How the Myth Was Made: Time, Myth, and Narrative in the Work of William Faulkner

Author

Katherine A. MacDonnell, Scripps CollegeFollow

Graduation Year

Spring 2014

Document Type

Open Access Senior Thesis

Department

English

Reader 1

Warren Liu

Reader 2

Cheryl Walker

Terms of Use & License Information

Terms of Use for work posted in Scholarship@Claremont.

Rights Information

© 2014 Katherine A. MacDonnell

Abstract

It is all too easy to dismiss myth as belonging to the realm of the abstract and theoretical, too removed from reality to constitute anything pragmatic. And yet myth makes up the very fabric of society, informing the way history is understood and the way people and things are remembered.

William Faulkner’s works approach myth with a healthy skepticism, only gradually coming to find value in a process that is often destructive; his works demand of their readers the same perceptive criticism. This thesis approaches myth through the lens of Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily," Absalom, Absalom!, and "The Bear."

Faulkner's texts ultimately ask readers to bear witness by thinking critically about the process of myth-making, not only in the realm of literature but in the world as a whole.

Recommended Citation

MacDonnell, Katherine A., "How the Myth Was Made: Time, Myth, and Narrative in the Work of William Faulkner" (2014). Scripps Senior Theses. 471.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/471