<Article>The Access to Life's Flux : A Study of Hightower in Light in August in Reference to Henri Bergson and Jeremy Taylor

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Faulkner's familiarity with the philosophy of Henri Bergson has been pointed out already by some critics. On the other hand, I have presented evidence to demonstrate the influence of the theology of Jeremy Taylor, a seventeenth century theologian, on Faulkner repeatedly in my previous paper. The aim of this paper is a modest attempt to interpret how the influence of Bergson and that of Jeremy Taylor are united in Faulkner's view of the world through the character of Hightower in Light in August. When we interpret the character Hightower in Light in August using Bergsonian concepts, we may understand Hightower's awakening from "dead life" into a sort of life by way of intuition when he sympathizes with Mrs. Hines, who is distressed by the destiny of her grandson, Joe Christmas. On the other hand the interpretation of Light in August in reference to Jeremy Taylor, explains Hightower's turning to the light of God by facing his sense of sin directly. If we find correspondence in the relevance of Bergson's elan vital and Taylor's concept of omnipresence of God's love which radiates at any moment, both interpretations make an organic whole of Faulkner's world where the key to life lies in love in order to join in the great reality of God, in Bergsonian words in duration by way of intuition, "intellectual sympathy." This conclusion completely matches Faulkner's own belief that man seeks love to be one with some universal force.
2002-03-23