Tradition And Innovation

In order to prove that William Faulkner is not only a writer of stream ofconsciousness, but also a great humorist, the thesis analyzes the humor in his threerepresentative works: As I Lay Dying, The Hamlet and The Reivers. Meanwhile, thethesis researches the meaning and value of Faulkner’s humor techniques.The thesis adopts the method of combining characters with humor theory toreflect Faulkner’s unique views about humor. It contains five chapters. The secondchapter explains that As I Lay Dying is the apprenticeship of Faulkner’s humor. Byemploying such traditional devices of southern humor as verbal humor, satire andirony, Faulkner reveals that the protagonist Anse Bendren is an atypical frontierhumor hero and a hypocrite. However, Vernon Tull is a true humorous observer whosuggests that Bundrens’ journey is a joke. The third chapter analyzes that The Hamletis the maturity of Faulkner’s humor，and discusses Faulkner’s inherited and innovatedhumor in this novel. The inherited humor is the frontier humor, which is reflected inRatliff’s story, the trickster tricked. And the innovated humor is modernistic humor,appearing in Flem Snopes. The fourth chapter mainly analyzes Lucius and Ned in TheReivers. The humor that appears in the two characters is a mild humor, and haspowerful educating purpose. The last chapter serves as the conclusion of thethesis--the purpose of Faulkner’s humor does not lie in humor itself, but it is toenlighten readers and create other effects.