ABSTRACT
AlthoughFaulknertookpainstodissociate hisfictionfromtheAmericanstrainofrealism, headmiredmanyEuropeanrealisticand naturalisticnovelsandwasinfluencedbytheir considerationoftheeffectsofscientific progressonhumanmorality. 1Thesocial, scientific,andeconomicforcesthatgaveriseto thenineteenth-centurynaturalisticnovelin EuropewerealsoapparentintheAmericanSouthof theearlytwentiethcentury.AsDavidMinter acknowledges,"theforcesthattroubledBalzacand DickensalsotroubledFaulkner." 2Asanobserver ofthescientificrevolution, 3Faulkner incorporatesthelessonsofliterarynaturalismin hisworkbydescribingrealisticallythefailure ofman'seffortstoovercomehisanimalnature. Likeothernaturalisticwriters,includingBalzac andZola,Faulkneracknowledgestheintimate connectionsthatexistbetweenhumanbeingsand theirmilieux.IntheYoknapawtaphafiction,he employsnaturalisticthemesthatconsiderhow peoplerelatetothelandandhowhereditaryand environmentaldeterminismaffecthumanbehavior andsocialrelations.LikethenovelsofBalzac andZola,Faulkner'sroman-fleuveisamodern mythologyofman'sexistence, 4foritrespondsto concernsofevolutionarytheorybyconsideringthe inevitabilityofdeathinthenaturalworld.
