way, Faulkner's experimental techniques lack a theoretical rationale
and are not employed consistently. All the same, Faulkner is an
experimental craftsman of the highest order, and his use of the
interior monologue and related forms deserves an honored place in
the history of the psychological novel. A pragmatist in matters of
craft, Faulkner is more anxious to create forceful narrative effects
than to achieve the greatest possible degree of realism or to speak
philosophically about man and his social world. Occasionally his
plot situations are melodramatic, his style is florid, and his charac-
terization is sentimental. But in Faulkner's best work these weak-
nesses are avoided or adequately compensated for by dramatic
power and by strength of characterization and theme.

THE FUNCTION of Yoknapatawpha County, Faulkner's private
narrative universe, can be described in various ways. From one
point of view it is the aggregate of the characters, events, and social
themes found in isolated County novels. By establishing a common
environment, and by using elaborate cross references, Faulkner
persuades the reader that each separate work deals with only one
feature of a unified imaginative world. On the one hand Yokna-
patawpha is a clear analogue or microcosm of the Deep South,
sharing that region's history and traditions. On the other hand it
serves as a vehicle for moral and social commentary, enabling
Faulkner to explain the South's tragic failure. In this way underlying
atmospheres both of social realism and of social allegory are sup-
plied to novels where characterization is stylized and moral prob-
lems unrealistically defined. Thus the County novels may be said to
comprise a single prose epic, in which the opposition between his-
tory and allegory is effectively resolved.

Yet it cannot be assumed that Faulkner deliberately created his
fictional world in order to unify a number of scattered and other-
wise heterogeneous works. The development of Yoknapatawpha
County may be traced to Faulkner's early tendency to favor the
short story or episodic mode of narration. Prior to World War II a
large proportion of his work consisted of groups of short stories
closely related in subject matter and theme. One important novel,
The Hamlet, is based almost wholly upon previously published
stories, and its sequel, The Town, incorporates two such stories into

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