Abstract

As a flag of American southern literature, Faulkner and his works, especially his novels, have attracted numerous scholars from abroad and home, who do their own research on the great pieces by Faulkner, who hold different ideas about his genre. But as Faulkner once said in an interview held in Japan, “the only genre he wanted to belong to is Humanitarian literary genre.” And he expresses his Humanitarianism through his own novels, among which Light in August and The Sound and the Fury can be viewed as the two typical ones. The paper aims to make a study on Faulkner’s Humanitarianism by interpreting and analyzing the above-mentioned two novels and discuss its positive impacts on today’s society. 

Key words: Faulkner; traditional humanitarianism; modern humanitarianism; enlightenment

Contents

Abstract

摘  要

1. Introduction-1

1.1-Introduction to Faulkner-1

1.2 Introduction to the Sound and the Fury and Light in August-1

1.3 Reviewing the research on Faulkner and the thesis-3

2. Faulkner’s traditional humanitarianism-5

2.1 Faulkner’s Traditional Humanitarianism-5

2.2 Relation between Humans-5

2.21 The Warmness between Humans-5

2.22 The Malevolence between Humans-6

2.3 Human and society.-7

2.31 The brightness of human personality-7

2.32 The Disappearance of Personality under Repression-8

2.4 Man and Self-8

3. Modern Humanitarianism-10

3.1 Faulkner Modern Humanitarianism-10

3.2 Strong Attack to the Religious Alienation-10

3.21 The Desolation of Spiritual World-10

3.22 Paternal Figures in the Name of God-11

3.3 The counterview to Old Southern-12

3.31 The Stubborn Prejudice of Racial-centered Traditions-12

3.32The Image of Southern Belle-14

4. The Enlightenment of Faulkner’s Humanitarianism to China.-16

4.1 The Enlightenment to Individuals-16

4.2 The Enlightenment to the Society.-17

References-19