『성역』과 『팔월의 빛』에 나타나는 여정의 모티프와 내러티브 구조의 문제

Abstract

My paper argues that, while William Faulkner uses the journey motif as the key frame in both Sanctuary and Light in August, it is in Light in August that he successfully expands and develops that motif by blending it with the multiple narrative lines, notoriously lacking in casual connection, eventually making those narrative lines highlight his multiple visions. In Sanctuary, although Faulkner depicts Horace Benbow and Popeye as sharply contrasted, this juxtaposition does not create any meaningful tension or multiple vision because this theme of contrariness tends to be buried in the struggling journey of Benbow. While Benbow's circular journey in Sanctuary serves as a single key frame of the work, producing his single frustrated vision of the world, Lena's linear, Christmas's circular, and Hightower's halted journey provide Light in August with a dynamic open space in which multiple visions radiate. What Faulkner achieves both by deciding not to synthesize the three distinctive narrative strands and by producing the multiple journey visions in Light in August is his successful creation of multidimensional human journeys which Sanctuary lacks. Light in August, although it contains seemingly unrelated material, moves toward a resolution of the problems of Sanctuary. The single vision Faulkner depicts in Sanctuary results from the fact that he tries to do this solely by portraying contrasting characters rather than by weaving and juxtaposing antithetical structures. Faulkner successfully revises this in Light in August where he develops not only the multiple narrative lines but also a bunch of antithetical characters.