The Playfulness of Language: Faulkner's Views of Language as Revealed through Mosquitoes and The Sound and the Fury

Abstract

Since its emergence in the sixties, many critics have been trying to read Faulkner's texts in light of Post-Structuralism. From this perspective, this article, "The Playfulness of Language: Faulkner's Views of Language as Revealed through Mosquitoes and The Sound and the Fury," is in the continuation of this intellectual trend. Yet, the point here is by no means that we should blindly pursue the intellectual trends of our times, but rather in reading literary texts, we need to consider the intellectual forces that have formed our consciousness. From this standpoint, Faulkner's Mosquitoes and The Sound and the Fury, among his other novels, seem to be propelled by the author's commitment to the inquiry into the nature of language resulting from his questioning of linguistic representation.In Mosquitoes Faulkner theoretically approaches the nature of language through the conversations of the characters. The novel then addresses the idea that there is no actual or true object to be revealed through language. In The Sound and the Fury Faulkner devises a narrative told by an idiot, Benjy. Unlike those of his brothers, the highly sophisticated Quentin and the paranoiac Jason, Benjy's narrative, which employs the rudimentary pattern of thought and inarticulate speech, is expected to allow Faulkner to explore the primary function of language. For example, Benjy's narrative shows that the word "caddie" oscillates between what he intends to signify with it and what it signifies. The way in which the word "caddie" plays with its signified shows that language does not primarily engage in representing the signified; rather the signified itself is another sign produced by the play of language. Therefore, seen through Mosquitoes and The Sound and the Fury, Faulkner seemed to deny the representational function of language and, instead, believed in the initiative power of language.