Family Romances in William Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom!

Abstract

This paper examines narration and storytelling in William Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom! Narration and storytelling are a paternal legacy and a family destiny as well, which bind the son to the father and the Grandfather. However, they also become the means of overwriting the paternal meta-narrative and endeavors of narrative self-fathering, self-begetting. In this reading, the “story-weaving” of the narrators and the story woven (by them) swirl around the same conflict: the “battle” of fathers and sons. It is explored how these paternal-filial power relations and conflicts work in both “layers” of the novel and how they influence each other. The argument will build on the insights of Freudian and Lacanian psychoanalysis, especially the theory of the Freudian family romance.