Abstract
Faulkner’s Yoknapatawpha fiction echoes, among other things, tendencies present in Modernist literature, in particular, the focus on family and its genealogy. As “the method of researching person’s, thing’s, or phenomenon’s family tree” (Biti 1997, 110, emphasis mine), the terms genealogical and genealogy became part of the historical discourse between 1250 and 1300. Friedrich Nietzsche introduced it into modern philosophy with his On the Genealogy of Morals (1887). By deconstructing seemingly unquestionable values into opposite categories, Nietzsche looked for the genealogy of morals in “what is documented, what can actually be confirmed and has actually existed” (GM 21) as well as in “a knowledge of the conditions and circumstances” (GM 20). Almost a century later, Michel Foucault defined genealogy as “a form of history which can account for the constitution of knowledges, discourses, domains of objects” (1980, 117). As the analysis directed to revealing “the complexity, fragility, and contingency surrounding historical events” (Smart 2000, 49), Foucault’s genealogy is grounded “in a time and a place” as well (Smart 2000, 50).
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Notes
- 1.
Subsequent page references for Go Down, Moses will be given as GM in parentheses in the text.
- 2.
Subsequent page references for On the Genealogy of Morals will be given as GM in parentheses in the text.
- 3.
Or, according to Ivo Vidan and his English Intertext of Croatian Literature: The Glembay Cycle in Its European Context (Engleski intertekst hrvatske književnosti: Ciklus o Glembajevima u svom evropskom kontekstu), the hybrid subgenre.
- 4.
For a more detailed discussion of criticism on genealogical/family fiction , see Goy, Edward D. Themes and Devices in Miroslav Krleža ’s Gospoda Glembajevi; Zucker, A. E. The Genealogical Novel, a New Genre; Schertel, Max. Thomas Mann and the Genealogical Novel (PhD thesis); Lovett Morss, Robert. Buddenbrooks; and O’Faolain, Sean The Vanishing Hero.
- 5.
In his paper The Genealogical Novel, a New Genre (1928), A. E. Zucker suggests that Samuel Butler should also be considered the founder of the genealogical novel because his The Way of All Flesh (1903), by depicting the life of Ernest Pontifex, gives insight into three generations on his father’s side and two on his mother’s. This idea is vitiated by, at least, two flaws: Butler’s novel does not exclusively focus on the family downfall and it does not use conventions of the genre; he is, to quote Zucker himself, “not such a materialist – mental states count more with him” (1928, 554).
- 6.
Reviewing Zucker’s paper, Arthur Burkhard (1929) asserts that the emergence of genealogical novels and genealogical cycles is a phenomenon occurring in almost every national literature and calls attention to the production of genealogical/family fiction in Denmark (Hermann Bang’s Haablöse Slägter), Norway (Alexander Kielland’s Garman & Worse), and the Netherlands (Jo van Ammers-Küller’s De Opstandigen; een familierroman in drie boeken).
- 7.
The titles of Krleža’s plays can be translated as follows: Gospoda Glembajevi–The Glembays; U agoniji–In agony; and Leda–Leda.
- 8.
Or two Glembays since Gospoda Glembajevi tells the story of Ignjat and Leone Glembay. Other parts of the Glembay trilogy focus on one Glembay: Laura Lenbach (U agoniji) and Oliver Urban (Leda).
- 9.
The titles of Krleža’s short stories can be translated as follows: “About the Glembays,” “Benefactors,” “How Did Doctor Gregor Meet Satan for the First Time,” “The Burial in Teresienburg,” “The Love of Marcel Faber-Fabriczy for Miss Laura Warronigg,” “In Fog,” “Ivan Križovec,” “The Baroness Lenbach,” “Under the Mask,” “The Wedding of the District-Prefect Klanfar,” and “Klanfar in Varadijevo.”
- 10.
The titles of Krleža’s novels can be translated as follows: The Return of Philip Latinovicz and The Flags.
- 11.
The genealogical chart of the Snopes family can be found on the website William Faulkner on the Web: http://www.mcsr.olemiss.edu/~egjbp/faulkner/gen-snopes.html. The genealogical chart of the Glembay family can be found in Glembajevi, proza, pp. 6–7.
- 12.
Faulkner’s The Unvanquished (1938), which takes place during the American Civil War, was, for instance, published later than The Sound and the Fury (1929) and Sanctuary (1931), which are set in the twentieth century.
- 13.
If the moment when the first member of family climbed up the social ladder and reached the higher social status is considered to be the moment of the family appearance on the social scene, then there are more than three generations in Faulkner’s and Krleža ’s family sagas. It goes without saying that only three generations take part in the family drama.
- 14.
The representatives of the first generation of the Glembays are, too, Ignjat’s siblings Ambroz, Marijan, and Patricija Ludviga; they appear in the short stories on the Glembay family.
- 15.
The representatives of the second generation of the Glembays are Ivan and Alisa Glembay, Oliver Glembay, Sister Angelika, and Puba Fabriczy as well.
- 16.
The representative of the third generation of the Glembays is also Leone, Angelika’s and Leone’s son.
- 17.
The representative of the first generation of the Snopeses is, too, Flem’s cousin I. O. Snopes.
- 18.
The representatives of the second generation of the Snopeses are, too, Byron and Virgil, I.O.’s sons from his first marriage, and Clarence, Doris, Montgomery Ward, Vardaman, Bilbo, and Saint Elmo, I.O.’s children from his second marriage.
- 19.
A very important moment in formation of the second generation of the Snopeses is, too, the mother (Eula Varner Snopes)-daughter (Linda Snopes Kohl) relationship.
- 20.
Subsequent page references for Glembajevi, proza (The Glembays, Stories) will be given as GP in parentheses in the text.
- 21.
Subsequent page references for The Snopes: The Hamlet, The Town, The Mansion will be given as Snopes in parentheses in the text.
- 22.
The term “Glembayism” is the translation of the Croatian word “glembajevština.”
- 23.
Subsequent page references for Glembajevi, drame (The Glembays, Plays) will be given as GD in parentheses in the text.
- 24.
Krleža often uses German in his Glembay cycle. The translation of this quote is “hard-earned money.”
- 25.
Russian writers are not included in this classification because sexuality and sex are recurring motifs in their genealogical fiction .
- 26.
As mentioned in one of the previous footnotes, Krleža often uses German in his plays. The word “Formfehler” means “form error” or “formality error.”
- 27.
Subsequent page references for Thus Spoke Zarathustra will be given as TSZ in parentheses in the text.
- 28.
Subsequent page references for Beyond Good and Evil will be given as BGE in parentheses in the text.
- 29.
Subsequent page references for The Gay Science will be given as GS in parentheses in the text.
- 30.
Subsequent page references for Ecce Homo will be given as EH in parentheses in the text.
- 31.
Subsequent page references for Joyful Wisdom will be given as JW in parentheses in the text.
- 32.
The title of the play cycle can be translated as Legends.
- 33.
The title of the play can be translated as Adam and Eve.
- 34.
The title of the play can be translated as Masquerade.
- 35.
This point of view is also set forth by Darko Suvin (see: Pristup agenskoj strukturi Krležine dramaturgije) and Darko Gašparović (see: Dramatica Krležiana). Gašparović asserts that “the character of Baroness Castelli is the continuation of a Woman type created and varied in Legends: she takes a mask of both a victim and a whore” (Gašparović 1977, 120–121); he also points out that this is a cyclical process that occurs “within the mythical archetype” (Gašparović 1977, 121).
- 36.
Charlotta is a perfect “housewife” because of her ability to entertain guests with her Moonshine sonata; her silky candy voice that makes each story, even that of the death of the old Rupert woman and her daughter-in-law Fanika Canjeg, worth listening; and her charitable work.
- 37.
Charlotta Castelli-Glembay has been critically dissected by a number of literary critics, including Branko Hećimović who sees Charlotta as a “femme fatale” (1976, 422); Šime Vučetić and Radovan Vučković who refer to her as a “Female” (Vučković 1972, 76; Vučetić 1983, 94); Darko Gašparović who depicts her as an “organically inscribed nymphomaniac” (1977, 112) whose libido is “monstrous, incontrollable, and devouring” (1977, 122–123); Ljiljana Ina Gjurgjan who asserts that Charlotta is a fetish “in the power struggle between father and son” (2003, 61); and Hugo Klajn who considers Charlotta an actress who uses her “acting” abilities “as a bate … to attract her victims” (1968, 122, emphasis Klajn ’s) since “this is the role that ‘suits’ her and she is not playing it for the first time” (1968, 122).
- 38.
Subsequent page references for Absalom, Absalom! will be given as AA in parentheses in the text.
- 39.
The community embraces Flem because he has regulated his behavior according to social conventions which Eula ignores and, what is even more unacceptable, questions.
- 40.
Gavin’s twin sister Margaret tries to convince Jeffersonian “ladies” to accept Eula, but she, as well as they, are not really interested in it. Diane Roberts comments on these attempts in the following way: “How can Aphrodite crave the approval of the Jefferson Cotillion Club?” (1994, 216).
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Oklopcic, B. (2014). Global Faulkner: Faulkner and His Contemporaries. In: Faulkner and the Native Keystone. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-43703-2_3
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