ABSTRACT

Perhaps that is what the critics are howling about, that they don't know any more about these 'psychopathic ghosts' than they do about the people they associate with every day. Accustomed to having our fictional characterscomplete, fully rounded, we feelcheatedifan author rejects the omniscient lie at the basis of most fiction. Perhaps, too, Faulkner doesn't entirely succeed;certainly the styleis tortured beyond what most readers will stand. But I suspect,and strongly, that the mere technique of this novel may prove to be a significantcontribution to the theory and art of fiction; that Absalom, Absalom! will not be the last, or the best, to approach its materials in this way.