作者: 威廉·福克纳 William Faulkner
小说的故事发生在杰弗生镇上的康普生家。这是一个曾经显赫一时的望族，祖上出过一位州长、一位将军。家中原来广有田地，黑奴成群。如今只剩下一幢破败的宅子，黑佣人也只剩下老婆婆迪尔西和她的小外孙勒斯特了。一家之长康普生先生是一九一二年病逝的。他在世时算是一个律师，但从不见他接洽业务。他整天醉醺醺，唠唠叨叨地发些愤世嫉俗的空论，把悲观失望的情绪传染给儿子昆丁。
康普太太自私冷酷，无病呻吟，总感到自己受气吃亏，实际上是她在拖累、折磨全家人。她念念不忘南方大家闺秀的身份，以致仅仅成了一种“身份”的化身，而完全不具有作为母亲与妻子应有的温情，家中没有一个人能从她那里得到爱与温暖。
女儿凯蒂可以说是全书的中心，虽然没有以她的观点为中心的单独的一章，但书中一切人物的所作所为都与她息息相关。物极必反，从古板高傲、规矩极多的旧世家里偏偏会出现浪荡子女。用一位外国批评家的话来说，是：“太多的责任导致了不负责任。”凯蒂从“南方女”的规约下冲出来，走过了头，成了一个轻佻放荡的女子。她与男子幽会，有了身孕，不得不与另一男子结婚。婚后丈夫发现隐情，抛弃了她。只得把私生女（也叫昆丁）寄养在母亲家，自己到大城市去闯荡。
哥哥昆丁和凯蒂儿时感情很好。作为没落的庄园主阶级的最后一代的代表者，一种没落感始终追随着昆丁。这个“簪缨之家”的孑遗极其骄傲，极其敏感，却又极其孱弱（精神上、肉体上都是如此）。他偏偏又过分重视妹妹的贞操把它与门第的荣誉甚至自己生与死的问题联系在一起。凯蒂的遭遇一下子使他失去了精神平衡。就在妹妹结婚一个多月后，他投河自尽了。
杰生是凯蒂的大弟。他和昆丁相反，随着金钱势力在南方上升，他已顺应潮流，成为一个实利主义者，仇恨与绝望有时又使他成为一个没有理性、不切实际的复仇狂与虐待狂。由于他一无资本，二无才干，只能在杂货铺里做一个小伙计。昆丁对凯蒂的感情是爱，杰生她的感情却只有恨。因为他认为凯蒂的行为使他失去了本应得到的银行里的职位。他恨凯蒂，也连带着恨她的私生女小昆丁，恨关心凯蒂母女的黑女佣迪尔西。总之，他恨周围的一切，从他嘴里吐出来的每一个字仿佛都含有酸液，使人听了感到发作并不值得，强忍下去又半天不舒服。除了钱，他什么都不爱。连自己的情妇，也是戒备森严，仅仅看作是做买卖交易的对手。他毫无心肝，处占人便宜，却总是做出一副受害者的样子。他玩弄了一系列花招，把姐姐历年寄来的赡养费据为己有，并从中吮吸复仇的喜悦。书中描写得最令人难忘的一个细节，是康普生先生殡葬那天，凯蒂从外地赶回来，乘机想见亲生女儿一面的那一段。凯蒂丧魂失魄地追赶载有小昆丁的马车那一情景，感染力极强，使人认识凯蒂尽管有种种不能令人满意的行为，本质上还是一个善良的女子。而对比之下，杰生的形象愈益令人憎厌。另外，他用免费的招待券作弄黑小厮勒斯特，对外甥女小昆丁的扭打（不无色情动机的）与“教育”，也都是使人物性格显得更加突出的精彩的细节。杰生是福克纳笔下最鲜明、突出的形象之一。作为恶人的典型，其鲜明饱满，达到了莎士比亚笔下经典式恶人（如埃古、麦克白夫人）的地步。然而，对杰生的揭露，却偏偏是通过杰生的自我表白与自我辩解来完成的。这正是福纳艺术功力深厚的表现。杰生和“斯普斯”三部曲中的弗莱姆•斯诺普斯一样，都是资本主义化的“新南方”的产物。如果说，通过对康普生一家其他人的描写，福克纳表达了他对南方旧制度的绝望，那么，通过对杰生的漫画式的刻划，福克纳又鲜明地表示了他对“新秩序”的憎厌。福克纳说过，“对我说，杰生纯粹是恶的代表。依我看，从我的想象里产生出来的象里，他是最最邪恶的一个。”
班吉是凯蒂的小弟弟，他是个先天性白痴。一九二八年，他三十三岁了，但是智力水平只相当于一个三岁的小孩。他没有思维能力，脑子里只有感觉和印象，而且还分不清它们的先后，过去的事与当前的事都一起涌现在他的脑海里通过他的意识流，我们能够体会到：他失去了姐姐的关怀，非常悲哀。现在家中唯一关心并照顾他的，只有黑女佣迪尔西了。虽然按书名的出典理解，班这一章可以说是“一个白痴讲的故事”，事实上福克纳还是通过这个杂乱的故事有意识地达了他想告诉读者的一系列的信息：家庭颓败的气氛、人物、环境……。按照批评家克林斯•布鲁克斯的说法，这一章是“一种赋格曲式的排列与组合，由所见所闻所嗅到的与行动组成，它们有许多本身没有意义，但是拼在一起就成了某种十字花刺绣般的图形”。
小昆丁是凯蒂寄养在母亲家的私生女。康普生太太的冷漠与杰生的残酷（虐待狂者的残酷）使昆丁在这个家里再也呆不下去。一九二八年复活节这一天，康普生家发现，小昆丁取走了杰生的不义之财，与一流浪艺人私奔了。这自然激起了杰的“狂怒”（书名中的“骚动”原意即为狂怒）。杰生驱车追寻小昆丁，想追回他偷来的那笔钱，他在火车上惹出乱子，差一点送了命。
《喧哗与骚动》-作品主题
《喧哗与骚动》的主题是世界文学一个恒常的主题，它具体表现在一个大家族——康普生家族的没落。这种家族没落的主题也是整个世界从传统向现代转型所必然产生的一个主题。福克纳对“家族的没落”这一可称为现代小说的宏大叙事的具体处理方式更为复杂。就是说，同样是处理“家族的没落”这个世界级的大主题，福克纳的具体着眼点是他自己的，是打上了福克纳的注册商标的印记的，所以可能就是别人无法替代的。比如，福克纳自己就曾说过《喧哗与骚动》是一个关于“失落的天真”的故事。这主要是指小说中最核心的人物，家族的女儿凯蒂的堕落的故事。用小说的译者李文俊先生的说法，“女儿凯蒂可以说是全书的中心，虽然没有以她的观点为中心的单独的一章，但书中一切人物的所作所为都与她息息相关。物极必反，从古板高傲、规矩极多的旧世家里偏偏会出现浪荡的子女。用一位外国批评家的话来说，是：‘太多的责任导致了不负责任。’凯蒂从‘南方淑女’的规约下冲出来，走过了头，成了一个轻佻放荡的女子。她与男子幽会，有了身孕，不得不与另一男子结婚。婚后丈夫发现隐情，抛弃了她。她只得把私生女寄养在母亲家，自己到大城市去闯荡”，所以福克纳说：这本小说是“两个堕落的女人，凯蒂和她的女儿的一出悲剧”。在这出悲剧中，福克纳更关注的是家族，或者他的小说人物究竟具体“失落了什么”。而所谓的“天真”，正是他具体关心的母题。也正是在这一点上，福克纳汇入的，其实是美国文学自己的传统。而福克纳关怀“失落的天真”的主题，也正是从传统的道德法则和秩序的角度看问题的，这表明了福克纳的传统的一面。
但是福克纳所说的“失落的天真”并不能概括《喧哗与骚动》的全部主题。美国学者一个叫俄康纳的学者同时把这部小说当作“一个家族温暖消逝，自尊和体谅荡然无存的描绘来读”。而进一步引申下去，《喧哗与骚动》又是一个南方的故事，一个二十世纪的故事。同时也是一个关于“现代”的故事。前面我们是把小说中的女儿凯蒂当作主角，我们可以说它是关于“失落的天真”的故事，如果把《喧哗与骚动》当作一个以昆丁（凯蒂的哥哥、哈佛大学的学生，是个自杀身亡的人物）为主角的故事来看，《喧哗与骚动》就成为一个对于现代主角的探讨的小说，通过对昆丁内心流程的挖掘，来表达某种现代意识，因此，美国一评论家称福克纳是“迷路的现代人的神话”的发明者。在这个意义上，福克纳丰富了二十世纪现代小说关于“现代”的构成图景。这个现代是卡夫卡的现代，是普鲁斯特的现代，是乔伊斯的现代，也是福克纳的现代。每个人的现代景观其实都不尽相同，但起码有一点是共同的，就是这些大师都表现了现代人的希望与恐惧，忧患和矛盾。而福克纳的矛盾似乎比其他人来得更复杂。而且，读福克纳总带给人一种阴郁甚至痛苦的感受。他在诺贝尔受奖演说的第一句就说：“诺贝尔文学奖不是授予我个人，而是授予我的劳动——一辈子处在人类精神的痛苦和烦恼中的劳动。”这种劳动的产品可以想像是怎样一种折磨读者的东西。也许正是在这个意义上，另一诺贝尔文学奖获得者加缪在1955年称赞福克纳是“世界上最伟大的作家”，“是我们时代唯一真正的悲剧作家。……他提供给我们一个古老的但永远是新鲜的主题：盲人在他的命运与他的责任之间跌跌撞撞地朝前走，这也是世界上唯一的悲剧主题”。
《喧哗与骚动》-写作手法
在艺术表现方面，福克纳写《喧哗与骚动》时用了一些特殊的手法，这里不妨作些简略的介绍。
《喧哗与骚动》康拉德
首先，福克纳采用了多角度的叙述方法。传统的小说家一般或用“全能角度”亦即作家无所不在、无所不知的角度来叙述，或用书中主人公自述的口吻来叙述。发展到亨利•詹姆士与康拉德，他们认为“全能角度”难以使读者信服，便采用书中主人公之外的一个人物的眼睛来观察，通过他（或她）的话或思想来述。福克纳又进了一步，分别用几个人甚至十几个人（如在《我留之际》中）的角度，让每一个人讲他这方面的故事。这正如发生一个事件后，新闻记者不采取自己报道的方式，却分别采访许多当事人与见证人，让他们自己对着话筒讲自己的所知。一般地说，这样做要比记者自己的叙述显得更加真实可信。
在《喧哗与骚动》中，福克纳让三兄弟，班吉、昆丁与杰生各自讲一遍自己的故事，随后又自己用“全能角度”，以迪尔西为主线，讲剩下的故事，小说出版十五年之后，福克纳为马尔科姆•考利编的《袖珍本福克纳文集》写了一个附录，把康普生家的故事又作了一些补充。因此，福克纳常常对人说，他把这个故事写了五遍。当然，这五个部分并不是重复、雷同的，即使有相重叠之处，也是有意的。这五个部分像五片颜色、大小不同的玻璃，杂沓地放在一起，从而构成了一幅由单色与复色拼成的绚烂的图案。
“班吉的部分”发生的时是一九二八年四月七日。通过他，福克纳渲染了康普生家颓败的气氛。另一方面，通过班吉脑中的印象，反映了康普生家那些孩子的童年。“昆丁的部分”发生在一九一〇年六月二日，这部分一方面交昆丁当天的所见所闻和他的活动，同时又通过他的思想活动，写凯蒂的沉沦与昆丁自己的绝望。 “杰生的部分”发生在一九二八年四月六日，这部分写杰生当家后康普生家的情况，同时引进凯蒂的后代——小昆丁。至于“迪尔西的部分”，则是发生在一九二八年四月八日（复活节），它纯粹写当前的事：小昆丁的出走、杰生的狂怒与追寻以及象征着涤罪与净化的黑人教堂里的宗教活动。这样看来，四个部分的叙述者出现的时序固然是错乱的，不是由应该最早出场的丁先讲，而是采用了“CABD”这样的方式，但是他们所讲的事倒是顺着正常的时序，而且衔接得颇为紧密的。难怪美国诗人兼小说家康拉德•艾肯对《喧哗与骚动》赞叹道：“这本小说有坚实的四个乐章的交响乐结构，也许要算福克纳全部作品中制作得最精美的一本，是一本詹姆士喜欢称为‘创作艺术’的毋庸置疑的杰作。错综复杂的结构衔接得天衣无缝，这是小说家奉为圭臬的小说——它本身就是一部完整的创作技巧的教科书……”
“意识流”是福克纳采用的另一种手法。传统的现实主义小说中也常写人物的内心活动，意识流与之不同之处是：一、它们仿佛从人物头脑里涌流而出直接被作者录下来，前面不冠以“他想”、“他自忖”之类的引导语；二、它们可以从这一思想活动跳到另一思想活动，不必有逻辑，也不必顺时序；三、除了正常的思想活动之外，它们也包括潜意识、下意识这一类的意识活动。在《喧哗与骚动》中，前三章就是用一个又一个的意识，来叙述故事与刻划人物的。在叙述者的头脑里，从一个思绪跳到另一个思绪，有时作者变换字体以提醒读者，有时连字体也不变。但是如果细心阅读，读者还是能辨别来的，因为每一段里都包含着某种线索。另外，思绪的变换，也总有一些根据，如看到一样东西，听到一句话，闻到一种香味等等。据统计，在“昆丁的部分”里，这样的“场景转移”发生得最多，超过二百次；“班吉的部分”里也有一百多次。传统的现实主义艺术，一般都是通过外表（社会、环境、家庭、居室、家具、衣饰……)的描写，逐渐深入到人物的内世界。福克纳与别的一些作家却采取了颠倒的程序。他首先提给读者混沌迷乱的内心世界的没有规律、逻辑的活动，然后逐步带引读者穿过层层迷雾，最终走到阳光底下明朗、清晰的客观世界里来。这时，读者再回过头来一看，也许会对整幅图景具有更深刻的印象与理解。
福克纳之所以如此频繁地表现意识流，除了他认为这样直接向读者提供生活的片断能更加接近真实之外，还有一个更主要的原因，这就是：服从刻画特殊人物的需要。前三章的叙述者都是心智不健全的人。班吉是个白痴，他的思想如果有逻辑、有理性反倒是不真实、不合逻辑的。昆丁六月二日那一天决定自杀。他的精神状态处于极度亢奋之中。到该章的最后一段，他的思绪已经迹近一个发高烧病人的谵语了。杰生也多少有些不正常，他是个偏执狂，又是一个虐待狂，何况还有头痛病。福克纳有许多作品手法上与传统的现实主义作品并无太大区别。他的别的作品若是用意识流，也总有其特殊原因。如《村子》中写I.O.斯诺普斯对一头母牛的感情，那是因为这个I.O.斯诺普斯是一个半白痴。读者们如果有点耐心，在最初的不习惯之后，定然会通过这些不平常的思绪活动逐渐看清一系列相当鲜明、丰满的人物形象。这些形象的外貌我们不一定说得清(直到读了“迪尔西的部分”我们才知道班吉的模样)，但是我们却能当准确地把握他们的精神状态。书中的主要人物如此，一些次要人物形象也莫不如此。如赫伯特•海德，出现在昆丁的几次意识流里，但是那一副庸俗、无耻的嘴脸便已跃然纸上。其他如杰拉德太太、毛莱舅舅，形象也都相当鲜明突出。即使像勒斯特这样一个黑人小厮，我掩卷之后，也不容易把他那既调皮又可怜巴巴的形象从我们的脑子里排除出去。
“神话模式”是福克纳在创作《喧哗与骚动》时所用的另一种手法。所谓“神话模式”，就是在创作一部文作品时，有意识地使其故事、人物、结构，大致与人们熟知的一个神话故事平行。如乔伊斯的《尤利西斯》，就套用了荷马史诗 《奥德修纪》的神话模式，艾略特的《荒原》则套用了亚瑟王传说中寻找圣杯的式。在《哗与骚动》中，三、一、四章的标题分别为一九二八年四月六日至八日，这三天恰好是基督受难日到复活节。而第二章的一九一〇年六月二日在那一年又正好是基督圣体节的第八天。因此，康普生家历史中的这四天都与基督受难的四个主要日子有关联。不仅如此，从每一章的内容里，也都约可以找到与《圣经》中所记基督的遇大致平行之处。但是，正如乔伊斯用奥德修的英雄业绩反衬斯蒂芬•德迪勒斯的软弱无能一样，福克纳也是要以基督的庄严与神圣使康普生家的子孙显得更加委琐，而他们的自私、得不到、受挫、失败、互相仇视，也说明了“现代人”违反了基督死前对门徒所作的“要你们彼此相爱”的教导。
福克纳运用这样的神话模，除了给他的作品增添一层反讽色彩外，也有使他的故事从描写南方一个家庭的日常琐事中突破出来，成为一个探讨人类命运问题的寓言的意思。这个问题离题较远，这里就不多赘述了。
《喧哗与骚动》-作品赏析
《喧哗与骚动》一个有意思的话题就是小说的叙事者的选择和他的意识流的叙事结构。小说有四个部分，每个部分都由不同的叙事者讲述。第一部分的叙事者的选择在世界现代小说史上可能是空前绝后的，就是因为叙事者班吉是一个白痴。班吉的叙事发生的时间是1928年4月7日，这也是第一部分的时间。这时的班吉已经三十三岁了，但智力水平只相当于一个三岁小孩。整个第一部分，就是班吉的第一人称的意识流的呈现。这对福克纳是一个巨大的考验，因为他必须模仿一个白痴的思维和语言来进行叙事。我们先来具体看看白痴是怎样讲故事的。
《喧哗与骚动》的开头，也许是福克纳小说中名气最大的一个细节，因为经常被研究者和小说家引用：透过栅栏，穿过攀绕的花枝的空档，我看见他们在打球。他们朝插着小旗的地方走过来，我顺着栅栏朝前走。勒斯特在那棵开花的树旁草地里找东西。他们把小旗拔出来，打球了。接着他们又把小旗插回去，来到高地上，这人打了一下，另外那人也打了一下。他们接着朝前走，我也顺着栅栏朝前走。勒斯特离开了那棵开花的树，我们沿着栅栏一起走，这时候他们站住了，我们也站住了。我透过栅栏张望，勒斯特在草丛里找东西。“球在这儿，开弟。”那人打了一下。他们穿过草地往远处走去。我贴紧栅栏，瞧着他们走开。“听听，你哼哼得多难听。”勒斯特说。
在这里，福克纳开门见山地告诉了自己，他接下去要描述的是一个空白的灵魂，在这灵魂上面没有任何杂质，只有几道深浅不一的皱纹，有时候会像湖水一样波动起来。于是在很多年以后，也就是福克纳离开人世之后，我有幸读到了这部伟大的作品中译本，认识了一个伟大的白痴——班吉。
“伟大的白痴”的说法不是一种耸人听闻的修辞方式，因为这个白痴形象身上的确寄托了福克纳的多种追求。起码完全遵循白痴的感知方式，呈现白痴的特有的“秩序”和“逻辑”，本身就是一件伟大的尝试。
有研究者详细分析过班吉的感知世界的逻辑方式。他认为，班吉的“逻辑”完全建立在一直物质与名称相对应的刻板的认同原则之上。在班吉眼里，一个名称只能代表一种物质，而不能具有别的含义。班吉不仅无法区分复杂的家庭与社会关系，而且也不具有白人、黑人、主人、仆人这样的基本概念和划分。所以他的内心独白和叙事中反复出现“昆丁”、“凯蒂”、“勒斯特”这些名字，而不存在哥哥、姐姐、佣人这样的称呼。即使连“他”这样的常用人称代词也用得很少。或者说，在班吉的概念世界中，抽象化程度不高。“他”其实是一个概括性的，抽象化程度较高的范畴。
为什么《喧哗与骚动》一开头首先让一个白痴来讲述？
1、具体性和原初性
为什么《喧哗与骚动》一开头就让白痴来讲述？第一个效果就是前面讲的文学感性的具体性和原初性。白痴叙述出来景象更有一种质感，一种世界不加意识形态化和抽象化的原初景象，就好象上帝在叙述一样，不假思索，没有犹疑，一切都是不庸置疑的。就像上帝说，要有光，于是就有了光。通过白痴的讲述，按巴雷特在《非理性的人》中的说法，“福克纳给我们展示了一个不透明的、密实的和非理性的世界”。所谓“密实”的，是因为它充斥的都是一些具体的、感性的、实体化的意象和场景。而当一种叙述完全由这种密不透风的具体事物构成，缺乏一种理性和观念之光的照耀，它反而是无法理解的，即不透明的、非理性的。有一个西方理论家认为，我们在一种叙述中对不同类型的词汇的选择决定了叙述被理解的难易程度。一篇叙述中全由抽象的词构成，如“形而上”、“本体”、“理念”、“二律背反”一类的词汇组成的，那这篇叙述肯定是一般读者很难读懂的。但是，反过来一篇叙述全由具象的具体的词汇构成，全都是“桌子”、“椅子”、“板凳”一类的词，也是同样不容易被理解的。班吉的叙述的不透明性在很大程度上就决定于这种“密实”的具体性。
2、用白痴表现的意识流程
选择白痴做叙事者更有利于福克纳呈现他的意识流的小说形式和实现他的追求。福克纳之所以如此频繁地表现意识流，除了他认为这样直接向读者提供生活的片断能更加接近真实之外，还有一个更主要的原因，这就是：服从刻画特殊人物的需要。前三章的叙述者都是心智不健全的人。班吉是个白痴，他的思想如果有逻辑、有理性反倒是不真实、不合逻辑的。但从意识流的小说形式的角度着眼，福克纳不仅是因为服从刻画特殊人物的需要才频繁表现意识流，而也许恰恰相反，他为了营造意识流的小说形式才更需要白痴这个特殊人物。这并不是低估了白痴班吉这个形象对世界小说人物形象长廊的独特贡献，而是说至少在意识流这个层面，白痴是服从于小说形式的需要的。班吉叙述的突出特征，只能用“混乱”两字形容。在他的叙述中，不同时间和空间的场景、人物随时切换，时空跨度之大，转换速度之快是惊人的，而且从来没有时间标志，你分不清是哪一段故事时间，表现出的是过去与现在共时存在的共时性特征。
班吉的叙事突出表现了意识流的特征，一是时空和记忆的场景切换，二是所有的流程都由当下的某种感觉和事物触动。而在白痴的叙事流程中，福克纳最想强调的似乎是“共时性”和“现时性”的理念。班吉的叙事中穿插了大量过去的回忆和细节。但读者只读班吉的讲述就根本搞不清哪些是过去的回忆，更搞不清这些回忆是过去的哪个时间段的。在班吉的讲述中，混沌一片，只具有当下性和现时性。这似乎都印证了杰姆逊关于精神分裂患者的描述。杰姆逊在《后现代主义与文化理论》中认为，精神分裂是一个模式，表现在时间体验上，就是精神分裂患者只存在于现时，那种从过去通向未来的连续性感觉已经崩溃了，除了“现时”以外，什么都没有。这种时间体验的特点杰姆逊也概括为一种吸毒带来的快感。按杰姆逊的说法，吸毒的体验正是集中在“现时”上。因此，杰姆逊说：“精神分裂就成了失去历史感的一个强烈而集中的表现，同时也失去了自己的时间和身份。”白痴班吉可能没有丧失自己的身份感，别人叫他“班吉”的时候，他也知道是喊自己，用深奥的说法，他还没有完全丧失主体性。但班吉对时间的历时性的感知就不那么灵了。时间在他那里只呈现为“共时”和“眼前”。这种时间感受也正是福克纳刻意强调的。在访谈录中，福克纳说：“我的理论，即时间乃是一种流动状态，除在个人身上有短暂的体现外，再无其它形式的存在。所谓‘本来’，其实是没有的——只有 ‘眼前’。”意识流形式其实正印证了时间的当下性，即一切时间都朝当下这个维度流涌。
3、白痴叙事的超越意蕴
《喧哗与骚动》的小说名字来自莎士比亚的悲剧《麦克白》第五幕第五场麦克白的台词：“人生就是一篇荒唐的故事，由白痴讲述，充满着喧哗与骚动，却没有任何意义。”从小说名字的出处可以看出，福克纳选择白痴班吉作为第一个叙事者，有一种基于主题的考虑的必然性。人生就是由白痴讲述的荒唐的故事，这就是他想传达的题旨。这在莎士比亚那里还是一个比喻，到了福克纳这里就变成了现实。其中隐含了福克纳选择白痴叙事的超越的意蕴。白痴叙事在这里其实表达的是一种世界的现实图景，即无序、混乱与共时。还有什么样的叙事者比白痴更能表达世界的混乱呢？余华称他是个“伟大的白痴”，正因为班吉轻而易举、毫不费力地就把人生与世界的本相揭示了出来，或者说，他的讲述与世界的混乱本质是异曲同工的，是同构的，他本人就成了一个混乱世界的象征。所以象征贩子们在班吉的身上发现了英雄用武之地。评论家们最酷爱的，正是班吉这种伟大的白痴形象。
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. |