Forget Jerusalem: William Faulkner's Hyperreal Novel

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Date
1999-04-14
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Virginia Tech
Abstract

This paper explores the relationality between Modernism and Postmodernism as well as between literature and theory by examining the works of two writers: master novelist William Faulkner, and high priest of Postmodernism, Jean Baudrillard. Specifically, this paper examines Faulkner's eleventh novel—the oft-neglected If I Forget Thee, Jerusalem—as a proto-postmodern text which, when examined by the light of Baudrillard's theory of simulacra and simulations, informs the transition from Modernism to Postmodernism.

This paper treats each author's work as a lens through which to view the other. The result is both a re-vision of Faulkner's social philosophy and a re-examination of the epistemic break that separates Faulkner's philosophy from that of Baudrillard.

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Keywords
Critical Theory, Faulkner, Modernism, Baudrillard, Postmodernism
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