A Generic Intertexual Study Of Absalom, Absalom! As A Southern Gothic

Since the term “intertexuality” was first coined by the French literary theorist and critic JuliaKristeva in1967, the theory of intertexuality has made a great advance and is being widelyadopted in literary criticism. Generic intertexuality means that a single text could display thefeatures of more than one genre and in the text these different genres could coexist andinteract. Absalom, Absalom!, though being widely acknowledged as a Southern Gothic, alsopresents the traits of other genres. This thesis is aimed to study the generic intertexuality inAbsalom, Absalom! and to analyze its influences on the Southern Gothic in the novel. Twoclues are developed simultaneously in the research. Through the studies of the intertexualitywith Romance, Biblical Literature and Historical Novel, the intertexual references and theadvancement that William Faulkner has made to these three genres are identified. Meanwhile,in the analysis of their influences on the Southern Gothic, Southern Gothicism buried in theindividuals, the Sutpen family and the whole south is revealed. A generic intertexual study ofAbsalom, Absalom! as a Southern Gothic extends the research to Romance, BiblicalLiterature and Historical Novel, which not only uncovers the richness and openness of theSouthern Gothic, but also provides a brand-new method to study the genre in a specific novel.