The Haunting of Candace Compson: Threats of The Feminine in Southern Gothic
Document Type
Event
Faculty Mentor
Rebecca Nisetich
Abstract
Through developing an understanding of William Faulkner’s “The Sound and the Fury” as a Southern ghost story, this talk will primarily support theories within Gothic literature of “the feminine” being threatening due to its inscrutability among male writers, and equally their male characters. From there, it will trace this analysis across the author’s vast catalogue to point to a trend of Faulknerian women asserting dominance through their very passivity. The prime example I will be looking at is Candace Compson from “The Sound and The Fury”, with supporting character evidence from “Absolom! Absolom!” and “As I Lay Dying”. Candace Compson’s legacy haunts her three brothers, as both a disembodied paranormal being that threatens antebellum identity, and the force that compels her brothers to tell their story. The "ghost" of her virginity ultimately manifests in the birth of a daughter, Quentin, in a reverse immaculate conception. I argue how Quentin’s life is the ultimate embodiment of all the unseen, but deeply controlling forces of Southern society and the weaponization of an aristocratic femininity. As an adaptation of a larger analytical paper, the talk will draw upon renowned Faulkner scholars such as Lisa Henrichsen and Doreen Fowler to support claims of this gothic female legacy. This project is part of a larger internship experience, working and researching with “The Faulkner Journal”. My work will highlight these aforementioned connections that can be made across Faulkner’s fictional world of Yoknapatawpha, and subsequently call into question where past feminist analyses have room to evolve. With the upcoming 100-year anniversary of the publication of “The Sound and The Fury”, I invite us to consider all that has been said about this novel, and then ask where scholarly gaps–especially those attending to gender and sexuality– still remain.
The Haunting of Candace Compson: Threats of The Feminine in Southern Gothic
Through developing an understanding of William Faulkner’s “The Sound and the Fury” as a Southern ghost story, this talk will primarily support theories within Gothic literature of “the feminine” being threatening due to its inscrutability among male writers, and equally their male characters. From there, it will trace this analysis across the author’s vast catalogue to point to a trend of Faulknerian women asserting dominance through their very passivity. The prime example I will be looking at is Candace Compson from “The Sound and The Fury”, with supporting character evidence from “Absolom! Absolom!” and “As I Lay Dying”. Candace Compson’s legacy haunts her three brothers, as both a disembodied paranormal being that threatens antebellum identity, and the force that compels her brothers to tell their story. The "ghost" of her virginity ultimately manifests in the birth of a daughter, Quentin, in a reverse immaculate conception. I argue how Quentin’s life is the ultimate embodiment of all the unseen, but deeply controlling forces of Southern society and the weaponization of an aristocratic femininity. As an adaptation of a larger analytical paper, the talk will draw upon renowned Faulkner scholars such as Lisa Henrichsen and Doreen Fowler to support claims of this gothic female legacy. This project is part of a larger internship experience, working and researching with “The Faulkner Journal”. My work will highlight these aforementioned connections that can be made across Faulkner’s fictional world of Yoknapatawpha, and subsequently call into question where past feminist analyses have room to evolve. With the upcoming 100-year anniversary of the publication of “The Sound and The Fury”, I invite us to consider all that has been said about this novel, and then ask where scholarly gaps–especially those attending to gender and sexuality– still remain.
