威廉·福克纳被视为一位南方作家,他的创作常被解读为对美国南方,特别是密西西比这一独特区域内的人物、冲突和历史的反映;但同时他的创作中也具有国际性和普遍性的主题。福克纳与中国现当代文学四位作家苏童、沈从文、莫言、余华的创作在“命运与自由”“个人与群体”“可利用的过去”以及“忍耐”四个层面上蕴含了“国际性”和“普遍性”的主题。
For much of his writing career, William Faulkner was considered primarily if not exclusively a "Southern" author, focusing on the characters, conflicts, and history unique to his native region, the American South, specifically Mississippi. In recent years, however, there has been a groundswell of interest in viewing Faulkner from an international rather than a regional perspective. This paper examines some of the key themes and characteristics of Faulkner's works that can be labeled as "international" or "universal" rather than "Southern" or even "American." The points of the paper are underscored by demonstrating similarities in Faulkner's works to four novels written by Chinese authors.