Panel. Faulkner's Afterlives: Parody and Adaptation

Location

Nutt Auditorium

Start Date

10-7-2012 9:30 AM

Description

  • Faulkner’s Post-Modern Heirs: Reading Faulkner in Light of the Coen Brothers / Phillip Davis, China University of Petroleum, Beijing
    This paper will read William Faulkner’s Light in August in conjunction with the Coen Brother 2001 film O Brother Where Art Thou. It will argue that while Faulkner and the Coens are divided by Faulkner’s modernism and the Coen Brothers’ post-modernism, that their work performs many of the same functions. Specifically, both Faulkner and the Coen Brothers utilize the motifs of Southern regionalism to underscore the complexities of their respective historical periods. Faulkner’s observations about the modernizing South of the 1930s relate directly to the Coens’ sly and oblique treatment of globalization in their “Southern” film. The paper will also argue that while the Coens were influenced by Faulkner, that we can discover previously unseen aspects of Faulkner’s works by studying their films.
  • The Quintessential Faulkner? Faulkner Parody into the 21st Century / Frank P. Fury, Monmouth University
    Lev Manovich has written that the 21st century boasts a "culture of remixability," with innovation in the arts and in popular media often amounting to reintroducing past works in new contexts. This sort of innovation produces, as described in the OED's definition of "mash-up," "a mixture or fusion of disparate elements." The recent success of such quirky titles as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies should give parodists--whose trade is very much rooted in the creative act of fusing disparate elements--pause and compel them to ask, "what exactly is the task of the parodist in the 21st century?" In light of the fiftieth anniversary of the death of William Faulkner--one of the most parodied of our writers--an occasion in which we find ourselves "resurrecting" his works amid new theoretical frameworks, the above-posed question seems particularly apt. Through a selection of recent Faulkner parodies from both literary and other popular sources, this essay seeks both to ground Faulkner parody--and by extension parody as a literary mode--within our digital age of reinvention and consider whether Faulkner parody brings us closer to (re)discovering the "quintessential Faulkner."
  • Adapting Soldiers’ Pay for the Screen: Why Faulkner Still Resonates / Michie Gleason
    This presentation will explore my recent screen adaptation of “Soldiers’ Pay.” I’ll discuss two themes in the novel which have contemporary resonance: (1) Returning from World War I, Faulkner’s young veterans were expected to transition to a civilized society that hadn’t a clue about the horrors of trench warfare. A similar disconnect faces young veterans today returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, and (2) Faulkner’s three principal female characters, all under the age of 25, are not the girls those boys left behind. Caught up in social upheaval that promises to expand their roles in society, and thus threaten social mores, they are thoroughly modern heroines. I will use examples from the novel and examples from my screenplay to illustrate the mechanics of adaptation and choices I made, moving Faulkner’s story from one medium to another.

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Jul 10th, 9:30 AM

Panel. Faulkner's Afterlives: Parody and Adaptation

Nutt Auditorium

  • Faulkner’s Post-Modern Heirs: Reading Faulkner in Light of the Coen Brothers / Phillip Davis, China University of Petroleum, Beijing
    This paper will read William Faulkner’s Light in August in conjunction with the Coen Brother 2001 film O Brother Where Art Thou. It will argue that while Faulkner and the Coens are divided by Faulkner’s modernism and the Coen Brothers’ post-modernism, that their work performs many of the same functions. Specifically, both Faulkner and the Coen Brothers utilize the motifs of Southern regionalism to underscore the complexities of their respective historical periods. Faulkner’s observations about the modernizing South of the 1930s relate directly to the Coens’ sly and oblique treatment of globalization in their “Southern” film. The paper will also argue that while the Coens were influenced by Faulkner, that we can discover previously unseen aspects of Faulkner’s works by studying their films.
  • The Quintessential Faulkner? Faulkner Parody into the 21st Century / Frank P. Fury, Monmouth University
    Lev Manovich has written that the 21st century boasts a "culture of remixability," with innovation in the arts and in popular media often amounting to reintroducing past works in new contexts. This sort of innovation produces, as described in the OED's definition of "mash-up," "a mixture or fusion of disparate elements." The recent success of such quirky titles as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies should give parodists--whose trade is very much rooted in the creative act of fusing disparate elements--pause and compel them to ask, "what exactly is the task of the parodist in the 21st century?" In light of the fiftieth anniversary of the death of William Faulkner--one of the most parodied of our writers--an occasion in which we find ourselves "resurrecting" his works amid new theoretical frameworks, the above-posed question seems particularly apt. Through a selection of recent Faulkner parodies from both literary and other popular sources, this essay seeks both to ground Faulkner parody--and by extension parody as a literary mode--within our digital age of reinvention and consider whether Faulkner parody brings us closer to (re)discovering the "quintessential Faulkner."
  • Adapting Soldiers’ Pay for the Screen: Why Faulkner Still Resonates / Michie Gleason
    This presentation will explore my recent screen adaptation of “Soldiers’ Pay.” I’ll discuss two themes in the novel which have contemporary resonance: (1) Returning from World War I, Faulkner’s young veterans were expected to transition to a civilized society that hadn’t a clue about the horrors of trench warfare. A similar disconnect faces young veterans today returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, and (2) Faulkner’s three principal female characters, all under the age of 25, are not the girls those boys left behind. Caught up in social upheaval that promises to expand their roles in society, and thus threaten social mores, they are thoroughly modern heroines. I will use examples from the novel and examples from my screenplay to illustrate the mechanics of adaptation and choices I made, moving Faulkner’s story from one medium to another.