The influx of modernism has subverted the narrative method of traditional novels. The author's exploration of the potential of narrative time, space and formal skills makes the narrative of the novel no longer single, but turns to richness and diversity. The classic status of Faulkner's novels is rooted in such a creative context. The exploration of spatial form and narrative time makes his creations have the meaning of formal experimentation, and presents a unique and avant-garde aesthetic at the narrative level.

　　1. Complex and changeable spatial forms

　　Traditional narratives spread out plots along linear time clues, while space only exists in the text as the silent background of narratives. Modernist techniques subvert the traditional narrative concept of time theory as the core, and transform significant Spatial awareness is introduced into the text. William Faulkner's development of the potential of space form is from multiple perspectives. Space is not only a concrete space of real meaning, but also a space of formal meaning that carries complex narrative meaning, reflecting the writer's profound understanding of the society of the times. insight.

　　Faulkner's creation of spatial forms is unique. He continued Frank's theory of juxtaposition space, and by creating multiple perspectives of connection with multiple spaces to enrich the text, he completed his speech on the same subject from different sides, so as to achieve The effect of enriching the narrative level of the novel. For example, in The Sound and the Restless, Faulkner set up three narrators with different identities in the first three parts, respectively telling the many events that happened in the Compson family in three days, leading readers to explore this old-fashioned southern family. history of decline. These narrators not only have different identities, but their narration time is not coherent: Benjy narrates the past growth experiences of family members, and the depressed and depressed atmosphere of the old house sets the tone of their lives; Quentin narrates the It is the process of Katie being deceived and abandoned and the impact of this scandal on the family, as well as the pain caused by it; Jason tells about the development of the family after Katie's departure, the family that has suffered changes It's like living in ruins. The multi-angle narration constructs an "orange petal" spatial form in the text. The stories told by different narrators present different aspects of the Compson family and their old house, but their narration has the same direction - the history of the rise and fall of the family. . Each "orange petal" and the time and space it symbolizes are independent, yet closely aggregated, forming a whole around the same subject. The complex meaning space enables the novel to acquire the aesthetic meaning of narratology in addition to the content, and different narrative voices constitute the spatial form of "crowded voices".

　　At the same time, the complex spatial form constructed by Faulkner not only has the significance of narratology, but also constitutes the internal driving force to promote the development of the plot, which implies the writer's secret expression and reflection on the history of the times. For example, in A Rose for Emily, the juxtaposition of dual time and space carries different cultural codes, driving the development of the storyline between conflict and fusion. In the text, "old-fashioned manor with lush trees", "cotton loader", "declined monument", "giant chimney with billowing smoke", and "roar of machines" respectively represent the agricultural civilization space in the south and the agricultural civilization in the north. The industrial civilization space and the juxtaposed double space burst out with huge discourse tension due to historical entanglement, cultural heterogeneity and conflict of characters. At the same time, social space has the energy of cultural radiation, which not only provides the scene of the protagonist's activities, but also marks and restricts the protagonist's speech and behavior. The protagonist Emily's refusal to pay taxes and post house numbers reflects the confrontation between the "South" and "North" in the reconstruction of social order in the history of the times. Her behavior not only has the meaning of sticking to herself at the personal level, but also reflects The imprint of the times in the overall social change. The juxtaposed double space silently witnesses the transformation of social order and the divergence of economic structure, and precipitates the writer's reflection on the advantages and disadvantages of agricultural economy and industrial civilization. It is worth noting that Faulkner does not open up Emily's contradictory psychological world in depth, nor does it describe her external appearance in detail, which is completely different from the method of forming characters in traditional novels. We can even say that the existence of the protagonist Emily is spatial in itself - she is isomorphic with the gloomy and outdated old Gleason house and the Jefferson town full of old southern scenery, all of which represent the expansion of industrial civilization in the north The traditional social space of the South that will soon disappear. And "Absalom! Absalom! "Quentin and other figures with southern cultural backgrounds also have significant spatial characteristics. They carry profound southern traditional cultural genes. Faulkner bluntly stated that their "body itself is an empty hall... ...and it was filled with stubborn souls from the old days". The existence of Quentin and others as individuals is thin, and their appearance is to reproduce the old "South" in the current time and space, and to build a special cultural space that can connect "this time" and "then then".

　　The intervention of modernist techniques made the spatial awareness of Faulkner's novels manifest. By creating multiple juxtaposed spaces, he subverted the narrative method of traditional novels with linear time-structured stories, bringing literary recipients a richer aesthetic experience. . He establishes a close connection between the characters and the narrative space where they are located, making the space break through the background meaning of flatness, showing the important influence of space as a cultural carrier on the shaping of characters, and reflecting the endowment and creative talent of writers in the A conscious exploration of novel form and technique.

　　2. Flowing

　　Narrative Time The construction of narrative time contains the unique psychological momentum of the creative subject, which reflects the subject, so as to understand the internal psychological mechanism and cultural complex of the external world. William Faulkner's construction of narrative time implies his inherent subjective appeal. Faulkner's nostalgia for southern civilization makes Faulkner instinctively reject the linear time order, because in the face of evolutionary time, what the writer is familiar with and attached to. The southern manor world, the old-fashioned moral system and the identity ethics of gentlemen and ladies are bound to fade and even destroy. However, Faulkner's subversion of linear time does not mean to completely reject the flow of time, but to replace real time with psychological time, highlighting the flow of consciousness of characters in developing time.

　　Based on his understanding of the eternity of time, Faulkner does not agree that human cognition can holistically understand and even grasp time, and his unique view of time makes him pay special attention to the time that can be perceived by human senses, that is, psychological time. Narrative time in his novels is often in a state of flux. It is difficult for readers to clarify the sequence of the development of narrative time. They can only feel the flow of time by relying on the narrator's psychological activities. For example, in The Sound and the Restless, Benji, Quentin and Jason’s first-person narrative completely ignores the flow rules of objective time, and simply uses the narrator’s psychological time to advance the development of the story. , The disordered picture is reproduced in the narrator's words. In Benji's narration, he sometimes whimpered because he couldn't smell the familiar "smell of trees" in the old house, sometimes he thought of his sister Katie's tender embrace and fell into hopeless thoughts, and sometimes he recalled Jason's destruction of Sad memories and fears when I was playing with my own toys. The narrator's narration subverts the linear sequence, presents various pictures along the flow of his consciousness, constantly shuttles between "then" and "now", but the receiver has to understand his sad and painful psychology. At this time, the specific plot of the story is gradually diluted, and the narrative time, which is constantly dancing with the emotional flow and psychological changes of the protagonist, is more clearly perceived by readers, and the aesthetic meaning of the time form is also discovered. The narration time of the text in the second chapter with Quentin as the narrator has a more profound meaning. Quentin came to the predetermined place before ending his own life, and constantly recalled everything about Katie along the way. Narrative time flows with the change of its psychological mood, showing typical characteristics of stream of consciousness. However, what Faulkner wants to show in Quentin is not the pure psychological flow of time like Bengui, but the influence of the superposition of "past" time on "present". Faulkner shows Quentin's painful past in fragments through the flow of psychological time, just to reveal his life state trapped in the past, and his inevitable outcome induced by the "inertia effect of time". The flow of narrative time has different narrative functions due to the different narrative motivations of the creative subjects, showing the rich narrative potential of the time form.

　　Bergson's "mental time" theory points out that psychological narrative time can not only be independently constructed by a specific subject, but also can be jointly constructed by different narrative subjects along a common aspect, intervening from different angles to realize narrative time. flow and sway. And Faulkner's response to "Absalom! Absalom! The construction of narration time in the book is undoubtedly meaningful. He arranged four different narrators to tell the story of the same protagonist, showing different aspects of the protagonist due to the changes in the narrator's psychological time. Of several different narrators, Rosa resents Thadben's union with her sister, and focuses on Thadben's adult life experiences, where she portrays Thadben as "a devil from an unknown place, a whole With that eccentric habit in the day", the narration sometimes flashes fierce accusations against Sudben; Mr. Compson focuses on describing the life course of Suadben after his struggle. His own industry is a typical character of southern heroism; while Quentin tells about the experience of Sadeben when he was young, and most of the stories in it are narrated by others, so it seems very fragmented; the last one is very fragmented. The narrator, Shi Lifu, tells Sadeben with a completely personal understanding, and believes that he has an extraordinary dedication to the authority of southern civilization and a considerable narcissism complex. Based on the memories of different narrators, readers can get close to Sadeben in various time and space from different time nodes, and constantly reverse their basic impressions, forming a final understanding of their characters in the changing time. It is worth noting that "Absalom! Absalom! The fluid narrative time in the book did not interfere with the reader's understanding of Mr. Sadeben, but reflected the multiple sides of the protagonist like a prism. Faulkner's shaping of Sadeben not only transformed the plane image into a three-dimensional figure, but also It is a character who has created an infinitely changing "rubik's cube" style. He was a winner in his career and a loser in his family; he was a progressive industrialist and nostalgic with an obsessive affection for the Old South. Characters present completely different image characteristics in the narration of different narrators, showing their lives in various time and space, so that the novel presents a complex network structure centered on abstract characters.

　　The flowing narrative time not only endows Faulkner's novels with the characteristics of stream of consciousness, but also enriches the narrative structure and perspective of his novels, reaching a higher artistic realm. At the same time, the psychological time in Faulkner's novels also subverts the reader's single linear understanding of time, revealing the nature of time and its infinite understanding.

　　3. Symbolic images with profound meaning

　　Faulkner is good at conveying his subjective feelings through symbolic images with profound meanings. His symbolic image embodies a strong southern complex, reflects the writer's reflection on reality and understanding of history, and plays an important role in the shaping of the characters in the novel and the expression of the theme.

　　Among the numerous symbolic images in Faulkner's novels, the most striking are its thematic symbols and narrative symbols. The former is a metaphor for the main idea of ​​the whole novel, or becomes the organic composition of the novel's theme, and represents the writer's overall understanding of reality or history. For example, "clocks" are classic thematic symbols in Faulkner's novels, which represent the writer's understanding of time and history, and play an important role in the expression of the "Southern theme" in his novels. Emily, the protagonist in "A Rose for Emily", carries a delicate "clock" with her, "the slender golden strap is twisted and twisted, and the hanging clock falls into the folds of the clothes. went". Emily's neglect of "clocks" symbolizes the protagonist's concealment of the real time, a metaphor for the instinctive resistance of the entire southern society to the torrent of the rolling times after the Civil War. And this symbolism is more clearly shown in "The Sound and the Restless", Quentin often hears "the watch is ticking in his arms, this old watch was left to me by my father, and it was also made by my grandfather. In the hands of my father.” The inheritance between the fathers implies that this “clock” is not only a symbol of time, but also a symbol of the tradition of the Compson family and the rich history of the South. The heavy watch became a heavy burden on Quentin's heart, preventing him from breaking free from the traditional habits of southern civilization, even if he "slammed the glass surface of the watch into the corner of the table", hoping to break away from the family tradition by destroying the "clock". Binding with the heavy history of the South, in the end, it was impossible to give up "picking up the debris scattered on the ground". The act of destroying "clocks" not only symbolizes Quentin's desire to stop the passage of time and delay the destruction of southern civilization, but also symbolizes that he faces the impact of industrial civilization and deeply realizes that the old traditions and order of the South will inevitably become history. know. This kind of love-hate intertwined, inseparable ambivalence and historical understanding not only reveal the tragic fate of Quentin himself, but also profoundly clarify the theme of the novel.

　　The latter is also the narrative image, which shapes the image of the characters with rich implication, enriches the atmosphere of the environment, and plays an important role in the specific narrative of the novel. For example, in "There Was Such a Queen", the narrator's point of view first touches on "the bright flowers transplanted from the southern garden, shyly holding out their white petals", and then falls on the "white flowers from the distant Sa The Torres family came to the beautiful girl in town" Jenny. The "jasmine flower" "transplanted from the southern garden" not only symbolizes the beautiful and pure appearance of Jenny from the south, but also symbolizes the loyal and pure moral concept she upholds like the jasmine flower. The hidden relationship between natural creatures and characters makes readers Intuitively experience the beauty of the protagonist; and in "Rose of Lebanon", "the ballroom full of young men and women is full of bright red roses, like clusters of fires of love that are about to be ignited, and like There are tragic scars everywhere", the warm red symbolizes the surging enthusiasm between young men and women, and also symbolizes the fate of these young officers participating in the dance who are about to set foot on the battlefield to protect the South and accept the test of war in the hail of bullets . The symbolic meaning of "red rose" not only sets off the romantic atmosphere in the narrative, but also secretly promotes the development of the subsequent plot, opening the reader to the wonderful door of novel art with rich meanings.

　　Faulkner's novels are full of strong modernism, and the changeable spatial forms make the novels have the beauty of complex structure, and the flowing narrative time presents his precise grasp of the complex psychological changes of the characters. At the same time, he reflects on the social changes of the times with profound historical feelings, and actively explores new ways of reconstructing the moral system, making his novels sparkling with eternal artistic charm due to the organic unity of form and content.