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53 FAULKNER AND MARXIST CRITICISM A SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT INTRODUCTION TO THE MINNESOTA REVIEW FAULKNER PAPERS The seminar on dialectical criticism was formed early in 1978. Our general aim was to clarify for ourselves, in the first place, the status of the Marxist theory of literature, to locate problematic areas and to propose solutions to the major points of dispute. We soon discovered, however, that the diversity of fields and points of view among the participants and the chaotic state of the theoretical field made it difficult to locate an approach to a coherent program of readings and discussions. 54 THE MINNESOTA REVIEW Lukacs and Althusser, Macherey and Goldmann, structuralism and its aftermath were argued and debated to no avail. The debate about fundamental principles undermined the cohesion of the group, whose members diminished within several months to a loyal band of seven or eight. Agreement about such terms as realism, ideology, reflections, etc. could not be reached through the abstract confrontation of definitions and general formulae. The period of quest for self-definition ended when we launched a new project late in the spring of 1978. We proposed a reading and critique of William Faulkner, an American author of the first rank and of great international stature. We chose Faulkner not only because of bis intrinsic worth, but because scholars and critics representing a broad spectrum of literary approaches have written extensively on his life and works. Faulkner and his critics, we thought, might well provide the basis which would assist us in carrying out our original project, that is to examine the methods of the most outstanding schools of bourgeois criticism from the point of view of an evolving Marxist theory of literature. What happened in fact was a series of discussions, first of Absalom, Absalom!, the of The Bear, Go Down Moses and other works, which helped us to achieve, though gradually, a group cohesion within which the various interpretations of Faulkner could confront one another to the benefit of each. Over the period of its existence, the group experienced many of the vicissitudes and pressures of academic life. At least three participants left the group to seek reemployment for lack of tenure; one left academe for another profession; several could not continue because of the heavy burden of current responsibilities and time pressures. The group also grappledĀ· with the problem of specialization which so limits larger theoretical understanding. We tried to overcome this limitation by spanning disciplinary boundaries, deliberately including in our group not only literary specialists but also a philosopher and a political scientist. Finally, as an antidote to the isolation in which Marxist scholars find themselves, the group recognized the advantages of gathering outside and away from university atmospheres and pressures. Near the conclusion of the work of the group, the editor of this magazine suggested the inclusion of the point of view of a Marxist historian on Faulkner. At the recommendation of a member of the group, Norman Markowitz joined and participated in our final sessions. Norman Rudich Carol Remes 55 RUDICH NORMAN RUDICH FAULKNER AND THE SIN OF PRIVATE PROPERTY It is precisely because William Faulkner concentrates his immense artistic powers on the mysteries of the human heart, on individual character and destiny, on the entire range of the inner life of his men and women, that the more general themes of their social, historical situations possess the unmistakable significance which no school of literary criticism can deny. Society, history and politics adhere to them, inhere in them consubstantially, like their physical presence, like qualities of mind, of speech, of gesture. They are American Southerners, white, black and miscegenated, whose generations span 150 years of our history, and whose way of life is inseparable from the mentality engendered by plantation slavery and its historical consequences. Rarely, if ever, does Faulkner describe a natural environment, a social or political situation into which he then introduces his characters, and in this sense his artistic method is the opposite of that of Balzac or Zola. Environment, external fact, is for Faulkner the natural extension of human life processes, the modes in which people experience life. The pre-bellum South of Absalom, Absalom! is disinterred when two...

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