The Smell of the Negro and the Shame of the South: An Affective Reading of William Faulkner’s Light in August and Intruder in the Dust

• Main Authors: Tsai, Pei-Fang, 蔡佩芳
• Other Authors: Lee, Hsiu-Chuan
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/2s2928

碩士 === 國立臺灣師範大學 === 英語學系 === 106 === This thesis aims to investigate the complexity and interplay of race and affect in William Faulkner’s Light in August and Intruder in the Dust. Race has been an important factor in Faulkner’s works as he demonstrates his thematic preoccupation with issues of race—from the haunting memories of Civil War, the white South’s anxiety over miscegenation, to the oppression of the black under plantation system. While the question of race and race relations in Faulkner’s novels has been explored by scholars of different fields and through various frameworks, the thesis proposes to read how Faulkner represents race in Light and Intruder through the lens of affect. By engaging in dialogue with different affect theorists, the thesis argues that affect plays a vital role in formulating race and challenging racial lines through dynamic interactions with others in the context of everyday experiences. The thesis is divided into four chapters. Chapter one serves as an introduction to the whole project and reviews both existing approaches to Faulkner’s construction of race and theories of affect. Chapter two looks into the workings of negative affect and its intersection with smell in Light in August. I delve into Joe Christmas’ troubled racial identity through his affective encounters with the smell of others. I argue that smell plays a crucial part in generating negative affect in Joe yet at the same time catalyzing his sense of being an other from within. Chapter three investigates what shame does to Chick Mallison, a young white boy, and his stance toward racism in Intruder in the Dust. I look into how shame not only unsettles Chick’s racial identity but also pushes for his new way of understanding race and race relations through his encounters with Lucas Beauchamp, a black man to whom Chick owes money. In the concluding chapter, I evoke contemporary issue of “Black Lives Matters” to see how affect speaks to current racial issues and to think about how the future-oriented effect of affect can challenge and unmoor current race relations.