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MINISTRY OF EDUCAITON AND TRAINING HANOI NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION HO THI VAN ANH WILLIAM FAULKNER’S NOVELS FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY Major: Foreign Literature Code: 22 02 42 SUMMARY OF DOCTORAL DISSERTATION ON LITERATURE Hanoi, 2022 The dissertation has been completed at Hanoi National University of Education Supervisor: Prof Dr Le Huy Bac Reviewer 1: Assoc Prof Dr Phung Ngoc Kien Institute of Literature Reviewer 2: Assoc Prof Dr Nguyen Thu Hien University of Social Sciences and Humanities – Vietnam National University, Hanoi Reviewer 3: Assoc Prof Dr Dang Hoai Thu Hanoi University of Culture This dissertation will be presented in front of Supervisor Board of Hanoi National University of Education at …… , on .2022 Dissertation is archived at: Vietnam National Library Library of Hanoi National University of Education PREFACE Rationale of the research 1.1 William Faulkner (1897-1962) is a great writer of American literature and modern world literature The literature review on Faulkner's novels reveals a strong and dynamic connection between his literature and cultural context From our perspective , Faulkner's literature requires a holistic approach when being studied 1.2 Cultural anthropology, with its efforts to study people from multi-dimensional and holistic perspectives in relation to culture, has met the expectation of a comprehensive study to Faulkner’s legacy The question is if Faulkner's literary career in general, and his novels in particular, are the suitable research object for the cultural anthropological approach 1.3 This question is examined when we conduct a literature review of Faulkner studies over the past century, especially in the last few decades Research shows that an interdisciplinary, cultural approach is a promising trend for Faulkner reception In that context, we expect to propose a specific theoretical framework of cultural anthropology to analyze Faulkner's novels For the above reasons, the dessertation topic chosen is William Faulkner's novels from the perspective of cultural anthropology Research aims and objectives 2.1 Research aims The dissertation aims to contribute to studying the interdisciplinary relationship between literature and anthropology, the overview of Faulkner studies including the studies of Faulkner's novels from the perspective of cultural anthropology The dissertation also aims at finding out how the writer interprets anthropological issues and examines his anthropological writing style; contributing to Faulkner’s position affirmation and contribution to American and world literature 2.2 Research tasks The dissertation presents an overview on cultural anthropology in literary studies, the history of Faulkner reception, with a focus on the cultural anthropological approach Based on that overview, a theoretical framework of cultural anthropology that is suitable for the approach to Faulkner's novels is selected The main task of the dissertation is to survey, analyze and interpret the anthropological concepts as well as anthropological writing style in Faulkner's novels Chapter two and chapter three see Faulkner as an anthropologist who gives “thick description” and interpretations on the two key issues: community identity and human nature The final chapter analyses myth – rituals in Faulkner's novels Research objects and scope 3.1 Research object The research object is the novels written by William Faulkner viewed from the theory of cultural anthropology 3.2 Scope of research The main scope of research covers the four following novels: Âm cuồng nộ (The Sound and the Fury) (Nxb Văn học, 2008), Khi nằm chết (As I Lay Dying) (Nxb Hội nhà văn, 2012), Nắng tháng tám (Light in August) (Nxb Hội nhà văn, 2013), Absalom, Absalom! (Vintage, 1990) These are canons in Faulkner's legacy, written in a diverse cultural context of America An important part of the research content is cultural anthropology as a theoretical framework to approach Faulkner's novels The materials include introductory works on cultural anthropology and works related to the issues of cultural identity, human nature and myth - rituals Methodology The dissertation approaches Faulkner's novels from the perspective of cultural anthropology, in the paradigm of interpretive anthropology The dissertation is based on a combination of the following methods: interdisciplinary method, historical method, and systematic method Analytical, comparative and statistical operations are also used in the dissertation New findings of the dissertation Given the rich history of anthropological theory and Faulkner's studies, the contribution of the dissertation is to select the tools of cultural anthropology theory that are feasible to apply into reading Faulkner's novels In particular, the research centers on the issues of community cultural identity, human nature, and myth - rituals, which have brought additional interpretations to Faulkner's novels Dissertation structure Apart from Introduction, Conclusion, References, the dissertation consists of four chapters as follows: Chapter 1: Introduction and literature review Chapter 2: The “thick description” of American Southern identity Chapter 3: The interpretations of human nature Chapter 4: Myth - rituals as the anthropological features in Faulkner’s novels Chapter INTRODUCTION AND LITERATURE REVIEW The tasks set out in this chapter includes: introduction of cultural anthropology as a theory applied in literary research; brief literature overview on Faulkner’s novels, focusing on the anthropological approach; the point of view and approach of the dissertation 1.1 Cultural anthropology and literary study from cultural anthropology theory 1.1.1 Introduction to anthorpology and cultural anthropology Cultural Anthropolgy is a major branch of Anthropology Anthropology can be briefly described as the science that studies people in their entirety with a comparative perspective This is the core and standard definitions of anthropology Cultural Anthropology was born after Physical Anthropology in order to meet the need to analyze the diversity of people in terms of culture and society 1.1.2 Literature review on the relationship between anthropology and literature Literature is neither the closest field to anthropology nor from the very beginning that anthropologists have been interested in the relationship between anthropology and literature Yet, it still creates turning points in both anthropology and literature The following section attempts to outline the movement of the anthropologicalliterary interdisciplinary research 1.1.2.1 From the ritual school in anthropology to myth criticism in literary studies Initially, scholarly attention to the relationship between anthropology and literature primarily originated from literary anthropology practices and some literary studies based on anthropological knowledge in the late nineteenth century to early twentieth century The very first connection between these two fields at that time was the preoccupation with myths and the birth of modern mythological criticism 1.1.2.2 Preoccupation with “writing” and movements in anthropology In the second half of the twentieth century, along with the process of "reinvention" in anthropology, the intersection between anthropology and literature was marked by the issue of writing style, symbolism and interpretation of culture The book Writing Culture (J Clifford, G.E Marcus edited, 1986) and the works by C Geertz are important works, confirming the literary turn in contemporary anthropology 1.1.3 The peculiarities of approaching literature from cultural anthropology Anthropology offers a broad perspective to reading literature and makes the interdisciplinary approach comes to life But it is this elasticity that causes problems: equating or absolutizing the role and method of a literary researcher or an anthropologist should be both avoided Interpretive anthropology, which offer interpretations as the way to "reading the text from other’s shoulders" by "thick description", proves to be a reasonable methodology for reading literature 1.2 Research on Faulkner’s novels from cultural anthropology theory 1.2.1 Overview on research on Faulkner’s novels 1.2.1.1 The text-centric trend: from “close reading” by New Critics to the quest for “literary grammar” by Structuralists Criticism of Faulkner's fiction in the three decades since 1950, under the influence of New Criticism and Structuralism, viewed the text as the main object For Faulkner's challenging novels, in the early stages of mainstream criticism, such detailed and thorough research provided an initial guide to the readers However, one limitation of this research direction cannot be denied: the lack of attention to the relationship between literary works and their socio-cultural context 1.2.1.2 The trend of applying literary theories and the preoccupation with cultural-social contexts: the "theory era" in Faulkner criticism The Faulknerian theoretical era flourished in the 1980s and 1990s, forming a trend that continues to this day The general aspect of this trend is the dynamic application of contemporary literary theories to Faulkner's criticism 1.2.1.3 The trend of reading Faulkner from interdisciplinary approach and the perspective of reception theory At the beginning of the twenty-first century, Faulkner scholars continued to apply previous or contemporary theories However, a dominant feature of this period is the expansion of the research frontier Contemporaneous scholars place particular emphasis on globalization and the interdisciplinary approaches to Faulkner 1.2.2.Studies of Faulkner’s novels from the perspective of cultural anthropology 1.2.2.1 Studies of Faulkner’s novels from the perspective of cultural anthropology in the world Scholars in the field of anthropology, when interested in the interdisciplinary relationship between anthropology and literature, have considered Faulkner's novels as a typical example In the works of F.W Turner, D Fabre, J Jamin, J.B Vickery, Faulkner's novels are exploited from perspectives close to anthropology such as historical origin, locality, myth - rituals Literary critics, namely B Ostendorf, C.A LaLonde, I Visser, C Hannon…, have also experimented with applying cultural anthropology categories to reading Faulkner's novels Besides, the dissertation can inherit from a rich number of works whose approaches intersecting to cultural anthropology 1.2.2.2 Studies of Faulkner’s novels intersecting to cultural anthropology in Vietnam Faulkner reception in Vietnam, starting from the 1950s, has become vibrant in recent decades It includes the tendency to read Faulkner as a novel technical innovator and the trend to search for the hidden meaning layers in his works The former provides the necessary insights for understanding Faulkner's challenge writings The latter reading direction, although less dominant in Vietnam, is likely to provide a clearer foundation for anthropological reading The reason is that they focus on topics which are close to anthropology, such as issues of national identity, regional identity, race, and human nature 1.2.3 Research direction of Faulkner's novels from cultural anthropology perspective in dissertation The dissertation approaches Faulkner's novel from perspective of interpretive anthropology Accordingly, the reading journey is not only towards finding anthropological knowledge in the literary works, but also reinterpreting the journey of the writer to dialogue, interpret and recreate those knowledge in his novels The core concepts to be examined include community identity, human nature and myth-rituals Summary of chapter The first chapter gives an overview on cultural anthropology, history of Faulkner reception, in order to affirm that reading Faulkner's novels from cultural anthropology is meaningful and trendy Interpretive anthropology is taken as a methodological perspective throughout when reading Faulkner's novels Chapter THE “THICK DESCRIPTION” OF AMERICAN SOUTHERN IDENTITY In this chapter, the novelist Faulkner is seen as an anthropologist who is consistent with "thick description" of his homeland - the American South “Thick description”, in interpretive anthropology, is a continuous process of interpreting, analyzing, and conjecturing the networks of meaning contained in cultural symbols From concerns about ethnographic issues such as race, gender, disability, and evil, Faulkner's novels reach a very deep layer of the community's cultural structure - identity The analysis of human life in the South throughout the chapter will not separate the intention of searching for and naming the core values of the whole community The goal of the chapter, therefore, is to propose a set of keywords, encapsulating identity traits, harmonic and conflicted, connected and interwoven, alongside with creating the Faulknerian South 2.1 The concept of identity and the approach The search for Southern identity in Faulkner's novels is not intended to promote cultural disparity What constitutes the Southern identity is a cultural construct in which the uniqueness and sustainability not exclude polyphony, uncertainty, and continuous transformation in space and time The path to Southern identity is to begin with an exploration of the reactions that occur, implicitly but violently, in Southern culture after the clash with the North From a spatial perspective, the concept of Southern identity is inseparable from the category of "American identity", from which it not only inherits flesh-and-blood attributes but also has its distinct values The journey to discover community identity in literature can start with psychological anthropology - a sub-discipline at the intersection of deal with "strangers" is Faulkner's way of discreetly sending his message to those "inquiring" his homeland: to be part of the South, one must live to the depths of the core of community culture Summary of chapter Yoknapatawpha is the place to mark Faulkner’s "thick description" of the Deep South Faulkner has opted for the historical rift of the South - the Civil War, and its remnants, to penetrate the past memory as well as the dilemmas in the cultural life of the South This chaper has made an attempt to envision the Southern identity in Faulkner literature These identity traits are encapsulated in the keyword set with two main pillars, burden of the past and agrarianism In the community memory, the past is synonymous with the lost beauty, and also associated with sins and curse The South, carrying the burden of the past, is a land full of pride, nostalgia, melancholy, a victim-sinner complex That past burden, in turn, constantly hinders, collides, causes dilemmas when the South confronts reality Therefore, the reality of the South is full of dualism and ambivalence The pride and nostalgia of the past make this land conservative, stubborn, sometimes pathetic Nevertheless, in another aspect, the very long-standing aristocracy and pride give them inner strength, to persevere, to indomitable; they are unvanquished Faulkner’s sense of exploration of Southern identity has created a spiritual leader of Southern Renaissance literature One of his major contribution was to define a new stance and approach to the culture of this land Refusing to look at by romanticism, illusion or distortion of history, Faulkner advocates an attitude of honesty, rigor and courage, facing a painful past and a harsh present Chapter THE INTERPRETATIONS OF HUMAN NATURE Chapter three focuses on the writer's interpretations of human nature - one fundamental category of philosophical anthropology Prominent themes in Faulkner's novels chosen to study include: race and gender - categories that question the duality of human nature; then categories that challenge the limits of humanity: disability and evil 3.1 The concept of human nature and the approach The anthropological theoretical framework for this chapter includes the following basic foundations: first, modern anthropology's recognition of the basic biological and psychological unity of humanity; second, the emphasis on the simultaneous relationship between humanity and biological attributes and the cultural environment; third, the closeness of the ethical approach to the problem of human nature in anthropology 3.2 Querying the dual border: race and gender 3.2.1 Skin narratives and “double consciousness” This section approaches the issue of race based on W E B Du Bois's concept of "double consciousness" Originally used to refer to the identity conflict among African-Americans, the “double consciousness” is here expanded to include stories of different skin colors: white, black, mixed-race Set in the narrative tradition of color line in American literature, the features of Faulkner's approach can be seen Firstly, the writer creates with the attitude of interpreting, questioning history, and reconstructing the conflicts of color identity in post-Civil War America Second, he questions the dualistic line between skin colors, to see racial prejudice as a crime, a curse that mankind must bear However, Faulkner was not able to get over the prejudices of color line This is driven by enduring stereotypes in American culture and by the "double consciousness" of such a white writer in America 3.2.2 Crisis of gender identity and the return to femininity Similar to the category of race, gender is also inseparable from duality cuts: again, it questions biological/cultural boundaries In Faulkner's novels, gender stereotypes of men and women are distorted in portraits of men lacking masculinity, such as Mr Anse, Mr Compson, and masculinity women - the Addie Burden, Caroline Compson, who are strong, but also confused, exhausted, proud yet solitude women The questioning of the gender duality has also been pushed to the extreme into gender identity crises There are "passing" characters, who exist in a state of genderlessness, or hermaphrodite, such as Joe Christmas and Joanna Burden in Light in August In particular, there is a special connection between Joe, between his black blood and his sense of women, in which lays a hidden remembrance of the weak, the guilt of being despised and abandoned The masculinity crisis in Faulkner's novel is like a projection for the fall of patriarchy in the post-Civil War South But it is more than that, the eradication of gender stereotypes, hidden deep in it, is humanity's journey to seek the primordial nature The journey of human, especially men, in Faulkner's novels is, in the end, a direction to/return to the Mother's refuge The permanence and immortality of humanity are embodied in women image, because of their innate and wondrous attachment to Nature, Mother Earth What remains in Faulkner's furious and gloomy pages is a female symbol, with eternal femininity and authority 3.3 Challenging the ordinary: disability and evil 3.3.1 Narrative of the lack: written from other’s shoulder Upon considering the relationship between people with disabilities and “ordinary people”, there is a deep-rooted prejudice: disabled people are implicitly outside the mainstream, who play the role of “others” , the "unusual" One of the concerns of human right activists is how to let those weak people "speak up" Here, Faulkner can be seen as the observer- participant, who speaks out from the other's voice Yoknapatawpha world has many characters with physical disabilities, but Faulkner's success mainly comes from narratives about mental disabilities such as Benjy, Quentin, Ike, Darl, Vardaman Faulkner's world of madmen suggests a particular taste: a sense of eternal innocence Writing about disabled people, Faulkner offers an antidissertation of modern men: he expresses nostalgia for humanity in its early days, for “lost innocence” Faulkner's novels are a fierce dialogue with eugenics and the stigma against people with disabilities that were widespread in American society at the time He has "passed the line", raising the voice of the weak even in the context of their most being intense attacked 3.3.2 The banality of evil: the inhuman crowd The history of philosophy, theology, history provides rich and complex debates about the nature, roots and meaning of evil For anthropology, evil is not only seen as an individual quality, but mainly in the social and cultural dimension Clearly, Faulkner wrote a lot about the evil The villains are ordinary people, but unable to make moral choices, blindly following the community's prejudices That evokes a well-known chilling phrase: “the banality of evil” (Hannah Arendt) The process of dehumanizing people crept especially in images of inhuman crowds Faulkner composed during the time when evil was on the throne, not only in America, but on a worldwide scale However, it would be unfair to assume that Faulkner was desperate for human will On the contrary, he still expressed his beliefs In each of his works, there is often a person who dares to go against the current, or at least, to resist midstream to keep their right of choice Summary of chapter Chapter three focuses on studying human nature - an important category of philosophical anthropology, in Faulkner's novels The topics examined - race, gender, disability and evil, meet at one core: they challenge, question the boundaries of duality (biological/cultural, strong/ weak person, self/other) They are stories of prejudices about human identity With regards to human identity, Faulkner emphasizes the conflicts surrounding self-determination It is the "double consciousness" of color line, the crisis of gender identity, the disparity between people with disabilities and ordinary people, the transformation of good people - devils These endless conflicts are echoes of the crises and turmoil in American society after the Civil War until the beginning of the twentieth century White supremacy, sexism, eugenics, these prejudices, fueled by heartless laws, emerged on a post-war body that had not yet healed and then fell into a great depression Exploring themes of race, gender, disability and evil, Faulkner practices "reading from the other's shoulder" Although inevitably influenced by the cultural prejudices of the community, Faulkner demonstrated his courage and compassion in his writing Chapter MYTH - RITUALS AS THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL FEATURES IN FAULKNER’S NOVELS The final chapter sets the task of understanding the primitive myth - rituals in Faulkner's novels These vestiges and patterns are encapsulated in archetypes In the gothic world of Faulkner's fiction, embodiments of primitive archetypes can be found At the same time, issues of community identity and human nature can all be thought of further, not only from the context of the United States and the modern world, but also interpreted from the primitive memories of humankind 4.1 In the shadow of The Golden Bough: the "meeting" between Faulkner and Frazer Biographical evidence shows that Faulkner was deeply influenced by a great anthropologist, a master of ritual school: James George Frazer, and his lifelong work - The Golden Bough The “meeting” between Faulkner and Frazer, in chapter four, suggests an understanding of Frazer in two ways On the one hand, The Golden Bough is seen as an encyclopedic source of primitive culture to Faulkner's works On the other, the school of ritual criticism pioneered by Frazer provides a theoretical guidance in the study of Faulkner’s novels 4.2 The archetype death - rebirth: a central concept in fictional world In The Golden Bough, myths and rituals are centred around the central theme: death - rebirth It can be said that the dead - rebirth archetype exists as the mother archetype, having the power to reproduce and connect with others In Faulkner's novels, the archetype of death - rebirth plays the role of a central concept, the origin and convergence of a system of other mythical archetypes, symbols, motifs, and metaphors 4.2.1 The decaying state of the human world Faulkner is interested in the life being in its decaying state In his works, the details suggest a gradual death, the doomsday like a destiny But it is remarkable that, at the end of doom, there is a signal of resurrection The archetype death - rebirth incessantly present in word combinations, or the dead-living, disappearing-appearance correlation of characters 4.2.2 Past resurrection and eternal beauty Resurrection in Faulkner's novels bears a relationship to Frazer myth - rituals because the writer always wants to keep life, regenerate beauty even when it is not exhausted and withered In The Golden Bough, Frazer examined the custom of slaying divine kings as soon as signs of his illness or old age appeared In the novels, from images such as shadow, water, pregnancy, etc., the writer creates a biosphere to preserve or regenerate eternal beauty, and that intention is often performed as ritual acts 4.2.3 The impossibility of resurrection: the antidissertation of archetypes Unlike the ancient myth, characters in the Faulkner novels can receive the judgment that he cannot reincarnate! In Caddy, for example, the writer leaves the possibility of different reincarnations open to question: both the inheritance of the original archetype (Caddy was resurrected in the death of Quentin), and the counterargument of the archetype (Caddy violates the taboo and cannot be resurrected) Similarly, the journey to bury Addie, on the one hand, revives the friendship in the myth of King Osiris, when the whole family struggles to mourn the mother, on the other hand, exposes the loneliness and death of the moment living of the mother Faulkner is nostalgic and yearns for the revival of primitive values, but he is also aware that there are things that will never return 4.3 Scapegoat archetype – an explanation of gothic writing From humanity's primitive fear of doom, calamity, and misfortune, people practice rituals to expel evil through an object known as a "scapegoat" The following section examines the archetypes of scapegoat and accusation rituals in Faulkner's novels This archaic and ceremonial reading of the novels provides an additional anthropological interpretation of a prominent feature of his novels: gothic art 4.3.1 “Scapegoat” as an origin of the gothic character The type of gothic character in Faulkner’s novels, from an anthropological point of view, can be traced back to archetypes of scapegoat in primitive culture The archetype embodies these characters in two main manifestations: first, they are seen as those who bear the woes and misfortunes of the whole community; second, they are all abandoned, chased away, persecuted by a visible or invisible mob They were either executed, hunted down, or herded into exile spaces (prisons, asylums) or fell into eternal oblivion (abandoned houses) 4.3.2 Accusation rituals and gothic writing style: dealing with “monstrous otherness” There is a meeting point between the ritual of accusation and gothic art, which is the way of dealing with the "monstrous otherness", with the disadvantaged group, with aspects considered different and, therefore, often equated with darkness, alienation, danger, sin In Faulkner’s novels, the characters who have the appearance of the wrongdoer are often in the disadvantaged group For example, the disabled, the crazy (Benjy, Jim Bond), the hybrid (Joe), the sensitive, the crazy (Darl), the outcast (Joanna, Hightower)… The gothic color of Faulkner's writing, therefore, is not so much in concocting horror mysteries, or myths as spooky, but in presenting the real "otherness" of the human being, and shows that society as a whole treats these "others" with the same contempt as monstrosities Borrowing the archetype of scapegoat and the ritual of accusations, Faulkner desired to tell the story of conscience According to him, people cannot blame the weak group, they need to bravely bear their own sins Summary of chapter The final chapter focuses on the vestiges of primitive myth and rituals, in order to further enhance the anthropological quality of Faulkner's novels Research focuses on understanding the presence of primitive archetypes in his works In the sacred dense shadow on which the Golden Bough falls, we find intimate connections with the writer's style The archetype of death - rebirth as a central concept governs Faulkner's way of constructing the fictional world Faulkner's distinctive feature is that he views the past as a beauty that has declined; he wanted to preserve and perpetuate the beauty of the past, but at the same time, he did not avoid the present He accepted the reality of sins and disasters and wished for the survival and victory of mankind The archetype of scapegoat and the rite of accusations have also been studied as a close association with gothic writing The wrongdoer is read as an origin of gothic characters in Faulkner's novels Returning to the original myth, Faulkner probes the fear of doom and the desire to survive from the depths of human culture He raises the issue of conscience when confronting the tragedy of violence and abuse in the whole community, telling the story from the point of view of both the murderer and the victim Once again, the categories of community identity and humanity are interpreted, in an unfinished journey CONCLUSIONS William Faulkner, an American writer inspiring a history of nearly a century of critical research, continues to draw approaches from the world's diverse theories The practice of receiving Faulkner suggests a quality in his literature: a strong and flexible attachment to cultural life Cultural anthropology, the study of people in a holistic view, with an emphasis on cultural and social aspects, has responded to the need for a holistic approach to Faulkner's literature From these initial perceptions, we hypothesize that Faulkner's compositions, specifically his novels, are an object of study suitable for the approach of cultural anthropology The first result of the dissertation is an overview on cultural anthropology as a theory with high applicability in literary research Since in the early twentieth century, anthropology and literature has shared a preoccupation with myth and primitive culture, leading to the birth and flourishing of mythological criticism in the first half of the century In the second half of the twentieth century, the central intersection of anthropology and literature shifted to the issue of culture's writing style, symbolism and interpretation Reading from anthropology offers a broad perspective to literary studies and, at the same time, requires suitable methods and subjects Also in the first chapter, the dissertation outlines the movement in Faulkner's reception: from the tendency of "close reading" in the first few decades to the "theory era" and the interdisciplinary and global trends in the present The scope of the materials covered by the dissertation, however small, allows the reader to speculate on a rich history of previous Faulkner studies from the perspective of cultural anthropology And because the anthropology always contains extensive interdisciplinary connections, such a long history of research does not narrow the way, on the contrary, suggests a lot of rich and valuable thinking directions for the dissertation to inherit From the theoretical and practical basis mentioned above, the dissertation uses the theory of cultural anthropology as a theorical basis to approach Faulkner's novels, which focuses on four works that are considered canonical in his legacy Interpretive anthropology is considered as a methodology throughout the dissertation A specific theoretical framework of cultural anthropology is also proposed for reading Faulkner's novels, in which, three key concepts are involved: community identity, human nature and myth - rituals From an anthropological point of view, we looked at the novelist Faulkner as an anthropologist who penetrated cultural life, interpreted and dialogued with it His works not only reflect anthropological knowledge, but also writer's conceptions of the core human issues of anthropology: community identity and human nature Yoknapatawpha in Faulkner's novels is the place to mark his "thick description" towards his homeland - the American Deep South Faulkner chose to stop at the historical juncture of the South the Civil War, and its remnants, to penetrate the past memory as well as the dilemma in the cultural life of the South The analysis of the facts about the human life has shed light on Faulkner's interpretations of a more fundamental issue: the identity of the American South - a system of characteristics that make up the identity of Southern people, which is deeply rooted in tradition and constantly subject to the currents These identity features are wrapped in a set of keywords with two main pillars: past burden and agrarian culture In the community memory, the past is synonymous with lost beauty, and is associated with curses and sins The South, carrying the burden of the past, is a land of pride, nostalgia, melancholy, a wounded body with a victimcriminal complex That burden of the past, in turn, constantly collided, causing problems as the South faced reality The reality of the South is full of duality, ambivalence This land has become conservative, stubborn, and pathetic due to ride and nostalgia But in another aspect, it is the long- standing aristocratic bourgeois character and that pride that give them the inner strength, to persevere, to be indomitable His sense of exploration of Southern identity throughout history made Faulkner the spiritual leader of Southern Renaissance literature His contribution was to define a new stance and approach to the culture of this land Refusing to look at by romanticism, illusion or distortion of history, Faulkner advocates an attitude of honesty, rigor and courage, facing a painful past and a harsh present This finding opens a broader field of association for studies on the behavior of American literature with the national past Faulkner's novels not only deeply describe the identity of the American South, but also the writer's interpretations of the categories of human nature - a key issue of philosophical anthropology Prominent themes in Faulkner's novels are race, gender, disability, and evil These concepts, from an anthropological perspective, meet at a core point: they challenge, question the lines of duality (biology/culture, strong/weak, self/other) ) They are stories of prejudices around identity He queries and interprets the ambivalent, unresolved state: the "double consciousness" of color line, the crisis of gender identity, the disparity between people with disabilities and ordinary people, the transition between good and evil These neverending conflicts are echoes of terrible crises and turmoil in American society after the Civil War until the beginning of the twentieth century Upon exploring the realm of disadvantaged groups (black people, women, people with disabilities, criminals), we appreciate Faulkner's courage and compassion when he dared to "read from other’s shoulder" Faulkner's interpretations of these topics, however, are inevitably influenced by the cultural prejudices of his community This explains the controversial paradoxes in his novels Viewed from this perspective, the influence of cultural prejudices on literary works is a potential approach After examining Faulkner's interpretations of community identity and human nature - fundamental categories of cultural anthropology, the last chapter of the dissertation is dedicated to studying vestiges of myth and rituals, as an enhancement of the anthropological quality of Faulkner's novels These myths and rituals preserved in archetypes that, in turn, are reincarnated in Faulkner's novels, influencing the way the writer constructs the figurative world and creates gothic colors The legendary biosphere - primitive ritual create a unique beauty for Faulkner's novels, making them close to anthropology in the journey back to the origin of human culture Anthropological theory, with its interdisciplinary nature and extreme elasticity, is both an opportunity and a challenge for theoretical practices The openness of theory creates opportunities for mobilizing other interdisciplinary knowledge to read literature: history, sociology, psychology, philosophy, religion Within that wide range, a specific work such as a dissertation, when it calls itself “from the perspective of cultural anthropology”, is just one of a number of extensions of different interpretations based on this theory However, we are also aware that it is these extensions that may easily cause distractions To ensure a centered journey, researchers need to equip themselves with additional knowledge and anthropological stance, which is surely a challenge Anthropology is “an excellent way, interesting, dismaying, useful and amusing, to expend a life” In his memoirs about his life devoted to anthropology, Clifford Geertz reflected on anthropology as a way of life William Faulkner, upon receiving the honor, thought of literature as "a life’s work in the agony and sweat of the human spirit" Perhaps, at the end of the dissertation' journey, it is possible to recall the poetic quality of anthropology: like literature, it is a story of way of life and writing In particular, the spirit of interpretive anthropology is closer to literature, when it always respects the subjectivity of the writer-reader, and is tolerant of the cultural reading-writing journey In the tolerance of interpretive anthropology, the author identifies herself as a person who initially practices observing - participating, trying to write her own interpretation, from "interesting" and "dismaying” experience, and look forward to the next dialogues on the journey of anthropologicalliterary interpretation PERSONAL PUBLICATIONS Hồ Thị Vân Anh (2017), “Mơ hồ sinh thái tiểu thuyết William Faulkner”, Kỷ yếu Hội thảo quốc tế Phê bình sinh thái: Tiếng nói địa - Tiếng nói tồn cầu, Viện Văn học, Nxb Khoa học Xã hội, tháng 12 năm 2017, tr 998-1016 Hồ Thị Vân Anh (2017), “William Faulkner - Patrick Modiano Những phiêu lưu ký ức”, sách Lê Từ Hiển (chủ biên) (2017), Văn học so sánh - Từ ô cửa đến chân trời, Nxb Khoa học xã hội, tr 360-370 Hồ Thị Vân Anh (2018), “The Human in William Faulkner’s Novels: An Ecological Anthropological Approach”, Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Sciences and Social Sciences 2017 Innovative Research for Stability, Prosperity and Sustainability, 11,12 January 2018, Thailand Hồ Thị Vân Anh (2020), “Cảm thức vĩnh viễn tiểu thuyết Âm cuồng nộ William Faulkner”, in sách Lê Từ Hiển (chủ biên) (2020), Văn học giới: tiếp biến đối thoại, Nxb Khoa học xã hội, tr 275-289 Hồ Thị Vân Anh (2020), “Lịch sử nghiên cứu William Faulkner phác thảo hành trình xu hướng”, Tạp chí Khoa học Trường Đại học Sư phạm Hà Nội, Tập 65, số (2020), tr 18-28 Hồ Thị Vân Anh (2020), “Nhân học văn chương - Phác thảo lịch sử lí thuyết ứng dụng liên ngành”, Tạp chí Lí luận Phê bình văn học - nghệ thuật, số (2020), tr 66-72 Ho Thi Van Anh (2021), “William Faulkner and the Search for American Southern Identity: An Anthropological Approach”, VNU Journal of Foreign Studies, Vol 37, No (2021), pp 11-28 Hồ Thị Vân Anh (2021), “Tự màu da “tâm thức kép” tiểu thuyết William Faulkner”, Tạp chí Khoa học Trường Đại học Sư phạm Hà Nội, tập 66, số (2021), tr 40-49 Nguyễn Thị Thanh Hiếu (chủ biên), Hồ Thị Vân Anh, Nguyễn Thị Xuân Quỳnh, Nguyễn Thị Hồi Thu (2021), Giáo trình Văn học Âu - Mĩ, Nxb Đại học Vinh ISBN 978-604-923-584-9 10 Taylor Hagood (2021), “Dự đoán xu hướng nghiên cứu Faulkner tương lai” (Hồ Thị Vân Anh dịch), Tạp chí Nghiên cứu văn học, số 11 (597), tr 112-117 ... Anh (2017), “Mơ hồ sinh thái tiểu thuyết William Faulkner? ??, Kỷ yếu Hội thảo quốc tế Phê bình sinh thái: Tiếng nói địa - Tiếng nói tồn cầu, Viện Văn học, Nxb Khoa học Xã hội, tháng 12 năm 2017,... Vân Anh (2020), “Cảm thức vĩnh viễn tiểu thuyết Âm cuồng nộ William Faulkner? ??, in sách Lê Từ Hiển (chủ biên) (2020), Văn học giới: tiếp biến đối thoại, Nxb Khoa học xã hội, tr 275-289 Hồ Thị Vân... Hồ Thị Vân Anh (2017), ? ?William Faulkner - Patrick Modiano Những phiêu lưu ký ức”, sách Lê Từ Hiển (chủ biên) (2017), Văn học so sánh - Từ ô cửa đến chân trời, Nxb Khoa học xã hội, tr 360-370