25:24.233 --> 25:27.073 So we know that what kind of people these are, they are the 25:27.067 --> 25:32.727 poor white, more people who can't afford a towel and use a 25:32.733 --> 25:36.173 split floursack for a towel. 25:36.167 --> 25:42.267 And the way that they actually know each other very well. 25:42.267 --> 25:52.967 So Armstid doesn't have to look usually, to see if she's 25:52.967 --> 25:55.067 watching him or not. 25:55.067 --> 25:59.697 It really says a lot about what kind of a relationship it 25:59.700 --> 26:03.430 is, that you can just tell by the tone of voice whether or 26:03.433 --> 26:05.403 not the person's looking at you. 26:05.400 --> 26:11.870 So that for me is a measure of how good the marriage is, that 26:11.867 --> 26:14.067 you know your companion that well. 26:14.067 --> 26:16.567 Just a tone of voice will be able to tell you exactly the 26:16.567 --> 26:20.797 posture, the physical posture of this person. 26:20.800 --> 26:24.600 So initially we can't really tell, but then once he said 26:24.600 --> 26:28.370 something, once he said, hey this guy is not going to be 26:28.367 --> 26:32.097 able to escape from Lena, once he said that then she knew 26:32.100 --> 26:36.630 instantly that she's looking at him. 26:36.633 --> 26:44.373 And we know what she looks like, sort of a more stern 26:44.367 --> 26:50.027 version, I think, of Addie, but very much belonging to the 26:50.033 --> 26:57.633 same socioeconomic group, in a gray garment, working 26:57.633 --> 26:58.803 hard all her life. 26:58.800 --> 27:03.270 But also not just workhard and all these interesting coined 27:03.267 --> 27:06.227 adjectives, coined by Faulkner. 27:06.233 --> 27:07.133 Manhard-- 27:07.133 --> 27:09.373 I don't exactly know what that means. 27:09.367 --> 27:10.367 Manhard. 27:10.367 --> 27:12.367 Maybe she is completely resistant to 27:12.367 --> 27:13.897 the charms of men. 27:13.900 --> 27:17.500 Maybe that's one definition of what it means to be manhard. 27:17.500 --> 27:19.870 Certainly, she's worked hard all her life. 27:19.867 --> 27:22.897 And maybe the two adjectives are related in that way. 27:22.900 --> 27:26.870 There's a way in which if you work so hard all your life 27:26.867 --> 27:28.897 you're kind of immune to the charms of other 27:28.900 --> 27:31.230 people, men and women. 27:31.233 --> 27:37.533 So she is immune to the charms of her husband, and her face 27:37.533 --> 27:41.603 is like the face of generals who've 27:41.600 --> 27:44.470 been defeated in battle. 27:44.467 --> 27:48.327 It is a weird reference. 27:48.333 --> 27:52.773 The Civil War is really not important in this-- 27:52.767 --> 27:53.597 Well no actually. 27:53.600 --> 27:55.430 The Civil War is very, very important to another 27:55.433 --> 27:58.903 character, but it's not important to Lena. 27:58.900 --> 28:01.230 The Civil War is front and center for another character, 28:01.233 --> 28:05.773 but it oddly intrudes into this moment when it really is 28:05.767 --> 28:08.327 not the reference point. 28:08.333 --> 28:13.573 But the entire history of the South is indexed in this 28:13.567 --> 28:17.027 reference of Mrs. Armstid's face looking 28:17.033 --> 28:19.133 like the face of generals. 28:19.133 --> 28:26.433 So in many ways, she's more like a man than like a woman. 28:26.433 --> 28:29.473 I know there's actually that -- 28:29.467 --> 28:33.267 when I came to this sections last week and I enjoyed them 28:33.267 --> 28:36.067 very much, some of you mentioned that Nicole is 28:36.067 --> 28:39.727 financially more like a man and so is Rosemary. 28:39.733 --> 28:42.433 Rosemary is financially more like a man. 28:42.433 --> 28:45.703 So Fitzgerald has also thought about the ways in which there 28:45.700 --> 28:48.570 could be a cross-gender dynamics in people who are 28:48.567 --> 28:51.097 otherwise completely feminine. 28:51.100 --> 28:55.200 And here she doesn't look especially feminine, and the 28:55.200 --> 29:00.530 cross-gender dynamics are much, much more powerful here. 29:00.533 --> 29:04.333 So she's like a general who's been defeated in battle. 29:04.333 --> 29:07.703 So maybe she's been defeated in life, just because it's 29:07.700 --> 29:13.800 been such a hard life, or just that it didn't go exactly the 29:13.800 --> 29:15.300 way she wanted. 29:15.300 --> 29:20.030 We don't know the contents of that phrase, that why her face 29:20.033 --> 29:23.773 is like the face of generals who have been defeated. 29:23.767 --> 29:26.067 We also don't know, but that's the least of it. 29:26.067 --> 29:30.827 We don't know why she's suddenly saying what she's 29:30.833 --> 29:35.273 saying to her husband. "You durn men." 29:35.267 --> 29:38.327 Armstid's really not contemplating having 29:38.333 --> 29:40.503 an affair with Lena. 29:40.500 --> 29:43.170 So the durn men is not really a 29:43.167 --> 29:46.927 complaint against her husband. 29:46.933 --> 29:53.173 It is a grievance that is probably directed against the 29:53.167 --> 29:59.197 entire half of the human population, men, that this is 29:59.200 --> 30:04.400 what men would do to women, and her husband, being an 30:04.400 --> 30:05.400 instance of that. 30:05.400 --> 30:08.570 Although, obviously there are many other episodes in the 30:08.567 --> 30:11.897 marriage that might be in the back of her mind. 30:11.900 --> 30:15.370 But in any case, this completely out of the blue, 30:15.367 --> 30:21.727 out of context, outburst from Mrs. Armstid suggests that 30:21.733 --> 30:25.433 this is both a very good marriage, but also a 30:25.433 --> 30:28.903 complicated marriages as all marriages would have to that 30:28.900 --> 30:30.730 have lasted for a long time. 30:30.733 --> 30:35.473 So these two people know each other very well. 30:35.467 --> 30:38.797 And he seems to know, he knows better than we do exactly what 30:38.800 --> 30:44.170 is going on in her mind when she says, "You durn men." 30:44.167 --> 30:48.097 And then there's a further development to this episode. 30:52.233 --> 30:55.673 Now we're getting dramatic action from Mrs. Armstid. 30:55.667 --> 30:59.397 "What are you fixing to do with your eggmoney this time 30:59.400 --> 31:00.530 of night, he says. 31:00.533 --> 31:03.403 I reckon it's mine to do with what I like. 31:03.400 --> 31:07.000 She stoops into a lamp, her face hushed, bitter. 31:07.000 --> 31:08.970 God knows it was me who sweated over 31:08.967 --> 31:10.197 them and nursed them. 31:10.200 --> 31:11.930 You never lifted no hand. 31:11.933 --> 31:13.133 Sho, he says. 31:13.133 --> 31:16.073 I reckon it ain't any human in this country is going to 31:16.067 --> 31:19.427 dispute them hens with you, lessen it's the possum and the 31:19.433 --> 31:21.773 snakes, that rooster bank, neither, he says. 31:21.767 --> 31:25.797 Because, stooping suddenly, she jerks off one shoe the 31:25.800 --> 31:29.530 strikes the china bank a single shattering blow. 31:29.533 --> 31:33.433 From the bed, reclining, Armstid watches her gather the 31:33.433 --> 31:38.573 remaining coins from among the china fragments and drop them 31:38.567 --> 31:43.367 with the others into the sack and knot it and reknot it 31:43.367 --> 31:48.697 three or four times with savage finality." 31:48.700 --> 31:53.070 This is one of the most satisfying representations of 31:53.067 --> 31:56.227 almsgiving, or people being charitable, and looking 31:56.233 --> 31:59.473 completely not charitable when they're doing it. 31:59.467 --> 32:04.697 So this is the only way this woman will allow herself to be 32:04.700 --> 32:12.270 charitable is by looking as harsh and bitter as she could. 32:12.267 --> 32:16.767 So before that, answer her thought. 32:16.767 --> 32:21.827 Well maybe she's just in kind of a jealous mood and she's 32:21.833 --> 32:24.433 not going to allow Lena to stay in the house. 32:24.433 --> 32:28.233 But it turns out that it's quite the opposite. 32:28.233 --> 32:34.133 And it probably was a kind of a complex combination of 32:34.133 --> 32:36.773 recognizing that, yes this is a young woman, very 32:36.767 --> 32:40.127 attractive, that she's not that young woman, very 32:40.133 --> 32:41.433 attractive. 32:41.433 --> 32:50.003 But recognizing maybe in some sense that this woman is 32:50.000 --> 32:55.870 embodying a long nursed grievance that she has against 32:55.867 --> 32:56.797 men in general. 32:56.800 --> 33:05.470 Whatever is the psychology, she is in solidarity with 33:05.467 --> 33:12.327 Lena, without ever wanting to betray that solidarity. 33:12.333 --> 33:16.873 So it is that complicated kind of behavior that you want to 33:16.867 --> 33:20.327 do something for that person, but you never want to give 33:20.333 --> 33:23.403 yourself away as doing something. 33:23.400 --> 33:30.400 So it really is the most interesting and dramatic and 33:30.400 --> 33:33.970 psychologically and behaviorally complicated kind 33:33.967 --> 33:38.667 of kindness of strangers, is that it's not, definitely not, 33:38.667 --> 33:42.067 the traditional kind of almsgiving. 33:42.067 --> 33:45.697 So in terms of the narrative dynamics, we can say that the 33:45.700 --> 33:49.970 Armstids have completely taken over the narrative. 33:49.967 --> 33:54.497 There's a complete switch between Lena, the supposed 33:54.500 --> 33:58.570 protagonist, and the two of them being the supporting 33:58.567 --> 34:02.967 cast. It turns out that the supporting cast -- 34:02.967 --> 34:07.267 that Faulkner probably spends more time thinking about the 34:07.267 --> 34:10.927 supporting cast, than he does thinking about the 34:10.933 --> 34:11.573 protagonist. 34:11.567 --> 34:14.227 And that is a really interesting way to define the 34:14.233 --> 34:17.833 protagonist, is that maybe a protagonist is someone you can 34:17.833 --> 34:21.673 actually afford not to spend a lot of time thinking about. 34:21.667 --> 34:25.567 And that it is really the supporting cast that you have 34:25.567 --> 34:27.127 to give your energy to. 34:27.133 --> 34:31.133 It's a very interesting definition of reversibility, 34:31.133 --> 34:35.033 of the distribution of space, distribution of attention 34:35.033 --> 34:37.033 within the story. 34:37.033 --> 34:39.033 And we're seeing many instances of this. 34:39.033 --> 34:43.233 So because we've just done with Fitzgerald, just wanted 34:43.233 --> 34:46.803 to remind you of a very obvious instance of 34:46.800 --> 34:51.430 switchability in Tender Is the Night, in the description of 34:51.433 --> 34:56.473 Nicole, that her brown back is hanging from the pearls. 34:56.467 --> 35:00.867 The human body is hanging from the appendage, a completely 35:00.867 --> 35:06.867 switched, reversed degree of importance between the person 35:06.867 --> 35:10.127 who's supposedly the protagonist and that what is 35:10.133 --> 35:12.033 supposed to be just an appendage. 35:12.033 --> 35:14.933 And of course that switchability is played out 35:14.933 --> 35:18.773 not only in terms of that one particular detail, but also in 35:18.767 --> 35:21.697 terms of the entire narrative of Tender Is the Night. 35:21.700 --> 35:25.530 It turns out that Dick Diver is completely upstaged by 35:25.533 --> 35:31.333 Nicole as she becomes really the main actor in the novel. 35:31.333 --> 35:34.603 That is has becomes her story, that she gets to dictate the 35:34.600 --> 35:36.200 outcome of that story. 35:36.200 --> 35:40.870 And he becomes her appendage, dispensable appendage at the 35:40.867 --> 35:41.797 end of the novel 35:41.800 --> 35:45.130 So we're seeing this in Faulkner. 35:45.133 --> 35:48.973 Basically on a very large macro scale, in terms of the 35:48.967 --> 35:52.497 entire narrative structure of Tender Is the Night. 35:52.500 --> 35:54.500 In Faulkner, it is much more local. 35:54.500 --> 35:57.870 It is just this one moment that there's this switch 35:57.867 --> 36:03.227 relation between protagonist and supporting cast. But it 36:03.233 --> 36:09.903 also plays out on different registers in Light in August. 36:09.900 --> 36:13.630 So we'll look at one other also local instance of 36:13.633 --> 36:14.903 switchability. 36:18.167 --> 36:22.097 If the Armstids represent the dramatic arm of the novel, 36:22.100 --> 36:25.200 where Faulkner can give us high, human psychological 36:25.200 --> 36:31.870 drama, when it comes to Lena, what he gives us is kind of 36:31.867 --> 36:38.167 very small upheavals on what is basically a level platform. 36:38.167 --> 36:41.867 But even on that very level platform, they have mild 36:41.867 --> 36:45.367 upheavals, and it has to do with the switchability between 36:45.367 --> 36:48.467 the weighty and the mundane. 36:48.467 --> 36:51.927 "So she seems to muse upon the mounting road while the 36:51.933 --> 36:57.373 slowspitting and squatting men watch her covertly, believing 36:57.367 --> 37:00.427 that she is thinking about the man and the approaching 37:00.433 --> 37:05.773 crisis, when in reality she is waging a mild battle with the 37:05.767 --> 37:10.727 providential caution of the old earth of and with and by 37:10.733 --> 37:12.403 which she lives. 37:12.400 --> 37:14.370 This time she conquers. 37:14.367 --> 37:18.467 She rises and walking a little awkwardly, a little carefully, 37:18.467 --> 37:22.967 she traverses the ranked battery of maneyes and enters 37:22.967 --> 37:25.397 the store, the clerk following. 37:25.400 --> 37:28.270 I'm a-going to do it, she thinks, even while ordering 37:28.267 --> 37:29.667 the cheese and crackers. 37:29.667 --> 37:32.027 "I'm a-going to do it, saying aloud. 37:32.033 --> 37:33.473 And a box of sardines. 37:33.467 --> 37:35.527 She calls them sour-deens. 37:35.533 --> 37:37.333 And a nickle box." 37:37.333 --> 37:44.733 So this is the essence of the drama in the to be or not to 37:44.733 --> 37:47.673 be, or in this case to do or not to do. 37:47.667 --> 37:52.797 The to do or not to do in Lena's consciousness revolves 37:52.800 --> 37:55.600 around a box of sardines. 37:55.600 --> 38:00.130 And that is completely OK for Faulkner. 38:00.133 --> 38:05.533 It qualifies her to be the protagonist of his novel. 38:05.533 --> 38:10.173 So we really have to give some thought to what it is that 38:10.167 --> 38:14.697 entitles a person to be the protagonist of a novel. 38:14.700 --> 38:18.270 We know that in Greek tragedy, a person has to be noble and 38:18.267 --> 38:23.197 to have a very drastic downfall in order to qualify 38:23.200 --> 38:26.000 to be the hero of a tragedy. 38:26.000 --> 38:29.630 In the modern comic novel, nothing like that. 38:29.633 --> 38:33.973 Just a very, very minor upheaval is OK. 38:33.967 --> 38:39.467 So I think that it is because of that very level platform, 38:39.467 --> 38:48.297 because of that basic, very reliable continuum that is 38:48.300 --> 38:51.930 backed up, supported, by the kindness of strangers, it's 38:51.933 --> 38:55.433 because of that continuum that we get a really interesting 38:55.433 --> 38:58.733 linguistic practice, and a kind of a stylistic tick 38:58.733 --> 39:03.233 almost in this particular novel. 39:03.233 --> 39:05.633 We've seen a little bit of that in the other novels, but 39:05.633 --> 39:08.133 this novel it's really pronounced. 39:08.133 --> 39:11.733 It has to do with the use of gerunds, especially turning 39:11.733 --> 39:14.133 verbs into nouns. 39:14.133 --> 39:16.473 We've seen a little bit of that earlier in the passage, 39:16.467 --> 39:19.727 but here it becomes in the foreground. 39:19.733 --> 39:23.803 "That far within my hearing before my seeing... 39:23.800 --> 39:27.600 I will be riding within the hearing of Lucas Burch before 39:27.600 --> 39:28.430 his seeing. 39:28.433 --> 39:31.703 He will hear the wagon, but he won't know. 39:31.700 --> 39:36.030 So there will be one within his hearing before his seeing. 39:36.033 --> 39:38.703 And then he will see me and he will be excited. 39:38.700 --> 39:42.070 And so there will be two within his seeing before his 39:42.067 --> 39:43.397 remembering." 39:43.400 --> 39:45.100 Highly stylized. 39:45.100 --> 39:49.230 Basically, there's no way we can not notice the fact that 39:49.233 --> 39:53.403 the verbs are being used as nouns in this instance. 39:53.400 --> 39:59.430 So the way that we can maybe try to make sense of this very 39:59.433 --> 40:02.973 self conscious practice on Faulkner's part, is by 40:02.967 --> 40:08.197 noticing how different an image of Lucas Burch we're 40:08.200 --> 40:09.570 getting from Lena. 40:09.567 --> 40:12.897 How different from the image that we've getting just a 40:12.900 --> 40:13.870 moment ago. 40:13.867 --> 40:17.527 No, actually just a moment later from Armstid. 40:17.533 --> 40:20.433 Armstid knows exactly what Lucas is doing. 40:20.433 --> 40:22.473 He's running away from her. 40:22.467 --> 40:25.097 He's just really unlucky that he hasn't put the Mississippi 40:25.100 --> 40:28.030 River in between himself and this woman. 40:28.033 --> 40:33.273 So Armstid has a completely accurate diagnosis and 40:33.267 --> 40:37.327 portrait of what kind of a man Lucas Burch is. 40:37.333 --> 40:42.603 Lena has a completely unrealistic, out of touch with 40:42.600 --> 40:45.730 reality portrait of Lucas. 40:45.733 --> 40:49.173 She things that he'll be very glad to see her and he'll be 40:49.167 --> 40:51.297 excited that in fact it's not just one person 40:51.300 --> 40:53.970 who's coming, but two. 40:53.967 --> 40:58.227 And so in many ways what Faulkner is giving us in this 40:58.233 --> 41:02.173 very stylized, linguistic practice, is to create a kind 41:02.167 --> 41:09.967 of linguistic cocoon around Lena, that she is insulated by 41:09.967 --> 41:14.397 this unidiomatic use of English, just as she's 41:14.400 --> 41:20.000 insulated by an interpretation of reality that really has 41:20.000 --> 41:23.570 very little to do with the reality which is the truth 41:23.567 --> 41:25.267 about Lucas Burch. 41:25.267 --> 41:30.467 It is very much a kind of linguistic shelter, in which 41:30.467 --> 41:35.067 she can afford to keep on thinking in this way about the 41:35.067 --> 41:37.527 man who keeps running away from her. 41:37.533 --> 41:42.973 And this is why she can afford and why can she be continued 41:42.967 --> 41:51.167 to be completely unworried, unanxious about her pregnancy. 41:51.167 --> 41:54.897 This is how she can do avoid, she can prevent that from 41:54.900 --> 41:57.300 becoming a burden on her. 41:57.300 --> 42:03.670 So we can think of this as one element, Faulkner is very 42:03.667 --> 42:07.867 artistic, intervening to make certain things possible for 42:07.867 --> 42:10.627 one character that would not be possible for other 42:10.633 --> 42:11.103 characters. 42:11.100 --> 42:13.900 And this particular intervention, the use of 42:13.900 --> 42:18.970 gerunds, is one stylistic device to make sure that Lena 42:18.967 --> 42:21.827 is preserved in a state of constant well-being. 42:26.000 --> 42:29.230 But he's also clear-eyed enough to know that she really 42:29.233 --> 42:34.133 is completely dead wrong about Lucas Burch. 42:34.133 --> 42:35.003 Sorry. 42:35.000 --> 42:38.400 Fast forwarding to a much later moment. 42:38.400 --> 42:42.730 But this is just to bring Faulkner into a discussion 42:42.733 --> 42:45.433 that we've been having all through the semester which is 42:45.433 --> 42:51.003 about types, where certain people, characters, can be 42:51.000 --> 42:55.300 classified, they belong to broader groups, groups that 42:55.300 --> 42:57.030 have labels. 42:57.033 --> 43:00.403 So it turns out that he's also quite conscious of the fact 43:00.400 --> 43:05.830 that Lucas Burch actually is not so much an individual as a 43:05.833 --> 43:08.673 type, a type of man. 43:08.667 --> 43:12.897 And this is his commentary-- 43:12.900 --> 43:15.470 This is actually Hightower's commentary, but it's as good 43:15.467 --> 43:17.067 as Faulkner's-- 43:17.067 --> 43:20.427 commentary on the fate of Lena Grove. 43:20.433 --> 43:23.403 "For the Lena Groves, there are always 43:23.400 --> 43:25.430 two men in the world. 43:25.433 --> 43:28.303 And the number is legion. 43:28.300 --> 43:32.400 Lucas Burches and Byron Bunches." There's all of them 43:32.400 --> 43:34.330 are suddenly appearing in the plural. 43:34.333 --> 43:37.373 So Lena Grove is a type. 43:37.367 --> 43:39.827 They have the Lena Groves of the world. 43:39.833 --> 43:43.973 And then there's the Lucas Burches and Byron Bunches. 43:43.967 --> 43:48.127 And this is really what saves Lena, is that she actually is 43:48.133 --> 43:50.533 one of the Lena Groves. 43:50.533 --> 43:55.473 And her fate is to be unlucky in one sense, in that she's 43:55.467 --> 43:58.367 stuck with a man like Lucas Burch. 43:58.367 --> 44:02.327 But she's lucky in a sense that you can just know. 44:02.333 --> 44:05.403 It's almost kind of a statistical point, that to 44:05.400 --> 44:10.530 every Lucas Burch, there will be a Byron Bunch who will take 44:10.533 --> 44:11.673 care of her. 44:11.667 --> 44:14.767 So she was saved in this way that there always will be the 44:14.767 --> 44:18.997 pairing of two kinds of men in her life. 44:19.000 --> 44:25.330 So here is the allegory thick and fast, definitely very 44:25.333 --> 44:27.733 heavy handed and meant to be noticed. 44:27.733 --> 44:34.803 Byron, Lord Byron, the stereotypical romantic poet. 44:34.800 --> 44:38.400 And with the added little joke, I think, that he 44:38.400 --> 44:41.900 actually died in Missolonghi, Italy. 44:41.900 --> 44:44.800 So it has some reference, some affinity to 44:44.800 --> 44:46.230 Mississippi, as well. 44:46.233 --> 44:48.773 And I'm sure that it is not beyond Faulkner to think that 44:48.767 --> 44:50.667 that's a nice connection. 44:50.667 --> 44:59.697 So here's Byron being the namesake for Byron Bunch. 44:59.700 --> 45:05.170 And sure enough, he lives up to his namesake, the 45:05.167 --> 45:07.597 romanticism of his namesake. 45:07.600 --> 45:09.470 "Then Byron fell in love. 45:09.467 --> 45:13.267 He fell in love contrary to all the tradition of his 45:13.267 --> 45:16.597 austere and jealous country raising, which demands in the 45:16.600 --> 45:19.270 object physical inviolability. 45:19.267 --> 45:22.327 It happens on a Saturday afternoon while he's 45:22.333 --> 45:24.033 alone at the mill. 45:24.033 --> 45:28.473 Two miles away the house is still burning, the yellow 45:28.467 --> 45:32.727 smoke standing straight as a monument on the horizon. 45:32.733 --> 45:36.173 They saw it before noon, when the smoke first rose above the 45:36.167 --> 45:40.727 trees, before the whistle blew and the others departed. 45:40.733 --> 45:44.073 I reckon Byron'll quit too today, they said. 45:44.067 --> 45:49.167 With a free fire to watch." 45:49.167 --> 45:53.597 This switchability is in high gear in here. 45:53.600 --> 46:00.230 It starts out with Byron falling in love, but that 46:00.233 --> 46:05.573 romantic side of this story doesn't even get to control 46:05.567 --> 46:08.227 the entire paragraph. 46:08.233 --> 46:12.473 Basically it just gets two sentences. 46:12.467 --> 46:16.497 And then the rest of the paragraph is taken over by 46:16.500 --> 46:20.800 something that has nothing to do with romantic love. 46:20.800 --> 46:25.330 And all of a sudden we realize that yes, Byron is falling in 46:25.333 --> 46:30.073 love at the same time as a very-- 46:30.067 --> 46:32.667 that's dramatic enough in his life. 46:32.667 --> 46:38.597 But this drama in Byron's life is taking part with a drama 46:38.600 --> 46:41.330 that's going to overtake the entire town, which is the 46:41.333 --> 46:44.073 burning of a house. 46:44.067 --> 46:45.797 And it says something -- 46:45.800 --> 46:48.400 and we're also getting another glimpse of what kind of people 46:48.400 --> 46:53.530 are living in this town in the reference to the 46:53.533 --> 46:55.003 free fire to watch. 46:55.000 --> 46:59.570 This is not the strangers who are kind to other strangers. 46:59.567 --> 47:02.997 It's a very different portrait of the local community. 47:03.000 --> 47:07.970 So it turns out that Byron is not the only person who has an 47:07.967 --> 47:11.097 allegorical name, but a young character who does as well. 47:11.100 --> 47:13.770 "It's a big fire, another said, what can it be? 47:13.767 --> 47:16.997 I don't remember anything coming out that way big enough 47:17.000 --> 47:20.600 to make all that smoke except the Burden house. 47:20.600 --> 47:22.470 Maybe that's what it is, another said. 47:22.467 --> 47:27.627 "My pappy says he can remember how 50 years ago folks said it 47:27.633 --> 47:32.503 ought to burned, and with a little human fat meant to 47:32.500 --> 47:34.070 start it good. 47:34.067 --> 47:37.867 Maybe your pappy slipped it out there and set it afire, a 47:37.867 --> 47:38.427 third said. 47:38.433 --> 47:39.233 They laughed." 47:39.233 --> 47:42.433 So this is the others allegorical name, that Byron's 47:42.433 --> 47:47.403 always going to be paired with someone whose name is Burden. 47:47.400 --> 47:51.170 And Burden is not as-- 47:51.167 --> 47:55.167 There's no Byron to clue us in. 47:55.167 --> 47:59.827 There's actually a very famous poem that will suggest to us 47:59.833 --> 48:03.003 the origins of that name, Kipling's poem, "White Man's 48:03.000 --> 48:07.000 Burden." "Take up the white man's burden / and reap his 48:07.000 --> 48:13.670 old reward: / The blame of those ye better, / the hate of 48:13.667 --> 48:14.927 those ye guard." 48:14.933 --> 48:18.273 I think we have a completely misguided, wrongheaded notion 48:18.267 --> 48:20.127 actually of Kipling's White Man's Burden. 48:20.133 --> 48:24.633 It's not really about how great it is to take up the 48:24.633 --> 48:28.333 white man's burden, but how awful it is and that you incur 48:28.333 --> 48:31.573 the hatred of lots of people. 48:31.567 --> 48:38.027 So this is one of the allegorical names, how they 48:38.033 --> 48:41.133 function in Light in August and how Faulkner's really 48:41.133 --> 48:46.633 updating the old classic story, is that it really is 48:46.633 --> 48:51.503 the story about the fate of someone called Byron and the 48:51.500 --> 48:53.530 fate of someone called Burden. 48:53.533 --> 48:58.133 And obviously there are other characters who are invoked 48:58.133 --> 49:02.533 through those two characters, but they're both on fire. 49:02.533 --> 49:05.633 Byron is on fire because he's falling in love. 49:05.633 --> 49:09.473 Joanna Burden actually is on fire in that she's being 49:09.467 --> 49:10.527 burned alive. 49:10.533 --> 49:12.033 She's dead by that point. 49:12.033 --> 49:16.533 But she's on fire, her body's on fire. 49:16.533 --> 49:22.633 So that is also what contributes to the Light in August 49:22.633 --> 49:26.373 and that's why the other alternative title, Dark 49:26.367 --> 49:28.467 House, is just as appropriate.