作者: 威廉·福剋納 William Faulkner
小說的故事發生在傑弗生鎮上的康普生傢。這是一個曾經顯赫一時的望族，祖上出過一位州長、一位將軍。傢中原來廣有田地，黑奴成群。如今衹剩下一幢破敗的宅子，黑傭人也衹剩下老婆婆迪爾西和她的小外孫勒斯特了。一傢之長康普生先生是一九一二年病逝的。他在世時算是一個律師，但從不見他接洽業務。他整天醉醺醺，嘮嘮叨叨地發些憤世嫉俗的空論，把悲觀失望的情緒傳染給兒子昆丁。
康普太太自私冷酷，無病呻吟，總感到自己受氣吃虧，實際上是她在拖纍、折磨全家人。她念念不忘南方大傢閨秀的身份，以致僅僅成了一種“身份”的化身，而完全不具有作為母親與妻子應有的溫情，傢中沒有一個人能從她那裏得到愛與溫暖。
女兒凱蒂可以說是全書的中心，雖然沒有以她的觀點為中心的單獨的一章，但書中一切人物的所作所為都與她息息相關。物極必反，從古板高傲、規矩極多的舊世傢裏偏偏會出現浪蕩子女。用一位外國批評傢的話來說，是：“太多的責任導致了不負責任。”凱蒂從“南方女”的規約下衝出來，走過了頭，成了一個輕佻放蕩的女子。她與男子幽會，有了身孕，不得不與另一男子結婚。婚後丈夫發現隱情，拋棄了她。衹得把私生女（也叫昆丁）寄養在母親傢，自己到大城市去闖蕩。
哥哥昆丁和凱蒂兒時感情很好。作為沒落的莊園主階級的最後一代的代表者，一種沒落感始終追隨着昆丁。這個“簪纓之傢”的孑遺極其驕傲，極其敏感，卻又極其孱弱（精神上、肉體上都是如此）。他偏偏又過分重視妹妹的貞操把它與門第的榮譽甚至自己生與死的問題聯繫在一起。凱蒂的遭遇一下子使他失去了精神平衡。就在妹妹結婚一個多月後，他投河自盡了。
傑生是凱蒂的大弟。他和昆丁相反，隨着金錢勢力在南方上升，他已順應潮流，成為一個實利主義者，仇恨與絶望有時又使他成為一個沒有理性、不切實際的復仇狂與虐待狂。由於他一無資本，二無才幹，衹能在雜貨鋪裏做一個小夥計。昆丁對凱蒂的感情是愛，傑生她的感情卻衹有恨。因為他認為凱蒂的行為使他失去了本應得到的銀行裏的職位。他恨凱蒂，也連帶着恨她的私生女小昆丁，恨關心凱蒂母女的黑女傭迪爾西。總之，他恨周圍的一切，從他嘴裏吐出來的每一個字仿佛都含有酸液，使人聽了感到發作並不值得，強忍下去又半天不舒服。除了錢，他什麽都不愛。連自己的情婦，也是戒備森嚴，僅僅看作是做買賣交易的對手。他毫無心肝，處占人便宜，卻總是做出一副受害者的樣子。他玩弄了一係列花招，把姐姐歷年寄來的贍養費據為己有，並從中吮吸復仇的喜悅。書中描寫得最令人難忘的一個細節，是康普生先生殯葬那天，凱蒂從外地趕回來，乘機想見親生女兒一面的那一段。凱蒂喪魂失魄地追趕載有小昆丁的馬車那一情景，感染力極強，使人認識凱蒂儘管有種種不能令人滿意的行為，本質上還是一個善良的女子。而對比之下，傑生的形象愈益令人憎厭。另外，他用免費的招待券作弄黑小廝勒斯特，對外甥女小昆丁的扭打（不無色情動機的）與“教育”，也都是使人物性格顯得更加突出的精彩的細節。傑生是福剋納筆下最鮮明、突出的形象之一。作為惡人的典型，其鮮明飽滿，達到了莎士比亞筆下經典式惡人（如埃古、麥剋白夫人）的地步。然而，對傑生的揭露，卻偏偏是通過傑生的自我表白與自我辯解來完成的。這正是福納藝術功力深厚的表現。傑生和“斯普斯”三部麯中的弗萊姆•斯諾普斯一樣，都是資本主義化的“新南方”的産物。如果說，通過對康普生一傢其他人的描寫，福剋納表達了他對南方舊制度的絶望，那麽，通過對傑生的漫畫式的刻劃，福剋納又鮮明地表示了他對“新秩序”的憎厭。福剋納說過，“對我說，傑生純粹是惡的代表。依我看，從我的想象裏産生出來的象裏，他是最最邪惡的一個。”
班吉是凱蒂的小弟弟，他是個先天性白癡。一九二八年，他三十三歲了，但是智力水平衹相當於一個三歲的小孩。他沒有思維能力，腦子裏衹有感覺和印象，而且還分不清它們的先後，過去的事與當前的事都一起涌現在他的腦海裏通過他的意識流，我們能夠體會到：他失去了姐姐的關懷，非常悲哀。現在傢中唯一關心並照顧他的，衹有黑女傭迪爾西了。雖然按書名的出典理解，班這一章可以說是“一個白癡講的故事”，事實上福剋納還是通過這個雜亂的故事有意識地達了他想告訴讀者的一係列的信息：家庭頽敗的氣氛、人物、環境……。按照批評傢剋林斯•布魯剋斯的說法，這一章是“一種賦格麯式的排列與組合，由所見所聞所嗅到的與行動組成，它們有許多本身沒有意義，但是拼在一起就成了某種十字花刺綉般的圖形”。
小昆丁是凱蒂寄養在母親傢的私生女。康普生太太的冷漠與傑生的殘酷（虐待狂者的殘酷）使昆丁在這個傢裏再也呆不下去。一九二八年復活節這一天，康普生傢發現，小昆丁取走了傑生的不義之財，與一流浪藝人私奔了。這自然激起了傑的“狂怒”（書名中的“騷動”原意即為狂怒）。傑生驅車追尋小昆丁，想追回他偷來的那筆錢，他在火車上惹出亂子，差一點送了命。
《喧嘩與騷動》-作品主題
《喧嘩與騷動》的主題是世界文學一個恆常的主題，它具體表現在一個大傢族——康普生傢族的沒落。這種傢族沒落的主題也是整個世界從傳統嚮現代轉型所必然産生的一個主題。福剋納對“傢族的沒落”這一可稱為現代小說的宏大敘事的具體處理方式更為復雜。就是說，同樣是處理“傢族的沒落”這個世界級的大主題，福剋納的具體着眼點是他自己的，是打上了福剋納的註册商標的印記的，所以可能就是別人無法替代的。比如，福剋納自己就曾說過《喧嘩與騷動》是一個關於“失落的天真”的故事。這主要是指小說中最核心的人物，傢族的女兒凱蒂的墮落的故事。用小說的譯者李文俊先生的說法，“女兒凱蒂可以說是全書的中心，雖然沒有以她的觀點為中心的單獨的一章，但書中一切人物的所作所為都與她息息相關。物極必反，從古板高傲、規矩極多的舊世傢裏偏偏會出現浪蕩的子女。用一位外國批評傢的話來說，是：‘太多的責任導致了不負責任。’凱蒂從‘南方淑女’的規約下衝出來，走過了頭，成了一個輕佻放蕩的女子。她與男子幽會，有了身孕，不得不與另一男子結婚。婚後丈夫發現隱情，拋棄了她。她衹得把私生女寄養在母親傢，自己到大城市去闖蕩”，所以福剋納說：這本小說是“兩個墮落的女人，凱蒂和她的女兒的一出悲劇”。在這出悲劇中，福剋納更關註的是傢族，或者他的小說人物究竟具體“失落了什麽”。而所謂的“天真”，正是他具體關心的母題。也正是在這一點上，福剋納匯入的，其實是美國文學自己的傳統。而福剋納關懷“失落的天真”的主題，也正是從傳統的道德法則和秩序的角度看問題的，這表明了福剋納的傳統的一面。
但是福剋納所說的“失落的天真”並不能概括《喧嘩與騷動》的全部主題。美國學者一個叫俄康納的學者同時把這部小說當作“一個傢族溫暖消逝，自尊和體諒蕩然無存的描繪來讀”。而進一步引申下去，《喧嘩與騷動》又是一個南方的故事，一個二十世紀的故事。同時也是一個關於“現代”的故事。前面我們是把小說中的女兒凱蒂當作主角，我們可以說它是關於“失落的天真”的故事，如果把《喧嘩與騷動》當作一個以昆丁（凱蒂的哥哥、哈佛大學的學生，是個自殺身亡的人物）為主角的故事來看，《喧嘩與騷動》就成為一個對於現代主角的探討的小說，通過對昆丁內心流程的挖掘，來表達某種現代意識，因此，美國一評論傢稱福剋納是“迷路的現代人的神話”的發明者。在這個意義上，福剋納豐富了二十世紀現代小說關於“現代”的構成圖景。這個現代是卡夫卡的現代，是普魯斯特的現代，是喬伊斯的現代，也是福剋納的現代。每個人的現代景觀其實都不盡相同，但起碼有一點是共同的，就是這些大師都表現了現代人的希望與恐懼，憂患和矛盾。而福剋納的矛盾似乎比其他人來得更復雜。而且，讀福剋納總帶給人一種陰鬱甚至痛苦的感受。他在諾貝爾受奬演說的第一句就說：“諾貝爾文學奬不是授予我個人，而是授予我的勞動——一輩子處在人類精神的痛苦和煩惱中的勞動。”這種勞動的産品可以想像是怎樣一種折磨讀者的東西。也許正是在這個意義上，另一諾貝爾文學奬獲得者加繆在1955年稱贊福剋納是“世界上最偉大的作傢”，“是我們時代唯一真正的悲劇作傢。……他提供給我們一個古老的但永遠是新鮮的主題：盲人在他的命運與他的責任之間跌跌撞撞地朝前走，這也是世界上唯一的悲劇主題”。
《喧嘩與騷動》-寫作手法
在藝術表現方面，福剋納寫《喧嘩與騷動》時用了一些特殊的手法，這裏不妨作些簡略的介紹。
《喧嘩與騷動》康拉德
首先，福剋納采用了多角度的敘述方法。傳統的小說傢一般或用“全能角度”亦即作傢無所不在、無所不知的角度來敘述，或用書中主人公自述的口吻來敘述。發展到亨利•詹姆士與康拉德，他們認為“全能角度”難以使讀者信服，便采用書中主人公之外的一個人物的眼睛來觀察，通過他（或她）的話或思想來述。福剋納又進了一步，分別用幾個人甚至十幾個人（如在《我留之際》中）的角度，讓每一個人講他這方面的故事。這正如發生一個事件後，新聞記者不采取自己報道的方式，卻分別采訪許多當事人與見證人，讓他們自己對着話筒講自己的所知。一般地說，這樣做要比記者自己的敘述顯得更加真實可信。
在《喧嘩與騷動》中，福剋納讓三兄弟，班吉、昆丁與傑生各自講一遍自己的故事，隨後又自己用“全能角度”，以迪爾西為主綫，講剩下的故事，小說出版十五年之後，福剋納為馬爾科姆•考利編的《袖珍本福剋納文集》寫了一個附錄，把康普生傢的故事又作了一些補充。因此，福剋納常常對人說，他把這個故事寫了五遍。當然，這五個部分並不是重複、雷同的，即使有相重疊之處，也是有意的。這五個部分像五片顔色、大小不同的玻璃，雜沓地放在一起，從而構成了一幅由單色與復色拼成的絢爛的圖案。
“班吉的部分”發生的時是一九二八年四月七日。通過他，福剋納渲染了康普生傢頽敗的氣氛。另一方面，通過班吉腦中的印象，反映了康普生傢那些孩子的童年。“昆丁的部分”發生在一九一〇年六月二日，這部分一方面交昆丁當天的所見所聞和他的活動，同時又通過他的思想活動，寫凱蒂的沉淪與昆丁自己的絶望。 “傑生的部分”發生在一九二八年四月六日，這部分寫傑生當傢後康普生傢的情況，同時引進凱蒂的後代——小昆丁。至於“迪爾西的部分”，則是發生在一九二八年四月八日（復活節），它純粹寫當前的事：小昆丁的出走、傑生的狂怒與追尋以及象徵着滌罪與淨化的黑人教堂裏的宗教活動。這樣看來，四個部分的敘述者出現的時序固然是錯亂的，不是由應該最早出場的丁先講，而是采用了“CABD”這樣的方式，但是他們所講的事倒是順着正常的時序，而且銜接得頗為緊密的。難怪美國詩人兼小說傢康拉德•艾肯對《喧嘩與騷動》贊嘆道：“這本小說有堅實的四個樂章的交響樂結構，也許要算福剋納全部作品中製作得最精美的一本，是一本詹姆士喜歡稱為‘創作藝術’的毋庸置疑的傑作。錯綜復雜的結構銜接得天衣無縫，這是小說傢奉為圭臬的小說——它本身就是一部完整的創作技巧的教科書……”
“意識流”是福剋納采用的另一種手法。傳統的現實主義小說中也常寫人物的內心活動，意識流與之不同之處是：一、它們仿佛從人物頭腦裏涌流而出直接被作者錄下來，前面不冠以“他想”、“他自忖”之類的引導語；二、它們可以從這一思想活動跳到另一思想活動，不必有邏輯，也不必順時序；三、除了正常的思想活動之外，它們也包括潛意識、下意識這一類的意識活動。在《喧嘩與騷動》中，前三章就是用一個又一個的意識，來敘述故事與刻劃人物的。在敘述者的頭腦裏，從一個思緒跳到另一個思緒，有時作者變換字體以提醒讀者，有時連字體也不變。但是如果細心閱讀，讀者還是能辨別來的，因為每一段裏都包含着某種綫索。另外，思緒的變換，也總有一些根據，如看到一樣東西，聽到一句話，聞到一種香味等等。據統計，在“昆丁的部分”裏，這樣的“場景轉移”發生得最多，超過二百次；“班吉的部分”裏也有一百多次。傳統的現實主義藝術，一般都是通過外表（社會、環境、家庭、居室、傢具、衣飾……)的描寫，逐漸深入到人物的內世界。福剋納與別的一些作傢卻采取了顛倒的程序。他首先提給讀者混沌迷亂的內心世界的沒有規律、邏輯的活動，然後逐步帶引讀者穿過層層迷霧，最終走到陽光底下明朗、清晰的客觀世界裏來。這時，讀者再回過頭來一看，也許會對整幅圖景具有更深刻的印象與理解。
福剋納之所以如此頻繁地表現意識流，除了他認為這樣直接嚮讀者提供生活的片斷能更加接近真實之外，還有一個更主要的原因，這就是：服從刻畫特殊人物的需要。前三章的敘述者都是心智不健全的人。班吉是個白癡，他的思想如果有邏輯、有理性反倒是不真實、不合邏輯的。昆丁六月二日那一天决定自殺。他的精神狀態處於極度亢奮之中。到該章的最後一段，他的思緒已經跡近一個發高燒病人的譫語了。傑生也多少有些不正常，他是個偏執狂，又是一個虐待狂，何況還有頭痛病。福剋納有許多作品手法上與傳統的現實主義作品並無太大區別。他的別的作品若是用意識流，也總有其特殊原因。如《村子》中寫I.O.斯諾普斯對一頭母牛的感情，那是因為這個I.O.斯諾普斯是一個半白癡。讀者們如果有點耐心，在最初的不習慣之後，定然會通過這些不平常的思緒活動逐漸看清一係列相當鮮明、豐滿的人物形象。這些形象的外貌我們不一定說得清(直到讀了“迪爾西的部分”我們纔知道班吉的模樣)，但是我們卻能當準確地把握他們的精神狀態。書中的主要人物如此，一些次要人物形象也莫不如此。如赫伯特•海德，出現在昆丁的幾次意識流裏，但是那一副庸俗、無恥的嘴臉便已躍然紙上。其他如傑拉德太太、毛萊舅舅，形象也都相當鮮明突出。即使像勒斯特這樣一個黑人小廝，我掩捲之後，也不容易把他那既調皮又可憐巴巴的形象從我們的腦子裏排除出去。
“神話模式”是福剋納在創作《喧嘩與騷動》時所用的另一種手法。所謂“神話模式”，就是在創作一部文作品時，有意識地使其故事、人物、結構，大致與人們熟知的一個神話故事平行。如喬伊斯的《尤利西斯》，就套用了荷馬史詩 《奧德修紀》的神話模式，艾略特的《荒原》則套用了亞瑟王傳說中尋找聖杯的式。在《嘩與騷動》中，三、一、四章的標題分別為一九二八年四月六日至八日，這三天恰好是基督受難日到復活節。而第二章的一九一〇年六月二日在那一年又正好是基督聖體節的第八天。因此，康普生傢歷史中的這四天都與基督受難的四個主要日子有關聯。不僅如此，從每一章的內容裏，也都約可以找到與《聖經》中所記基督的遇大致平行之處。但是，正如喬伊斯用奧德修的英雄業績反襯斯蒂芬•德迪勒斯的軟弱無能一樣，福剋納也是要以基督的莊嚴與神聖使康普生傢的子孫顯得更加委瑣，而他們的自私、得不到、受挫、失敗、互相仇視，也說明了“現代人”違反了基督死前對門徒所作的“要你們彼此相愛”的教導。
福剋納運用這樣的神話模，除了給他的作品增添一層反諷色彩外，也有使他的故事從描寫南方一個家庭的日常瑣事中突破出來，成為一個探討人類命運問題的寓言的意思。這個問題離題較遠，這裏就不多贅述了。
《喧嘩與騷動》-作品賞析
《喧嘩與騷動》一個有意思的話題就是小說的敘事者的選擇和他的意識流的敘事結構。小說有四個部分，每個部分都由不同的敘事者講述。第一部分的敘事者的選擇在世界現代小說史上可能是空前絶後的，就是因為敘事者班吉是一個白癡。班吉的敘事發生的時間是1928年4月7日，這也是第一部分的時間。這時的班吉已經三十三歲了，但智力水平衹相當於一個三歲小孩。整個第一部分，就是班吉的第一人稱的意識流的呈現。這對福剋納是一個巨大的考驗，因為他必須模仿一個白癡的思維和語言來進行敘事。我們先來具體看看白癡是怎樣講故事的。
《喧嘩與騷動》的開頭，也許是福剋納小說中名氣最大的一個細節，因為經常被研究者和小說傢引用：透過柵欄，穿過攀繞的花枝的空檔，我看見他們在打球。他們朝插着小旗的地方走過來，我順着柵欄朝前走。勒斯特在那棵開花的樹旁草地裏找東西。他們把小旗拔出來，打球了。接着他們又把小旗插回去，來到高地上，這人打了一下，另外那人也打了一下。他們接着朝前走，我也順着柵欄朝前走。勒斯特離開了那棵開花的樹，我們沿着柵欄一起走，這時候他們站住了，我們也站住了。我透過柵欄張望，勒斯特在草叢裏找東西。“球在這兒，開弟。”那人打了一下。他們穿過草地往遠處走去。我貼緊柵欄，瞧着他們走開。“聽聽，你哼哼得多難聽。”勒斯特說。
在這裏，福剋納開門見山地告訴了自己，他接下去要描述的是一個空白的靈魂，在這靈魂上面沒有任何雜質，衹有幾道深淺不一的皺紋，有時候會像湖水一樣波動起來。於是在很多年以後，也就是福剋納離開人世之後，我有幸讀到了這部偉大的作品中譯本，認識了一個偉大的白癡——班吉。
“偉大的白癡”的說法不是一種聳人聽聞的修辭方式，因為這個白癡形象身上的確寄托了福剋納的多種追求。起碼完全遵循白癡的感知方式，呈現白癡的特有的“秩序”和“邏輯”，本身就是一件偉大的嘗試。
有研究者詳細分析過班吉的感知世界的邏輯方式。他認為，班吉的“邏輯”完全建立在一直物質與名稱相對應的刻板的認同原則之上。在班吉眼裏，一個名稱衹能代表一種物質，而不能具有別的含義。班吉不僅無法區分復雜的家庭與社會關係，而且也不具有白人、黑人、主人、僕人這樣的基本概念和劃分。所以他的內心獨白和敘事中反復出現“昆丁”、“凱蒂”、“勒斯特”這些名字，而不存在哥哥、姐姐、傭人這樣的稱呼。即使連“他”這樣的常用人稱代詞也用得很少。或者說，在班吉的概念世界中，抽象化程度不高。“他”其實是一個概括性的，抽象化程度較高的範疇。
為什麽《喧嘩與騷動》一開頭首先讓一個白癡來講述？
1、具體性和原初性
為什麽《喧嘩與騷動》一開頭就讓白癡來講述？第一個效果就是前面講的文學感性的具體性和原初性。白癡敘述出來景象更有一種質感，一種世界不加意識形態化和抽象化的原初景象，就好象上帝在敘述一樣，不假思索，沒有猶疑，一切都是不庸置疑的。就像上帝說，要有光，於是就有了光。通過白癡的講述，按巴雷特在《非理性的人》中的說法，“福剋納給我們展示了一個不透明的、密實的和非理性的世界”。所謂“密實”的，是因為它充斥的都是一些具體的、感性的、實體化的意象和場景。而當一種敘述完全由這種密不透風的具體事物構成，缺乏一種理性和觀念之光的照耀，它反而是無法理解的，即不透明的、非理性的。有一個西方理論傢認為，我們在一種敘述中對不同類型的詞彙的選擇决定了敘述被理解的難易程度。一篇敘述中全由抽象的詞構成，如“形而上”、“本體”、“理念”、“二律背反”一類的詞彙組成的，那這篇敘述肯定是一般讀者很難讀懂的。但是，反過來一篇敘述全由具象的具體的詞彙構成，全都是“桌子”、“椅子”、“板凳”一類的詞，也是同樣不容易被理解的。班吉的敘述的不透明性在很大程度上就决定於這種“密實”的具體性。
2、用白癡表現的意識流程
選擇白癡做敘事者更有利於福剋納呈現他的意識流的小說形式和實現他的追求。福剋納之所以如此頻繁地表現意識流，除了他認為這樣直接嚮讀者提供生活的片斷能更加接近真實之外，還有一個更主要的原因，這就是：服從刻畫特殊人物的需要。前三章的敘述者都是心智不健全的人。班吉是個白癡，他的思想如果有邏輯、有理性反倒是不真實、不合邏輯的。但從意識流的小說形式的角度着眼，福剋納不僅是因為服從刻畫特殊人物的需要纔頻繁表現意識流，而也許恰恰相反，他為了營造意識流的小說形式纔更需要白癡這個特殊人物。這並不是低估了白癡班吉這個形象對世界小說人物形象長廊的獨特貢獻，而是說至少在意識流這個層面，白癡是服從於小說形式的需要的。班吉敘述的突出特徵，衹能用“混亂”兩字形容。在他的敘述中，不同時間和空間的場景、人物隨時切換，時空跨度之大，轉換速度之快是驚人的，而且從來沒有時間標志，你分不清是哪一段故事時間，表現出的是過去與現在共時存在的共時性特徵。
班吉的敘事突出表現了意識流的特徵，一是時空和記憶的場景切換，二是所有的流程都由當下的某種感覺和事物觸動。而在白癡的敘事流程中，福剋納最想強調的似乎是“共時性”和“現時性”的理念。班吉的敘事中穿插了大量過去的回憶和細節。但讀者衹讀班吉的講述就根本搞不清哪些是過去的回憶，更搞不清這些回憶是過去的哪個時間段的。在班吉的講述中，混沌一片，衹具有當下性和現時性。這似乎都印證了傑姆遜關於精神分裂患者的描述。傑姆遜在《後現代主義與文化理論》中認為，精神分裂是一個模式，表現在時間體驗上，就是精神分裂患者衹存在於現時，那種從過去通嚮未來的連續性感覺已經崩潰了，除了“現時”以外，什麽都沒有。這種時間體驗的特點傑姆遜也概括為一種吸毒帶來的快感。按傑姆遜的說法，吸毒的體驗正是集中在“現時”上。因此，傑姆遜說：“精神分裂就成了失去歷史感的一個強烈而集中的表現，同時也失去了自己的時間和身份。”白癡班吉可能沒有喪失自己的身份感，別人叫他“班吉”的時候，他也知道是喊自己，用深奧的說法，他還沒有完全喪失主體性。但班吉對時間的歷時性的感知就不那麽靈了。時間在他那裏衹呈現為“共時”和“眼前”。這種時間感受也正是福剋納刻意強調的。在訪談錄中，福剋納說：“我的理論，即時間乃是一種流動狀態，除在個人身上有短暫的體現外，再無其它形式的存在。所謂‘本來’，其實是沒有的——衹有 ‘眼前’。”意識流形式其實正印證了時間的當下性，即一切時間都朝當下這個維度流涌。
3、白癡敘事的超越意藴
《喧嘩與騷動》的小說名字來自莎士比亞的悲劇《麥剋白》第五幕第五場麥剋白的臺詞：“人生就是一篇荒唐的故事，由白癡講述，充滿着喧嘩與騷動，卻沒有任何意義。”從小說名字的出處可以看出，福剋納選擇白癡班吉作為第一個敘事者，有一種基於主題的考慮的必然性。人生就是由白癡講述的荒唐的故事，這就是他想傳達的題旨。這在莎士比亞那裏還是一個比喻，到了福剋納這裏就變成了現實。其中隱含了福剋納選擇白癡敘事的超越的意藴。白癡敘事在這裏其實表達的是一種世界的現實圖景，即無序、混亂與共時。還有什麽樣的敘事者比白癡更能表達世界的混亂呢？餘華稱他是個“偉大的白癡”，正因為班吉輕而易舉、毫不費力地就把人生與世界的本相揭示了出來，或者說，他的講述與世界的混亂本質是異麯同工的，是同構的，他本人就成了一個混亂世界的象徵。所以象徵販子們在班吉的身上發現了英雄用武之地。評論傢們最酷愛的，正是班吉這種偉大的白癡形象。
The Sound and the Fury is a novel written by the American author William Faulkner. It employs a number of narrative styles, including the technique known as stream of consciousness, pioneered by 20th century European novelists such as James Joyce and Virginia Woolf. Published in 1929, The Sound and the Fury was Faulkner's fourth novel, and was not immediately successful. In 1931, however, when Faulkner's sixth novel, Sanctuary, was published — a sensationalist story which Faulkner later claimed was written only for money — The Sound and the Fury also became commercially successful, and Faulkner began to receive critical attention.
Plot introduction
The Sound and the Fury is set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County. The novel centers on the Compson family, former Southern aristocrats who are struggling to deal with the dissolution of their family and its reputation. The novel is separated into four distinct sections. The first, April 7, 1928, is written from the perspective of Benjamin "Benjy" Compson, a 33-year-old man with severe mental handicaps. Benjy's section is characterized by a highly disjointed narrative style with frequent chronological leaps. The second section, June 2, 1910, focuses on Quentin Compson, Benjy's older brother, and the events leading up to his suicide. In the third section, April 6, 1928, Faulkner writes from the point of view of Jason, Quentin's cynical younger brother. In the fourth and final section, set a day after the first, on April 8, 1928, Faulkner introduces a third person omniscient point of view. The last section primarily focuses on Dilsey, one of the Compson's black servants. Jason is also a focus in the section, but Faulkner presents glimpses of the thoughts and deeds of everyone in the family. A simple plot summary cannot adequately describe this novel, as much of the novel's strength lies in its technical achievements and lyrical prose.
Explanation of the novel's title
The title of the novel is taken from Macbeth's soliloquy in act 5, scene 5 of William Shakespeare's Macbeth:
"Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing."
Immediately obvious is the notion of a "tale told by an idiot", in this case Benjy, whose view of the Compsons' story opens the novel. The idea can be extended also to Quentin and Jason, whose narratives display their own varieties of idiocy. More to the point, the novel recounts the decline and death of a traditional upper-class Southern family, "the way to dusty death". The last line is, perhaps, the most meaningful; Faulkner said in his speech upon being awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature that people must write about things that come from the heart, "universal truths". Otherwise they signify nothing.
Plot summary
The four parts of the novel relate many of the same episodes, each from a different point of view and therefore with emphasis on different themes and events. This interweaving and nonlinear structure makes any true synopsis of the novel difficult, especially since the narrators are all unreliable in their own way, making their accounts not necessarily trustworthy at all times. Also in this novel, Faulkner uses italics to indicate points in each section where the narrative is moving into a significant moment in the past. The use of these italics can be confusing, however, as time shifts are not always marked by the use of italics, and periods of different time in each section do not necessarily stay in italics for the duration of the flashback. Thus, these time shifts can often be jarring and confusing, and require particularly close reading.
The general outline of the story is the decline of the Compson family, a once noble Southern family descended from U.S. Civil War hero General Compson. The family falls victim to those vices which Faulkner believed were responsible for the problems in the reconstructed South: racism, avarice, selfishness, and the psychological inability of individuals to become determinants. Over the course of the thirty years or so related in the novel, the family falls into financial ruin, loses its religious faith and the respect of the town of Jefferson, and many of them die tragically.
The reader may also wish to look in The Portable Faulkner for a four-page history of the Compson family. Faulkner said afterwards that he wished he had written the history at the same time he wrote The Sound and the Fury.
Part 1: April 7, 1928
The first section of the novel is narrated by Benjamin "Benjy" Compson, a source of shame to the family due to his mental retardation; the only characters who evidence a genuine care for him are Caddy, his older sister; and Dilsey, a matriarchal servant. His narrative voice is characterized predominantly by its nonlinearity: spanning the period 1898–1928, Benjy's narrative is a pastiche of events presented in a seamless stream of consciousness. The presence of italics in Benjy's section is meant to indicate significant shifts in the narrative. Originally Faulkner meant to use different colored inks to signify chronological breaks. This nonlinearity makes the style of this section particularly challenging, but Benjy's style develops a cadence that, while not chronologically coherent, provides unbiased insight into many characters' true motivations. Moreover, Benjy's caretaker changes to indicate the time period: Luster in the present, T.P. in Benjy's teenage years, and Versh during Benjy's infancy and childhood.
In this section we see Benjy's three passions: fire, the golf course on land that used to belong to the Compson family, and his sister Caddy. But by 1928 Caddy has been banished from the Compson home after her husband divorced her because her child was not his, and the family has sold his favorite pasture to a local golf club in order to finance Quentin's Harvard education. In the opening scene, Benjy, accompanied by Luster, a servant boy, watches golfers on the nearby golf course as he waits to hear them call "caddie"—the name of his favorite sibling. When one of them calls for his golf caddie, Benjy's mind embarks on a whirlwind course of memories of his sister, Caddy, focusing on one critical scene. In 1898 when their grandmother died, the four Compson children were forced to play outside during the funeral. In order to see what was going on inside, Caddy climbed a tree in the yard, and while looking inside, her brothers—Quentin, Jason and Benjy—looked up and noticed that her underwear was muddy. How each of them reacts to this is the first insight the reader has into the trends that will shape the lives of these boys: Jason is disgusted, Quentin is appalled, and Benjy seems to have a "sixth-sense" in that he moans (he is unable to speak using words), as if sensing the symbolic nature of Caddy's dirtiness, which hints at her later sexual promiscuity. At the time the children were aged 9 (Quentin), 7 (Caddy), 5 (Jason) and 3 (Benjy). Other crucial memories in this section are Benjy's change of name (from Maury, after his uncle) in 1900 upon the discovery of his disability; the marriage and divorce of Caddy (1910), and Benjy's castration, resulting from an attack on a girl that is alluded to briefly within this chapter when a gate is left unlatched and Benjy is out unsupervised. Readers often report trouble understanding this portion of the novel due to its impressionistic language, necessitated by Benjamin's retardation, and its frequent shifts in time and setting.
Part 2: June 2, 1910
Quentin, the most intelligent and tormented of the Compson children, gives the novel's best example of Faulkner's narrative technique. We see him as a freshman at Harvard, wandering the streets of Cambridge, contemplating death, and remembering his family's estrangement from his sister Caddy. Like the first section, its narrative is not strictly linear, though the two interweaving threads, of Quentin at Harvard on the one hand, and of his memories on the other, are clearly discernible.
Quentin's main obsession is Caddy's virginity and purity. He is obsessed with Southern ideals of chivalry and is strongly protective of women, especially his sister. When Caddy engages in sexual promiscuity, Quentin is horrified. He turns to his father for help and counsel, but the cynical Mr. Compson tells him that virginity is invented by men and should not be taken seriously. He also tells Quentin that time will heal all. Quentin spends much of his time trying to prove his father wrong, but is unable to. Shortly before Quentin leaves for Harvard in the fall of 1909, Caddy becomes pregnant with the child of Dalton Ames, whom Quentin confronts. The two fight, with Quentin losing horribly and Caddy vowing, for Quentin's sake, never to speak to Dalton again. Quentin tells his father that they have committed incest, but his father knows that he is lying: "and he did you try to make her do it and i i was afraid to i was afraid she might and then it wouldn't do any good" (112). Quentin's idea of incest is shaped by the idea that, if they "could just have done something so dreadful that they would have fled hell except us" (51), he could protect his sister by joining her in whatever punishment she might have to endure. In his mind, he feels a need to take responsibility for Caddy's sin. Pregnant and alone, Caddy then marries Herbert Head, whom Quentin finds repulsive, but Caddy is resolute: she must marry before the birth of her child. Herbert finds out that the child is not his and sends mother and daughter away in shame. Quentin's wanderings through Harvard, as he cuts classes, follow the pattern of his heartbreak over losing Caddy. For instance, he meets a small Italian immigrant girl who speaks no English. Significantly, he calls her "sister" and spends much of the day trying to communicate with her, and to care for her by finding her home, to no avail. He thinks sadly of the downfall and squalor of the South after the American Civil War. Ultimately, unable to cope with the amorality of the world around him, he commits suicide by jumping off a bridge into the Charles River, having weighted his jacket with flat-irons.
While many first-time readers report Benjy's section as being difficult to understand, these same readers often find Quentin's section to be near impossible. Not only do chronological events mesh together regularly, but often (especially at the end) Faulkner completely disregards any semblance of grammar, spelling, or punctuation, instead writing in a rambling series of words, phrases, and sentences that have no separation to indicate where one thought ends and another begins. This confusion is due to Quentin's severe depression and deteriorating state of mind. The section is therefore ironic in that Quentin is an even more unreliable narrator than his brother Benjy was. Because of the staggering complexity of this section, it is often the one most extensively studied by scholars of the novel.
Part 3: April 6, 1928
The third section is narrated by Jason, the third son and Caroline's favorite. It takes place the day before Benjy's section, on Good Friday. Of the three brothers' sections, Jason's is the most straightforward, reflecting his single-minded desire for material wealth. By 1928, Jason is the economic foundation of the family after his father's death. He supports his mother, Benjy, and Miss Quentin (Caddy's daughter), as well as the family's servants. His role makes him bitter and cynical, with little of the passionate sensitivity that mark his older brother and sister. He goes so far as to blackmail Caddy into making him Miss Quentin's sole guardian, then uses that role to steal the support payments that Caddy sends for her daughter.
This is the first section that is narrated in a linear fashion. It follows the course of Good Friday, a day in which Jason decides to leave work to search for Miss Quentin (Caddy's daughter), who has run away again, seemingly in pursuit of mischief. Here we see most immediately the conflict between the two predominant traits of the Compson family, which Jason's mother Caroline attributes to the difference between her blood and her husband's: on the one hand, Miss Quentin's recklessness and passion, inherited from her grandfather and, ultimately, the Compson side; on the other, Jason's ruthless cynicism, drawn from his mother's side. This section also gives us the clearest image of domestic life in the Compson household, which for Jason and the servants means the care of the hypochondriac Caroline and of Benjy.
Part 4: April 8, 1928
April 8, 1928, is Easter Sunday. This section, the only one without a single first person narrator, focuses on Dilsey, the powerful matriarch of the black servant family. She, in contrast to the declining Compsons, draws a great deal of strength from her faith, standing as a proud figure amid a dying family. It can be said that Dilsey gains her strength by looking outward (i.e. outside of one's self for support) while the Compsons grow weak by looking inward.
On this Easter Sunday, Dilsey takes her family and Benjy to the 'colored' church. Through her we sense the consequences of the decadence and depravity in which the Compsons have lived for decades. Dilsey is mistreated and abused, but nevertheless remains loyal. She, with the help of her grandson Luster, cares for Benjy, as she takes him to church and tries to bring him to salvation. The preacher's sermon inspires her to weep for the Compson family, reminding her that she's seen the family through its destruction, which she is now witnessing.
Meanwhile, the tension between Jason and Miss Quentin reaches its inevitable conclusion. The family discovers that Miss Quentin has run away in the middle of the night with a carnival worker, having found the hidden collection of cash in Jason's closet and taken both her money (the support from Caddy, which Jason had stolen) and her money-obsessed uncle's life savings. Jason calls the police and tells them that his money has been stolen, but since it would mean admitting embezzling Quentin's money he doesn't press the issue. He therefore sets off once again to find her on his own, but loses her trail in nearby Mottson, and gives her up as gone for good.
The novel ends with a very powerful and unsettling image. After church, Dilsey allows her grandson Luster to drive Benjy in the family's decrepit horse and carriage (another sign of decay) to the graveyard. Luster, not caring that Benjy is so entrenched in the routine of his life that even the slightest change in route will enrage him, drives the wrong way around a monument. Benjy's hysterical sobbing and violent outburst can only be quieted by Jason, of all people, who understands how best to placate his brother. Jason slaps Luster, turns the carriage around, and Benjy suddenly becomes silent. Luster turns around to look at Benjy and sees Benjy drop his flower. Benjy's eyes are "...empty and blue and serene again."
Appendix: Compson, 1799–1945
In 1945, Faulkner wrote an appendix to the novel to be published in the then-forthcoming anthology The Portable Faulkner. At Faulkner's behest, however, subsequent printings of The Sound and the Fury frequently contain the appendix at the end of the book; it is sometimes referred to as the fifth part. Having been written sixteen years after The Sound and the Fury, the appendix presents some textual differences from the novel, but serves to clarify the novel's opaque story.
The appendix is presented as a complete history of the Compson family lineage, beginning with the arrival of their ancestor Quentin Maclachlan in America in 1779 and continuing through 1945, including events that transpired after the novel (which took place in 1928). In particular, the appendix reveals that Caroline Compson died in 1933, upon which Jason had Benjy committed to the state asylum; fired the black servants; sold the last of the Compson land; and moved into an apartment above his farming supply store. It is also revealed that Jason had himself declared Benjy's legal guardian many years ago, without their mother's knowledge, and used this status to have Benjy castrated.
The appendix also reveals the fate of Caddy, last seen in the novel when her daughter Quentin is still a baby. After marrying and divorcing a second time, Caddy moved to Paris, where she lived at the time of the German occuption. In 1943 the librarian of Yoknapatawpha County discovered a magazine photograph of Caddy in the company of a German staff general and attempted separately to recruit both Jason and Dilsey to save her; Jason, at first acknowledging that the photo was of his sister, denied it was her after realizing the librarian wanted his help, while Dilsey pretended to be unable to see the picture at all. The librarian later realizes that while Jason remains cold and unsympathetic towards Caddy, Dilsey simply understands that Caddy neither wants nor needs salvation from the Germans, because nothing else remains for her.
The appendix concludes with an accounting for the black family who worked as servants to the Compsons. Unlike the entries for the Compsons themselves, which are lengthy, detailed, and told with an omniscient narrative perspective, the servants' entries are simple and succinct. Dilsey's entry, the final in the appendix, consists of two words: "They endured."
Characters in The Sound and the Fury
See also: Compson Family
The genealogy of the Compson Family
* Jason Compson III (?–1912) — father of the Compson family, a lawyer who attended the University of the South — a nihilistic thinker and alcoholic, with cynical opinions that torment his son, Quentin. He also narrates several chapters of Absalom, Absalom!.
* Caroline Bascomb Compson (?–1933) — wife of Jason Compson III — a self-absorbed neurotic who has never shown affection for any of her children except Jason, whom she seems to like only because he takes after her side of the family. In her old age she has become an abusive hypochondriac.
* Quentin Compson III (1890–1910) — the oldest Compson child — passionate and neurotic, he commits suicide as the tragic culmination of the damaging influence of his father's nihilistic philosophy and his inability to cope with his sister's sexual promiscuity. He is also a character in Absalom, Absalom!. The bridge over the Charles River, where he commits suicide in the novel, bears a plaque to commemorate the character's life and death.
* Candace "Caddy" Compson (1892–?) — the second Compson child, strong-willed yet caring. Benjy's only real caregiver and Quentin's best friend. According to Faulkner, the true hero of the novel. Caddy never develops a voice, but rather allows her brothers' emotions towards her to develop her character.
* Jason Compson IV (1894–?) — the bitter, racist third child who is troubled by monetary debt and sexual frustration. He works at a farming goods store owned by a man named Earl and becomes head of the household in 1912. Has been embezzling Miss Quentin's support payments for years.
* Benjamin ("Benjy", born Maury) Compson (1895–?) — the mentally retarded fourth child, who is a constant source of shame and grief for his family, especially his mother, who insisted on his name change to Benjamin. Caddy is the only family member who shows any genuine love towards him. Has an almost animal-like "sixth sense" about people, as he was able to tell that Caddy had lost her virginity just from her smell. The model for Benjy's character may have had its beginning in the 1925 New Orleans Times Picayune sketch by Faulkner entitled "The Kingdom of God".
* Dilsey Gibson (?) — the matriarch of the servant family, which includes her three children — Versh, Frony, and T.P. — and her grandchild Luster (Frony's son); they serve as Benjamin's caretakers throughout his life. An observer of the Compson family's destruction.
* Miss Quentin Compson (1911?–?) — daughter of Caddy who goes to live with the Compsons under Jason IV's care when Herbert divorces Caddy. She is very wild and promiscuous, and eventually runs away from home. Often referred to as Quentin II or Miss Quentin by readers to distinguish her from her uncle, for whom she was named.
Literary significance and reception
The novel has achieved great critical success and a prominent place among the greatest of American novels. It played a role in William Faulkner's receiving the 1949 Nobel Prize in Literature.
The novel's appreciation has in large part been due to the technique of its construction, Faulkner's ability to recreate the thought patterns of the human mind. It was an essential development in the stream-of-consciousness narrative technique.
Like much of Faulkner's work, The Sound and the Fury has been read as typifying the South as a whole. Faulkner was very much preoccupied with the question of how the ideals of the old South could be maintained or preserved in the post-Civil War era. Seen in this light, the decline of the Compson family might be interpreted as an examination of the corrosion of traditional morality, only to be replaced by a modern helplessness. The most compelling characters are also the most tragic, as Caddy and Quentin cannot survive within the context of the society whose values they reject as best they can, and it is left to Jason, unappealing but competently pragmatic, to maintain the status quo, as illustrated by the novel's ending.
There are also echoes of existential themes in the novel, as Sartre argued in his famous essay on Faulkner. Many of the characters also draw upon classical, Biblical and literary sources: Some believe Quentin (like Darl in As I Lay Dying) to have been inspired by Hamlet and Caddy by Ophelia. Benjamin may derive his name from the brother of Joseph in the Book of Genesis.
Movie adaptations
* A film adaptation was released in 1959 directed by Martin Ritt and starring Yul Brynner, Joanne Woodward, Margaret Leighton, Stuart Whitman, Ethel Waters, Jack Warden, and Albert Dekker. The movie bears little resemblance to the novel. |