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Faulkner and the Great Depression: Aesthetics, Ideology, and the Politics of Art

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Faulkner and the Great Depression: Aesthetics, Ideology, and the Politics of Art Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 2001 Faulkner and the Great Depression: Aesthetics, Ideology, and the Politics of Art. Theodore B. Atkinson III Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Recommended Citation Atkinson, Theodore B. III, "Faulkner and the Great Depression: Aesthetics, Ideology, and the Politics of Art." (2001). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 262. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/262 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMi films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6” x 9” black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. ProQuest Information and Learning 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 USA 800-521-0600 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. FAULKNER AND THE GREAT DEPRESSION: AESTHETICS, IDEOLOGY, AND THE POLITICS OF ART A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of English by Theodore B. Atkinson HI B.A., University o f Mississippi, 1990 M.A., Mississippi College, 1996 May 2001 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: 3016525 _ ___ _ <® UMI UMI Microform 3016525 Copyright 2001 by Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My first experience with a Faulkner novel was, appropriately enough, during my undergraduate days at the University of Mississippi. It wasSanctuary, and I was just eighteen. What captivated me then was a sense of the familiar: Horace's visit to "the University" and the excitement over the baseball game against that other school. But thanks to dedicated Faulkner scholars and teachers such as Doreen Fowler and Jay Watson, whom I will always appreciate, I read not only more but more deeply. And so here I am, diving deeper still. Though certainly more skeptical now, I am no less captivated. First and foremost, I must express my gratitude to Professor Panthea Reid for her guidance in this project. It was her interest in Faulkner and in the 1930s that inspired me to put two and two together, so to speak. I am grateful for her wise counsel, her unfailing support and affirmation, and, of course, her biographer's sense of chronology. I am indebted to Professor Patrick McGee for pointing out the need to cover the bases of aesthetics and ideology in this project. Also, I appreciate his willingness to talk openly and honestly not only about ideas but also about negotiating the profession. His advice and encouragement have been especially valuable to me in the course of completing my graduate studies. Professor Richard C. Moreland is a student's professor. I am grateful for his open-door policy and for his willingness to discuss this project at various stages. His approach to Faulkner has provided much inspiration. ii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. I wish to thank as well the additional members of my committee—Professor Charles Shindo and Professor Christopher Kenny—for their willingness to serve. Writing a dissertation is a lonely business. But, in the immortal words of Clarence Oddbody, "No one is alone who has friends." In particular, I want to thank Judi Kemerait for her constant encouragement and friendship, Meg Watson for always reminding me to "let it be a challenge,” Wolfgang Lepschy for talking sports, and Andrea Adolph for talking shop. You all will endure and prevail. I know it. I wish to thank Caroline Langston Jarboe for her grace, humor, and Sunday afternoon phone calls. Finally, I am grateful for the support of my family—my parents, my brothers and sister-in-law, and my niece and nephew, who put it all into perspective. iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements ............................................................................................... ii Abstract................................................................................................................. v Introduction .......................................................................................................... 1 Chapter One (Re)Forming Faulkner's Art: History, Culture, and Theory........................................................... 17 Two Decadence and Dispossession: Faulkner and The "Literary Class War"........................................... 50 Three Power by Design: Faulkner and the Specter of Fascism...............................................117 Four Order and Upheaval: Faulkner’s Conflicted Agrarian Representations.............................187 References.............................................................................................................245 Appendix: List of Text Abbreviations.................................................................255 Vita.........................................................................................................................256 iv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT William Faulkner's most concentrated and flourishing phase of literary production virtually coincided with the Great Depression, yet the relationship between these two monumental developments in American cultural history has remained for the most part unexplored. Consequently, a more complete understanding of Faulkner can be achieved by redressing this critical oversight. Such an endeavor must involve reconstituting relevant features of historical and cultural context so as to comprehend the forces informing Faulkner's literary production. A critical approach rooted in Marxist literary theory is useful in this regard, for it challenges persistent notions of Faulkner as a writer resistant to contextual influences in the pursuit of an autonomous "art for art's sake" rather than a writer of considerable social insight. Through analysis of aesthetics and ideology as integrated rather than mutually exclusive subjects of inquiry, this study traces the social dimensions of Faulkner's literary production in the thirties and reveals its active participation in the politics of art extant in the cultural context. Posited at the outset, then, is a theory that the aesthetic features of Faulkner's texts are bound to larger ideological formations, thus yielding political implications that are measurable in terms of thematic content and formal structure. Examining Faulkner’s fiction in relation to prominent social and cultural issues—specifically, the "Literary Class War," the specter of fascism, and the prospect of agrarian revolution—provides an instructive means of testing this theory. This critical inquiry finds that tensions between narrative disruption and the desire for closure in Faulkner’s texts suggest that his fictional voice assimilates, represents, and negotiates the struggle to achieve order in a period of heightened social upheaval v Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. INTRODUCTION William Faulkner's most celebrated work emerged from a concentrated phase of artistic production that rivals any in literature. Remarkably, the novels most often read and taught were written in the years roughly spanning the Great Depression. At a time when America produced so little, Faulkner produced
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