The structure of the W. Faulkner’s novels (the analysis of “The wild palms”)

Abstract

The article “The structure of W. Faulkner’s novels (the analysis of “The wild palms”)” is devoted to the problem of the structure of prose works by W. Faulkner, in particular, it is considered the novel “The wild palms”. It is paid attention to the fact that the events of the main number of works of the American writer take place in the fictional district of Yoknapatawpfa. But “The wild palms” is out of the designated country. The writer plays out events in completely real geographic locations like New Orleans, Chicago, Utah, Texas, the Mississippi. The plot of the novel consists of two separate stories. One part is called like the novel “The wild palms”, and the second – “Old man” (for the first time the author published it as an independent story). The first part is about the attempt of heroes in love – Harry Wilbourne and Charlotte Rittenmeyer – to isolate themselves from social, public, family problems and find personal happiness in love. In the second part of the novel the author is talking about a tall convict without a name who is serving a sentence in prison, enters into a duel with the elements and takes responsibility for the lives of other people in such a difficult period. To understand the structure of the work better, the article analyses the heroes’ life positions. At first glance they are completely different: somewhat hidden from external influences, and sometimes, on the contrary, they are quite obvious and become a challenge to others. But analyzing what happens to the characters, their moments of joy, grief, losses or achievements, we come to the conclusion that the two parts of the novel complement each other, emphasize the drama of the characters’ fate, interconnect the deep and, in particular, identical tragedies of literary heroes. In the description of the composition, the author uses the musical term “counterpoint”. Echoes of the themes, problems, ideas expressed by the author arise in turn in each of the two parts, and merging into a coherent work also occurs due to the description of nature, weather, emotions, internal monologues, dialogues, etc. More than once, critics mentioned such an original construction of the novel, but did not deepen the analysis of this phenomenon at the level of the text. The novelty of the study lies in the attempts of a detailed analysis of events’ course in two parts, of which the story “Old man” is a counterpoint to “The wild palms”.