AMST 246: Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Faulkner
Lecture 23 - Faulkner's Light in August, Part II. Professor Wai Chee Dimock continues her discussion of Light in August by showing how the kindness of strangers turns into malice in the cases of social reformer Joanna Burden and Reverend Hightower. Whereas that malice assumes comedic tones in the depiction of Joanna's death, it has more complex valences in the case of Reverend Hightower, who is both ethically delicate towards his neighbors and insensitive to his adulterous wife. Professor Dimock concludes by observing the kinship between the dual narratives of Lena Grove and Joe Christmas as, respectively, the undramatic and dramatic strands of the novel. Drawing on her reading from last lecture, she shows how both Joe and Lena's consciousness is marked by the gerund form and a passivity of agency that makes them receptacles for the dramatic actions of others. (from oyc.yale.edu)
| Lecture 23 - Faulkner's Light in August, Part II |
| Time | Lecture Chapters |
| [00:00:00] | 1. Christianity and Southern Hospitality |
| [00:04:30] | 2. Political Theology of the Neighbor |
| [00:07:06] | 3. The Hatred of Southerners for Northern Abolitionists |
| [00:10:52] | 4. Tragedy as Comedy in the Death of Joanna Burden |
| [00:19:07] | 5. The Reverend Hightower and the Malice of Strangers |
| [00:24:07] | 6. The Ethical Challenge of Hightower |
| [00:33:56] | 7. Alternation between Joe Christmas and Lena Grove |
| [00:38:41] | 8. Kinship Between Lena Grove and Joe Christmas |
| [00:42:44] | 9. The Passivity of Lena Grove and Joe Christmas |
| References |
| Lecture 23 - Faulkner's Light in August, Part II Instructor: Professor Wai Chee Dimock. Credit List [PDF]. Transcript [html]. Audio [mp3]. Download Video [mov]. |
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