Pierrot (8)
Pierrot na Literatura
Transcrevo a primeira parte de um excelente ensaio de Yamashita Naoto intitulado, "Drawing a Rough Sketch for Pierrot:
The Transition of the Artist Figure in William Faulkner's Fiction."
Critical discourse on William Faulkner has long focused on the early period of his literary career. In recent years, Lothar Honnighausen presents the parallelism between the artist mask young Faulkner put on and metaphors in his fiction. James G. Watson remarks on portraits, private letters, and sketches in Faulkner's early years, and points out that Faulkner's life and works are full of the conception of the performance. Although both studies are richly suggestive, the artist figure in Faulkner's early fiction is not argued consistently. This paper will trace the process Faulkner describes the artist figure by altering a character "Pierrot" and represents the marginal artist as the transgressor beyond the racial boundary. We will mainly focus on the artist figure in Faulkner's poetry, drama, and early novels, Soldiers' Pay (1926) and Mosquitoes (1927). Further, we will examine how the artist figure is altered in Faulkner's major novel, Absalom, Absalom! (1936).
I
Faulkner closely imitates Pierrot in The Marionettes (1920) and Visions in Spring (1921). On the other hand, he begins to describe the artist figure by altering the pierrotique image since The Marble Faun (1924). Robert F. Storey's elaborate study of Pierrot will support our argument.
Pierrot, the mute and lazy clown who seduces Columbine and never attains her love, came into fashion in the nineteenth century French theater. Storey illustrates Charles Baudelaire, Theophile Gautier, and many other artists turned their attention to the silence of Pierrot. The artists, who looked on themselves as the outcasts from society, felt keen sympathy for vulnerable Pierrot. Therefore, Pierrot came to be regarded as a symbol of the artist. Storey takes T. S. Eliot as an example of the artist attracted to Pierrot, and suggests Eliot transforms the pierrotique image into J. Alfred Prufrock (156-166).
Judith L. Sensibar examines the significance of Pierrot in Faulkner's fiction exhaustively. She states Pierrot functions as a mask for young Faulkner and it reflects his inferiority to the tradition of the family line and his sexual obsession. In her statement, Faulkner objectifies Pierrot gradually, and finally describes "pierrotique" characters in Flags in the Dust (1927) (Sensibar 44). Mostly as she agrees with Sensibar's interpretation, Tanaka Takako suggests that " . . . presumably Faulkner used Pierrot's mannerism and negative quality more intentionally than she suspects"(45). We will illustrate Faulkner portrays the artist figure by altering the pierrotique image since The Marble Faun (first written in 1919).
It seems reasonable to suppose that Faulkner borrows the idea for Pierrot in The Marionettes (1920) and Visions in Spring (1921) from Beardsley or Eliot. In The Marionettes originally written for a play script, Pierrot seduces Marietta and soon disappears from the stage. Marietta, deserted by Pierrot, is fascinated by her own figure in the mirror. Pierrot's relationship with the female character seems to be inverted from the convention, but Pierrot gets dead drunk and sleeps beside the stage. Therefore, all events in The Marionettes happen in Pierrot's illusion. The sketches inserted in The Marionettes are obviously influenced from Beardsley's, as Honnighausen compares both in detail (Stylization 135-141). Visions in Spring includes the conventional scene that Columbine treats Pierrot too cruelly.
We can be fairly certain that Faulkner closely imitates Pierrot in these works. However, Faulkner portrays pierrotique artists satirically since The Marble Faun. The historical facts about Faulkner will lead us further into a consideration of the artist figure.
Faulkner encountered with French culture in the early period of his career, and this also affects the pierrotique artists in his works. In January 1925, for the journey to Europe, he visited New Orleans, where he was on intimate terms with Sherwood Anderson and started to write Soldiers' Pay. He moved to Europe in July 1925, and stayed in Paris for a while, and got down to Mosquitoes and Elmer. The novelist Faulkner was germinated in the period from New Orleans (formally French colonial) to Paris.
Next, we will examine Faulknerian artist figure in the early novels.
Pierrot na Literatura
Transcrevo a primeira parte de um excelente ensaio de Yamashita Naoto intitulado, "Drawing a Rough Sketch for Pierrot:
The Transition of the Artist Figure in William Faulkner's Fiction."
Critical discourse on William Faulkner has long focused on the early period of his literary career. In recent years, Lothar Honnighausen presents the parallelism between the artist mask young Faulkner put on and metaphors in his fiction. James G. Watson remarks on portraits, private letters, and sketches in Faulkner's early years, and points out that Faulkner's life and works are full of the conception of the performance. Although both studies are richly suggestive, the artist figure in Faulkner's early fiction is not argued consistently. This paper will trace the process Faulkner describes the artist figure by altering a character "Pierrot" and represents the marginal artist as the transgressor beyond the racial boundary. We will mainly focus on the artist figure in Faulkner's poetry, drama, and early novels, Soldiers' Pay (1926) and Mosquitoes (1927). Further, we will examine how the artist figure is altered in Faulkner's major novel, Absalom, Absalom! (1936).
I
Faulkner closely imitates Pierrot in The Marionettes (1920) and Visions in Spring (1921). On the other hand, he begins to describe the artist figure by altering the pierrotique image since The Marble Faun (1924). Robert F. Storey's elaborate study of Pierrot will support our argument.
Pierrot, the mute and lazy clown who seduces Columbine and never attains her love, came into fashion in the nineteenth century French theater. Storey illustrates Charles Baudelaire, Theophile Gautier, and many other artists turned their attention to the silence of Pierrot. The artists, who looked on themselves as the outcasts from society, felt keen sympathy for vulnerable Pierrot. Therefore, Pierrot came to be regarded as a symbol of the artist. Storey takes T. S. Eliot as an example of the artist attracted to Pierrot, and suggests Eliot transforms the pierrotique image into J. Alfred Prufrock (156-166).
Judith L. Sensibar examines the significance of Pierrot in Faulkner's fiction exhaustively. She states Pierrot functions as a mask for young Faulkner and it reflects his inferiority to the tradition of the family line and his sexual obsession. In her statement, Faulkner objectifies Pierrot gradually, and finally describes "pierrotique" characters in Flags in the Dust (1927) (Sensibar 44). Mostly as she agrees with Sensibar's interpretation, Tanaka Takako suggests that " . . . presumably Faulkner used Pierrot's mannerism and negative quality more intentionally than she suspects"(45). We will illustrate Faulkner portrays the artist figure by altering the pierrotique image since The Marble Faun (first written in 1919).
It seems reasonable to suppose that Faulkner borrows the idea for Pierrot in The Marionettes (1920) and Visions in Spring (1921) from Beardsley or Eliot. In The Marionettes originally written for a play script, Pierrot seduces Marietta and soon disappears from the stage. Marietta, deserted by Pierrot, is fascinated by her own figure in the mirror. Pierrot's relationship with the female character seems to be inverted from the convention, but Pierrot gets dead drunk and sleeps beside the stage. Therefore, all events in The Marionettes happen in Pierrot's illusion. The sketches inserted in The Marionettes are obviously influenced from Beardsley's, as Honnighausen compares both in detail (Stylization 135-141). Visions in Spring includes the conventional scene that Columbine treats Pierrot too cruelly.
We can be fairly certain that Faulkner closely imitates Pierrot in these works. However, Faulkner portrays pierrotique artists satirically since The Marble Faun. The historical facts about Faulkner will lead us further into a consideration of the artist figure.
Faulkner encountered with French culture in the early period of his career, and this also affects the pierrotique artists in his works. In January 1925, for the journey to Europe, he visited New Orleans, where he was on intimate terms with Sherwood Anderson and started to write Soldiers' Pay. He moved to Europe in July 1925, and stayed in Paris for a while, and got down to Mosquitoes and Elmer. The novelist Faulkner was germinated in the period from New Orleans (formally French colonial) to Paris.
Next, we will examine Faulknerian artist figure in the early novels.
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