University of Virginia Library

From 1955 to 1962 William Faulkner several times gave public interviews, and during them he was often questioned about the composition of The Sound and the Fury. Basically his answer was always the same, that the novel had begun with an image of a little girl's muddy drawers up in a tree, and that he had then intended the first part of the novel, devoted to Benjamin Compson, as a short story. Subsequently, he said, he tried telling the story from the points of view of Quentin and Jason, and finally, in the fourth section, from his own. The details of each reply vary a little, but in all the accounts it is clear that this work in its early stages was not intended to be a novel.[1] The manuscript contains the four sections, with the dates, and in the sequence described by Faulkner.[2] Collation with the first edition reveals the authority of his

statements concerning the composition of the novel, primarily by showing that the final form was the product of extensive revision, in the form of the addition of links connecting the parts of the novel. These were added after the completion of the manuscript, in the first section, in order to establish connections between it and sections three and four.[3]

The manuscript of the second part of the novel, devoted to the reverie of Quentin Compson, stands apart from the plan to bind together the four sections. In it collation reveals major changes of two types. Echoes of Faulkner's reading of several authors are clearer in the manuscript than in the first edition,[4] and it appears also that he was reworking the themes and style of earlier work. Secondly, both paragraphs and the use of italics differ radically from their appearance in the first edition.[5]

The collation of the third section of the novel shows that in several instances one paragraph in the manuscript was divided into two in the first edition. Minor changes of wording make it likely that a slight shift of emphasis necessitated the break. A long passage in which Jason discovers his anti-semitism (JC: 237f.; ML: 209f.) has been omitted,

and also the passage in which he waits for his mother to burn Caddy's check (JC: 272f.; ML: 236f.).

In the fourth section the number of paragraphs was also slightly increased after the completion of the manuscript. Frequently, as in the two paragraphs describing the Reverend Shegog (JC: 367; ML: 310), the manuscript shows a single paragraph, and the first edition a division between a paragraph containing straight description and one in which dialogue is mixed with further description. The responses of the audience to the sermon are italicized in the manuscript, where they appear in the middle of long paragraphs; in the book (JC: 369f.; ML: 311f.) the responses appear as separate paragraphs.

This paper will deal with revisions in the first section, where the transformation of four stories into a novel is to be seen primarily and perhaps only.[6] Collation of the manuscript and first edition shows that one type of revision, made after the completion of the fourth section and before the novel was typed, transformed the first section from an independent narration into one which precisely anticipates the third and fourth sections. A second type found in the first section concerns a small change in the characterization of Benjamin and an overall revision of Negro diction, so as to distinguish it from Negro dialect in the other three sections. Both types are so consistent and extensive as unlikely to be merely random polishing.

The first type of revision reveals that the apparent Christian symbolism in the characterization of Benjy is closely related to the final development of Dilsey's character, in the fourth section, and limited by her understanding of a Christian life. All mention of Benjamin's thirty-third birthday and Dilsey's celebration of it with a cake are entirely missing in the manuscript. The long passages omitted occur on these pages: JC: 1f., 18f., 68-70; ML: 23f., 36, 75-77; and there are also two shorter omissions, JC: 60 and 73; ML: 68 and 79. One example of a longer omission will suffice to characterize them all.

A consideration of the late addition of the birthday passages is particularly relevant to the interpretation of the symbolic significance of Benjy's age, and to all of the Christian aspects of the novel.[7] Their late addition does not reduce their importance in later versions of the first part, but it does suggest a high degree of deliberation, which is consistent with Faulkner's own evaluation of the Christian references in the novel — that they are important but not primarily for their religious character. At the University of Virginia he was asked whether they represented "conscious attempts." In his reply he repeated that he was trying to tell the story of Caddy, and that the coincidence of Benjamin's age with Christ's at the time of his death was "just one of several tools."[8]

Since Dilsey's Christianity is revealed to a large degree by her

actions, and especially in the first section very little by what she says, it is considerably more elusive than emphasis on Benjamin's age alone might lead one to believe. Most of the birthday passages concern her celebration of the event with a cake and suggest an attitude that is emotional and even nostalgic.[9] At some time Faulkner cancelled a passage which would have made her seem more verbally self-assertive. In the scene in which Mrs. Compson drives to the graveyard with Benjy and T. P. (JC: 9-13; ML: 29-32), Dilsey, in the manuscript, gives an explanation of Roskus' rheumatism, Versh's being at work because there is not enough for Roskus alone to do on the place, and the consequent necessity for Miss Cahline to accept T. P. as a driver (Ms fol. 3). The speech would have been out of place, because it makes Dilsey into a scold, as the long series of her commands and threats throughout the first section does not.

A second example of the same type of revision is the addition to the first section of all the passages having to do with the traveling show. It has the greatest implications for characterization in the third part of the novel: Quentin runs away from school to spend the afternoon with one of the show men; Jason makes himself sick chasing them about the countryside during the hottest part of the day; and Luster receives a cruel defeat when before his eyes Jason burns two tickets in the kitchen stove.

The largest number of these revisions concerns Luster's finding the quarter he has lost, or selling a golf ball, in order to go to the show. In the manuscript Benjamin helps to hunt for golf balls, and he is warned not to get his head knocked off by one. In the manuscript also Luster has found a golf ball, which he wants to take home so that he will not lose it. But only in the typescript and printed version does Luster think of selling the ball in order to earn the price of admission to the show. All the passages which concern his going to the show, selling the golf ball, or finding either the lost quarter or the ball in order to sell it, are missing in the manuscript. These passages occur on: JC 2 (ML 23), 17 (35), 23 (40), 42 (54f.), 60-62 (68f.), 65 (72f.), 68f. (75), 72 (78), 81f. (85f.), 89 (91), 91 (93). (The upper sections of pages JC: 17; ML: 35, down to "'What does you do when he start bellering.'" correspond to folio 5, missing from the manuscript, but the discussion of the lost quarter continues beyond that point on the page.) Two of the passages of added dialogue indicate a connection among the show, the quarter, and the birthday celebration, and make

it appear likely that revisions were undertaken only after the completion of the fourth section.

The ball for which Luster has been hunting is connected with his going to the show in a long passage added to the scene on JC: 65; ML: 72.

In the first edition this passage has been greatly expanded:

Two short phrases in the portion of the scene which follows accommodate the tone of the whole passage to the addition, and provide a reason for Luster's sudden cruelty to Benjy. The phrases missing in the manuscript are:

and: By the addition of dialogue and one speaker to a scene already present in the manuscript Faulkner rather simply transformed the passage to make it serve the scheme of anticipation.

As a child, Luster naturally seeks an escape from the drudgery of minding Benjy. The eleven passages added to the manuscript show him throughout the day clinging to his hope for entertainment; their effect is to increase the emotional intensity of the brief scene in the third part during which Jason burns the tickets. Our attitude to Jason has also been prepared by the addition to the first section of a single passage in which he discusses the lost quarter with Luster.

A secondary effect of this passage is to minimize Jason's positive qualities. Some of his phrases, in the third section, are a gross version of the epigrammatic wit of his father, and one can sympathize with much of his feeling of having been cheated of opportunity. In the long run, however, the sympathy one might have felt is converted into amusement and moral censure, because Faulkner has chosen to emphasize in the first section of the novel only two aspects of his character as a child: the image of the small fat boy with his hands constantly in his pockets, and after the revision of the manuscript, literal emphasis on his tight-fistedness.

The part played by Quentin in the third section required, it would seem, little anticipation. Thus Faulkner added only two brief passages to her characterization as a pitiable and untrustworthy girl. These phrases were added to the scene in which Mrs. Compson drives to the cemetery:

and in the next paragraph: Immediately following the passage concerning Jason and Luster quoted in the last paragraph occurs this addition to the manuscript: The parallel between the behavior of Caddy and Quentin, however, existed in the manuscript. Quentin sits on the swing with her lover, just as her mother had done, and the two scenes in which Benjamin interrupts each couple occur in sequence in both the manuscript and the first edition. (JC: 56-62; ML: 65-69) In the manuscript Luster and Benjamin also watch Quentin climb down the tree at night (JC: 90-91; ML: 92). Quentin's absolute unreliability, a quality tempered in Caddy by her devotion to Benjy, was thus already clear. The additions to the first section concerning her anticipate the part she plays in relation to the show, but they do not amplify her character sufficiently either to divert attention from Jason, or to diminish the comic aspects of the chase, in the third section.

Two passages missing in the manuscript connect the finding of the ball and the show, with Benjy's birthday celebration. The dialogue between Luster and Quentin's "show man" (JC: 59-62; ML: 67-69) is considerably lengthened by the addition of the passage which runs from "'Is,' he said. 'How long's he been that way.'" to "'I didn't think you did.' Luster said." In the added portion Luster informs the young man that Benjamin is thirty-three years old that day, and then immediately inquiries if he is the man who can play the tune on the saw. "'It'll cost you a quarter to find that out.'" he is told (JC: 60f.; ML: 68f.). Luster then tries, without success, to sell him the golf ball he is carrying with him.

The additions to the manuscript evident from a comparison with JC: 68-73; ML: 75-79 include four of paragraph length, and four more of approximately a sentence or two. One of the longer omissions shows Luster and Dilsey discussing both the birthday and the show. The manuscript reads:

and the first edition: The combination of allusions to the birthday celebration and the show naturally draws attention to the contrast between Jason's and Dilsey's ideas of generosity and of their responsibility to dependents. Nevertheless the number of passages which makes this connection is small in comparison to the total number of references to the show in the first section, so that one could hardly say that Faulkner was deliberately building up, during revision, a structure of thematic contrast among the various characters.

One cannot fail to be impressed by the skill and apparent ease with which Faulkner made these additions. Long passages were inserted with no more rewording of the surrounding sentences than can be observed anywhere in the manuscript. While working on the first section, Faulkner was already in the habit of making long marginal insertions:[10] for example, nearly all of page JC: 51f.; ML: 62 was inserted in the wide left margin of the manuscript, and the passage into which it was set is only lightly revised. Several series of pages in the first and second sections were renumbered so as to indicate both relocation of certain passages, and a general expansion of the manuscript. Although other types of revision did call for a great deal of cancellation of single words and phrases, the expansion of the manuscript so as to anticipate the last two sections did not.

The style of the first section helps to explain the ease with which additions to the manuscript could be inserted. Even the scenes which Benjamin recalls in the first person are composed of the dialogue of other characters, so that their roles could be expanded without much effect on our conception of Benjamin himself. The speeches are non-sequential, in the sense that emotionally defined subjects occur and reoccur, with a resulting decrease of emphasis on the paragraph with an exclusive structure, or on logical dialogue. For example, Dilsey asks Luster why he cannot keep Benjamin away from Quentin. In the manuscript the passage reads:

This question and answer contain a kind of logic foreign to the style, and in the printed version the passage has been revised so that the question reads: "'Dont you know she dont like him where she at.'" (JC: 67; ML: 74).

One may observe, however, that the number of italicized passages about doubled when the manuscript was typed, and more passages continued to be italicized even after the printer had set the galleys.[11] Most of the added italics occur in short passages, although neither the group found in the manuscript nor the later additions concerns a special character or event. The complex time scheme of the first section thus apparently was not disordered by the inclusion of a considerable amount of new material. In fact the letter to Ben Wasson concerning the means of indicating time shifts in Benjamin's monologue[12] shows that Faulkner intended the italics primarily as an accommodation for the reader.

With the exception of the birthday passages, very few of the revisions of the first section directly concern Benjamin, and those which do point to the creation in him of a special kind of character, composed of a deliberately limited number of human responses. For example, the transfer of sensory experience from one organ to another represents one kind of addition. The references to Caddy's smelling like trees (originally, like leaves), to Benjamin's smelling Damuddy's funeral,

to father's smelling like rain, and Versh like rain and dogs, are all present in the manuscript. But the two passages in which Benjamin says, "I could smell the cold" and "I could smell the bright cold" (JC: 5; ML: 26) are not. Similarly, the references to Benjamin's hearing the dark, and to his hands' seeing Caddy's slipper are also missing (JC: 88f., 92; ML: 91, 93, 94). A paragraph near the end of the first section which in the manuscript reads:

was revised to read, in the first edition:

It is not merely that Benjamin depends to a great degree on information derived directly from the senses, but even the divisions of that world are fewer than in the scientific model of ordinary human perception.[13]

Probably in the interests of consistency in Benjamin's characterization, Negro speech in the first section of the novel was revised so as to reduce somewhat its colloquial character, a tendency which may be observed by comparing revisions of the dialogue there with the relatively unrevised diction of the speech in the fourth or any other section.[14] The table which follows is not intended to be exhaustive, but rather to show the variety of words and speakers affected, and the

care with which Faulkner singled out certain kinds of words wherever they appeared in the manuscript.                                  

JC page and line	ML page and line	Ms fol.
			Word	Speaker
6.18	27.14	2B	No'm/Nome	Versh
11.4	30.22	3	git/get	T. P.
17.14	35.19	6	whups/whips	Luster
22.11	39.9	7	kin/kan	women at the branch
25.5	41.12	8	gwine/going	T.P.
34.26	48.31	12	"	Roskus
35.3 and 8	49.3 and 7	12	"	Dilsey
35.16	49.14	13	seed/seen	Roskus
38.3	51.10	13	your'n/yours	Roskus
45.1	56.26	17	dey/they	T. P.
73.21	79.14	26	"	Dilsey
48.5	59.10	18	dey'll/they'll	T. P.
51.23	62.1	20	looka here/
			look here	Dilsey
86.5	89.7	31	skum/skin	Versh

Occasionally the reverse tendency can also be observed:    

29.11	44.18	10	Lord/Lawd	Dilsey
74.9	79.22	26	Library/liberry	Dilsey

Benjamin's mind thus appears to reshape the speech he hears according to a comparatively impersonal pattern of diction. Faulkner has taken care not to denature Negro speech, but merely to subordinate somewhat its regional qualities to the consciousness constructed for Benjamin.

The Sound and the Fury was inspired by the image of Caddy as a child, and conceived of as her story. None of the revisions of the first section directly concerns her character or her image. Revisions which concern Luster or Quentin, for example, affect the degree of their involvement in the major actions of the novel. As an image, Caddy cannot, of course, be so involved, which may account for the fact that until she is engaged in action by Quentin, in the second section, she remains unchanged, Faulkner's "heart's darling."

Faulkner's attitude toward Benjamin, whom he usually discussed as a device, sharply contrasts with the emotional statements he habitually made about Caddy. He said, for example, "The only emotion I can have for Benjy is grief and pity for all mankind. You can't feel anything for Benjy because he doesn't feel anything. The only thing I can feel about him personally is concern as to whether he is believable as I created him."[15] The revisions which concern Benjamin, the addition

of the birthday passages, the increased emphasis on his isolation, and the revisions of the diction of the speech he hears, are consistent with this attitude.[16]

Since this paper concerns only a portion of the whole novel, the concluding remarks must be considered tentative. Although the connections between sections one and three are the most numerous, they suggest an idea of anticipation which seems highly conventional: that is, in the interests of economy of effect, it was wise to prepare before-hand for the traveling show, the event which deeply absorbed the Compson family in Jason's narrative. Moreover the show cannot be described as an experience, in the sense of being understood by the characters, and it is relatively bare of symbolic suggestion. While it is true that the hunger of Quentin and Luster for glamour is revealed by its tawdry attraction, the question may be raised, to what extent thematic links, between two parts of a novel one of which employs a chronological time scheme, in themselves provide a real departure from conventional narrative.

Secondly, one might question why connections between the first and second sections scarcely exist. The fact that the events in Quentin's section occur eighteen years earlier is one possibility. Another is that the task of creating precise thematic links between two sections neither of which was written in chronological form might have been a much more complex undertaking.

Although the relationship between sections one and four is probably the most fruitful for discussion, a final interpretation seems far from clear. Are the values of love and innocence, embodied in the two main figures of the static world in the first section, demonstrated in the actions of Dilsey on Easter Sunday? If so, the idea of innocence which Benjamin represents, since it is not specifically Christian, seems arbitrarily to anticipate, by the mere coincidence of his age with Christ's at the time of the Crucifixion, the events of Easter. At the same time, the revisions which establish the relationship between one and four differ from those concerned with the show, in that Faulkner attempted to provide a sphere of expanding significance for one aspect of the novel, the idea of innocence represented in the character of Benjy. Insofar as he wished to allow the symbolic suggestions of character to assume a significance comparable to characterization itself, this aspect of revision may be said to resemble other experiments with form in the modern novel.

One might conclude that the structure of the novel appears to depend mainly on thematic connections among three of the four sections. Ulysses, with which The Sound and the Fury has often been compared as an experimental novel, differs essentially in composition and form: it was written with an overall plan in mind from the beginning, and although revisions in the service of motif were always important, exclusively so in late stages of the work, other types of revision linked one episode with another by alterations throughout the work, rather than in one episode solely.[17] In comparison, the expansion of Benjy's section so as to anticipate later portions of the novel does not seem a radical treatment of form, and the manuscript in general suggests a simpler scheme of revision.