摘 要

威廉·福克纳短篇小说《献给艾米莉的一朵玫瑰花》中频频出现的物质书写具有深刻的主题意蕴，赋予了该小说独特的审美格调。本论文从小说中地理景观、住房、衣饰及日用品等物质细节入手，研究这些细节书写如何呈现南方社会转型过渡时期的历史文化，同时也探讨了物质细节书写在人物刻画、情节发展方面的作用。

关键词：威廉·福克纳；《献给艾米莉的一朵玫瑰花》；物质书写

Contents

1. Introduction 1
2. Demonstration 3
   1. Things as the representation of landscape in transitional South 3
      1. Cotton gins: encroachment of modernization 3
      2. Garages and gasoline pumps: consumption-oriented transformation 4
   2. Things as a method of characterization 5
      1. Clothes: hints of personalities 6
      2. Decadent house: an eyesore among eyesore 7
   3. Things as the way of plot development 8
      1. Man’s toilet set: “I” want to marry “you” 9
      2. Arsenic: who died ? 10
3. Conclusion 11

Work Cited 12

Bibliography 13

A Study of Writing of Things in A Rose for Emily

Introduction

William Faulkner, one of the most creative writers of the 20th century, won the Nobel Prize in 1949 for his effective and unique contributions to modern American literature. Influenced by family traditions and Southern customs, his works mainly focus on social conflicts and racial issues. Yoknapatawpha sagas, presenting readers a declining and woeful image of the transitional South, are Faulkner’s major achievements among his writing career.

A Rose for Emily, one of Faulkner’s most famous short stories, takes place in Faulkner's fictional city, Jefferson, Mississippi, in the fictional Yoknapatawpha county. The protagonist Emily was born in an American traditional Southern family. Her father feuds Northern everything. Because of the interference of her father in Emily’s life, Emily has repeatedly missed the appropriate wedding day. Until 30 years old, she was still single. Apparently, Emily became a victim of Southern stubborn conservatism. The short story starts with the death of Emily, which arouses readers’ great interest to probe into Emily’s mysterious life. Since the short story was published, it has received wide critical attentions and been studied from different perspectives. Both domestic and foreign researchers have made great devotions to A Rose for Emily. Some regard it as a horrible story, some think it reflecting the conflicts of American Northern and Southern society, also the other hold that it depicts a woman who cannot normally communicate with others finally became an insane woman.

Studies on William Faulkner in China started from 1930s and then achieved

success in the late 1970s when A Rose for Emily was introduced to China through magazine Foreign Literature. In 1980s, Chinese researchers mainly studied the themes and artistic characteristics, relatively simple. Later, “comparative study” brought vitality into the study of A Rose for Emily. For example, Xiao Minghan probed into the cultural background, thematic concerns, writing style and major

characters of both Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily and Ba Jin’s Home, analyzed and compared the images of Emily’s father, Stefan and Mr. Gao who are all the victims of dictatorial system and exert influential effects on the protagonists. In 1990s, Chinese researchers held two symposiums of studies on Faulkner which brought about great influences. After then, their researches became more various, intensively focusing on thematic analysis, characterization, time and space, stream of consciousness techniques, narrative structure module, Gothic style, etc. Researchers largely analyzed the relationship between old Southern transitional society and the tragedy of Emily, thereby probing into Faulkner’s hidden Southern feelings.