The poetics of space in the stories A Rose for Emily and Barn Burning

Tekstualia ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (44) ◽  
pp. 79-94
Author(s):  
Sławomir Studniarz

The article explores the organization of space in two stories by William Faulkner, A Rose for Emily and Barn Burning. The analysis of spatial arrangements in both texts relies on the insights into the nature of literary space provided by Jurij Lotman, Janusz Sławiński, and Garbiel Zoran. In particular, Lotman’s notion of spatial relations as a topos modeling other, non-spatial ideas, Sławiński’s concept of „added–on senses” conveyed by the fi ctional space, and Zoran’s two methods of reconstructing space in a narrative, chronotopic and topographic, have proved especially useful and effective. In A Rose for Emily spatial relations model social relations, the contrast between the traditional South and the new South, as well as personal relations, showing the position of the heroine, Emily Grierson, in the community of Jefferson. In addition, Emily’s house serves as a means of illustrating the protagonist. In Barn Burning space appears largely as a challenge for the young protagonist, Sarty, and triggers his personal and moral growth. Two localities are the most important in this respect, the store in which the trial is taking place, and the magnifi cent residence of major de Spain. Furthermore, spatial relations in the story model the contrast between the poor and the rich in the American South.

1968 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 288-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maury Klein

As the American South recovered from the Civil War, railroads and the businessmen who managed them were important ingredients in the process of economic change. But who were the railroad leaders of the first generation of the “New South” and what were their personal and corporate goals? What were the effects of their actions on the course of southern restoration? Sharply at odds with the usual “carpetbagger” demonology, Professor Klein suggests an alternative explanation and analysis.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-33
Author(s):  
Akiyoshi Suzuki

Against the background of the Cold War, this article rethinks the novel (1960) and film (1962) To Kill a Mockingbird, more specifically Atticus Finch’s characterization as the courageous, unblemished defender of an unjustly accused black man in the American South. Because of Atticus’s unrelenting efforts to exonerate Tom Robinson, he has been proclaimed the 20th century’s greatest American movie hero. At a closer look, however, it turns out that, while Atticus fights hard for Tom, he nevertheless, and as a matter of course, abandons the investigation into the stabbing death of Bob Ewell, a poor white man and Tom’s accuser. The New Yorker magazine noted this conflict in the movie. So, it begs the question: from what social attitudes does this broad-spectrum admiration for Atticus emerge? This article proposes an answer: it originates in identity-centrism, an attitude that underlies United States ideology during the Cold War era and results, specifically, in a total disregard for the poor. In other words, To Kill a Mockingbird is not a closed-ended novel of good versus evil, but an open-ended work that raises a troubling question about diversity.


2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 233-245
Author(s):  
Md Mostafizur Rahman

Abstract Social protection programmes in Bangladesh aimed at reducing the vulnerability of the poor has become exceptionally challenging because of high exposure to weak institutional governance, and frequent natural disasters. As a matter of fact, both the coverage and the types of social protection programmes have been expanded to support the extremely poor households in Bangladesh over the last decade. However, the boundaries between ‘protection approach’ associated with risk reduction and ‘promotion approach’ regarded as the pathways to raise incomes and employment opportunities of the poor have remained understated in policy discourse. This paper addresses how an Interpretivist methodology can be used in exploring the current complexities of social protection programmes in extremely poor households with reference to disaster-affected areas in southwest coastal Bangladesh, giving a particular attention to the interpretation of the beneficiaries as well as service providers. This paper employs an interpretative framework for collecting qualitative data because of its ability to make sense of the complex situations of social protection programmes by generating multicontextual information provided by the beneficiaries of social protection programmes. During the initial fieldwork of the research, the research participants pointed out that there exist strong prevalence and dominance of local politics considered as ‘underlying issues’ in the delivering process of social protection programmes, which is further associated with power-relation between the rich and poor class of the society. However, the current policy discourses of social protection programmes have overlooked those highly pertinent phenomena both in local and national context. This paper argues that the aspects of availability, accessibility and utilisation of social protection programmes is not straightforward as each aspect is further associated with social relations and complex social understanding. An interpretive methodology along with illustrative data collection and analysis techniques can become effective to explore those complex societal understanding related with social protection programmes. Finally, within the adopted interpretive framework, the integrated view related with availability, accessibility and utilisation aspects of social protection programmes need to be addressed while creating a sense of meaning and understanding of overall situation of social protection programmes.


Author(s):  
Jodi A. Byrd

Reading Faulkner as a Chickasaw scholar can, at times, be disorienting in the juxtapositions of history, remembrance, family, and fiction; the experience itself relocates and displaces as much as it coheres a sense of the past or of a place. Mired in the scenes of settlement, Faulkner’s world-building helped set into motion contradictory and cacophonous discourses of blackness, whiteness, and indigeneity in the American South, and in doing so, provided the imaginative terrains through which we continue think about the intersections of slavery and colonialism. Taking up Absalom, Absalom! alongside critical work in indigenous studies, black feminism, and queer of color critique, this chapter will consider how indigeneity interrupts the temporalities and spatialities that are often taken for granted in how we understand the South as prologue for race in America.


Author(s):  
Amanda Gradisek

William Faulkner was one of the best-known American authors of the twentieth century. Experimenting with form, chronology, and language, Faulkner developed a strikingly personal style while exploring the complexities of life in the American South. He was especially interested in crafting stories that explored the effects of the Civil War’s destruction and the ways in which it revealed the breakdown of plantation-based aristocracy, the effects of the exaggerated chivalric code of the Old South, and the complex racism of a society once based on slavery. He is most famous for novels such as Absalom, Absalom!, Light in August, The Sound and the Fury, Sanctuary, and As I Lay Dying. Many of his novels are set in fictional Yoknapatahpha County, a county of his own design that resembled his own birthplace, Lafayette County. A native of Oxford, Mississippi, Faulkner lived most of his life there; he also joined the Canadian Air Force during World War I and spent time in Hollywood later in his career writing screenplays. He struggled with alcoholism throughout his life, but eventually died from a heart attack following a fall from his horse.


2011 ◽  
Vol 54 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 339-355
Author(s):  
Monika Wójcik

Salvian both recognized and censured social inequality, however, without transposing his critical attitude onto the relationship between freemen and slaves. For Salvian, this relationship was a point of reference, though indirect, to the relationship between man and God. Salvian considered the characteristics commonly attributed to slaves against the backdrop of Christian duties before God. When it comes to the situation of slaves, some Salvian’s opinions on the lord’s ius vitaenecisque are in conflict with the existing law, as, for instance, some provisions safeguarding slaves against owners’ abuse or lawlessness. Yet, such provisions might not have been fully observed in practice. Salvian recognizes some undeniable Roman flaws when examining the issue of exploitation of the poor by the rich. The main Salvian’s objections relate to both excessive financial burden laid on citizens by the state, as well as to the wealthy shifting the tax encumbrance to the needy. State legislation took some measures to remedy this situation, but, as follows from Salvian’s account, these regulations remained a dead letter. Salvian repeatedly touches on the problem of the ineffective state apparatus. In Salvian’s opinion, in the aftermath of the unjust state financial system, many Roman citizens fled to become the subjects of the barbarian rule. Salvian attributed ill intentions and oppression of the poor to the councillors; it was largely due to their tax collection powers. As follows from Salvian’s account, the councillors’ assumption of the function of tax collectors was to the significant detriment of social relations in cities. The author briefly reviews their role with the maxim: quot curiales, tot tyranni. Not infrequently, Salvian’s considerations seem rather selective, particularly with respect to the socio-political situation. In his opinion, the Roman Empire of the 5th century faced a dramatic economic slump, first, due to the barbarian invasions, and second, due to the poor administration.


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