1
Dr. ANCA PEIU,
ROMANIA
REPRESENTATIONS OF THE SOUTH
IN WILLIAM FAULKNER’S UNCOLLECTED STORIES
BACKGROUND
Faulkner has been one of the most widely translated American writers in Romania and one who has received more critical attention than most. Suffice is to say that in the mid-1960s, the Romanian literary critic, Sorin Alexandrescu, published one of the path-breaking critical studies on Faulkner, the first to approach his work from a structuralist perspective. However, the Romanians missed or ignored the impact produced by the publication, in 1997, of a volume of Uncollected Stories of William Faulkner, edited by Joseph Blotner, which cast new light on his monumental work and called for fresh, critical insights.The book came out on the wave of a growinginterest in the critical reassessment of modernism and the obsession with cultural identity, which had already made of Faulkner’s work a case study in the relation between modernism and postmodernism(see, for instance, Walter Benn Michaels’ seminal book Our America (1995) which startsits critique of the excessive commitment to cultural identity vs. racial identity from the example of The Sound and the Fury). My present project is based on my endeavor to complete a critical edition of Faulkner’s uncollected stories in my Romanian translation to be published by RAO International Publishing Company, and to use this edition as a springboard for a cultural approach to Faulkner’s work in general and an inquiry into his representations of Southern culture.
Starting with my Ph.D. dissertation, “ Aspects of Narratology in William Faulkner and Thomas Mann “ (1999), I have dedicated a significant part of my career to Faulkner, in my capacity as literary critic, university professor, editor and translator of his works in Romania. While my translation of the Uncollected Stories is almost done, the critical study and the footnotes of the critical edition are part of the project I intend to accomplish in the United States.
OBJECTIVES
My project has three main objectives: 1. To provide the critical commentary to my edition of Faulkner’s Uncollected Stories and in doing so to posit a cultural reading of Faulkner, that would facilitate access not only to Faulkner but also to Southern culture; 2. To do related research work for an Encyclopedia of Southern Culture in Faulkner’s Uncollected Stories to be published by the Bucharest University Press; 3. To use my research for a graduate course on Faulkner and Southern culture to be offered to graduate students at the Center for American Studies, University of Bucharest.
My Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, which I began to work on, will take as model
The Encyclopedia of Southern Culture (Mary L. Hart) published as a single volume in 1989, and more especially the new edition (The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture) issued as a series of individual topical volumes: Religion, History, Geography, Environment, Myth, manners and memory, Language, Foodways, of which, unfortunately, I could find only one in Romania. Based on these examples I plan to develop a particular aspect of Southern culture, namely Society and Stereotypes. My study will equally address Southern culture and Faulkner’s work, being based on the relationship between the uncollected stories and his published work, distinguishing between common aspects and stereotypes with a focus on those aspects of Southern culture that were treated only or predominantly in the uncollected stories. My students have already reacted enthusiastically at my idea of writing such an encyclopedia.
Needless to say, the critical and theoretical sourcesavailable here, in Romania, for such a demanding enterprise are hardly satisfactory.
Finding models, taking advise from Faulkner scholars, having access to the new directions in Faulkner criticism and having a direct contact with Southern culture, even if a short one, are essential elements for the success of my enterprise.
METHODOLOGY
My project has got a triple purpose:
a)one of documentation and research for The Encyclopedia of the South–which presupposes intense study of the entire available data concerning this topic
b)one of documentation and research for the Romanian edition of William Faulkner’s Uncollected Stories – followed by
c)the establishing of those particular aspects of the Deep South culture, rendered by William Faulkner in his Uncollected Stories – which I intend to emphasize from a viewpoint focusing on such items as society and stereotypes.
In so doing I mean to enlarge and complete the Romanian readership’s awareness of this
cultural entity, i.e. the Deep South, as in our country William Faulkner has been approached exclusively from either a mythical perspective, or from a formalist one, relying on his stylistic virtuosity. I am certain that by applying this new pattern of analysis, on a contemporary basis of identity aspects, such as those of society and stereotypes, the work of William Faulkner will be rediscovered by the Romanian readers of today.
This will complete my endeavor of editing the works of William Faulkner for the RAO International Publishing Company. So far they have published in this series such books as: The Hamlet, The Town, The Mansion, Flags in the Dust – to all of which I have provided the introductory studies, the chronology and the notes. William Faulkner’s Uncollected Stories will demandmy double effort: of translating them into Romanian – for the first time, and of presenting them to our audience with the required critical support – which can only be supplied from the best academic sources in the USA. As our readers have become familiarized only with the great novels of William Faulkner, I am positive they are genuinely interested in the stories in which all these celebrated novels originate.
My intended interdisciplinary teaching of William Faulkner will also benefit from my planned and hoped for research activity in the USA. The criticism and theory existing now in my country can hardly provide the basis for it.
As for The Encyclopedia of the South that I hope to find the documentation for – this will be achieved with the enthusiastic support and cooperation of my students.
My proposed research can be described as both qualitative and quantitative. Enhancing the quality of William Faulkner studies in Romania has become a requirement for all students of American culture. At the same time, by refreshing the approaches to such a complex canonical literary personality, we can only add up to its richness and depth.
I intend to rely on library and archival research, of course. But my best hope is to make the acquaintance of some of the main American authorities in William Faulkner studies, such as Richard C. Moreland of LouisianaStateUniversity, Diane Roberts of the University of Alabama, David H. Evans of the University of Calgary, and others. Talking to them personally – after having read and studied and admired their insight in Faulkner’s narrative art – would be my exquisite piece of good luck in my career of a Romanian student, teacher and translator of William Faulkner.
SIGNIFICANCE
In Romania, William Faulkner’s rediscovered fiction requires a new approach as a cultural text rather than one confined to its literary boundaries. This presupposes contemporary criticism and theory, which are only available in the American academic medium. Likewise, once the translation into Romanian of Faulkner’s Uncollected Stories gets published, its readers are entitled to specific criticism regarding this particular segment of Faulkner’s work. This criticism is nonexistent here for the time being. I consider it to be my responsibility as the first translator into Romanian of these American stories to also provide the most authoritative critical support for this first edition of the book in our country.
The Encyclopedia of the American South for Romanian students, which I have started working on, demands the best documentation. This can only be achieved by some thorough research at American universities, which would hopefully result in expanding our Romanian students’ knowledge in this cultural field of major interest.
Finally, my course of interdisciplinary teaching of William Faulkner’s works will definitely get improved by this privileged American academic experience. As I have only once benefitted from this, when granted an IREX grant at Cornell University, Ithaca, in 1994, when I was writing my doctoral dissertation on William Faulkner, I can only say that the impact of research at an American university on the mind of someone involved in teaching American literature to Romanian students cannot be overestimated. It is simply decisive for anyone ready to make the best and the most of the chance.
EVALUATION AND DISSEMINATION
Not even his Uncollected Stories could escape William Faulkner’s narrative genius and virtuosity. His Romanian readership can only be pleased to get this (re)confirmation of a canonic American writer in today’s Romanian version. This I consider my main task to accomplish – and it can only be done properly with the right critical support, to be obtained directly from the American source.
The Encyclopedia of the American South for Romanian readers has got two categories of target audience: our students – both graduates and undergraduates – at the University of Bucharest, Romania, and the anonymous readers, who are becoming more and more numerous these days, and whose interest in aspects of American culture has never been greater. I am positive that this research at an American university is the only way by means of which I can fulfill my task in this respect.
As a teacher of American literature I can appreciate that there can be no replacement to the kind of research an American university can offer. My students attending the course on William Faulkner, but also my course of 19th century American literature, will definitely profit and get the best from the updating documentation improving the quality of my classes.
JUSTIFICATION FOR RESIDENCE IN THE USA FOR THE PROPOSED PROJECT
Residence in the USA during my hoped for eight months’ research is practically vital.
For all the possibilities of getting cultural information by electronic means, as long as one teaches American literature and various aspects of American culture, there is hardly any hope to reach and maintain a certain professional standard without an academic experience at the very source of documentation.
Moreover, recent literary and cultural theory and criticism are a necessity for any new edition of a translation from a major writer of world literature, such as William Faulkner. I can hardly hope to accomplish my task here, in Romania, as a specialist in Faulkner’s work, without the compulsory experience of the American South – beside the American academic experience, demanded by my job.
An Encyclopedia of the American South remains a projection of some necessarily real contact with that part of the world it describes and defines. I believe this is the only convincing way in which it can be put down on paper: after some research done during some stay there.
DURATION
I think that my project can be accomplished during an eight months’ residence in the USA. It should be given the chance to develop in the directions of all my three main purposes of academic research which have been mentioned above.
It is my hope that I am going to find there – beside the cultural information I seek – all the moral support and encouragement of professors and colleagues involved in similar activities of teaching, study and research.
Less than eight months would not be enough for the three major targets of my project: getting the critical support for the Uncollected Stories of William Faulkner, finding as much material for the Encyclopedia of the American South for Romanian Students, and getting my interdisciplinary course on William Faulkner improved and supplied with new material.
ENGLISH PROFICIENCY
I teach all my classes at the University of Bucharest in English. I have also taught classes of English at the same university.
I graduated from this university in 1986 – as my cv shows – in English major, German minor.
I am a professional translator of literary texts from English into Romanian.
OTHER
I do not need any special means of transportation for my didactic material.
CURRICULUM VITAE 2010
ANCA GEORGETA PEIU
Born in Bucharest, Romania, April 18, 1960
EDUCATION
1999, Ph D in Philology, Comparative Literature, University of Bucharest, Romania
1986, Licence (MA) in English, University of Bucharest, Romania, Faculty of Foreign Languages &
Literatures, English & German Languages & Literatures
1979, Baccalaureat, Scoala Centrala, CentralHigh School, Bucharest, Romania
TEACHING APPOINTMENTS
2002-2010, Associate Professor of American Literature (19th & 20th centuries) at the University
of Bucharest, Romania, Faculty of Foreign Languages, Dept. of English
1995-2002, Lecturer (i.e. non-tenured Associate Professor)of American Literature (19th & 20th
centuries), of American Civilization (18th & 19th centuries), the English Language - at
the same Dept.
1991-1995, Assistant Professor of American Literature (19th & 20th centuries), American
Civilization (18th & 19th centuries), British Literature (20th century), the English
Language, at the same Dept.
1990-1991, Teacher of English and German at the Pedagogical High School, Bucharest,
Romania
1986-1989, Translator at a Foreign Trade Company (“Electroexportimport”, Bucharest,
Romania) – a non-teaching appointment
GRANTS AND SCHOLARSHIPS
2008-2009, August-May, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA, senior
Fulbright research grant
1994, November-December, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA, IREX research grant
1993, October-December, University of Warwick, England, UK, a research grant from the
British Council
1991, October-November, University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, Institute for Applied
Language Studies, a Soros research grant
MEMBERSHIP
ESSE (European Society for the Study of English)
RAAS (Romanian Association for American Studies)
PUBLICATIONS:
- BOOKS PUBLISHED
1. TRECUTUL TIMPULUI PERFECT: DE LA THOMAS MANN LA WILLIAM FAULKNER(THE PAST OF A TIME PERFECT: FROM THOMAS MANN TO WILLIAM FAULKNER),Editura Universitatii Bucuresti (University of Bucharest Publishing House), 2001, ISBN 973-575-504-1, 220 pages; the text of my doctoral dissertation on comparative narratology.
2. “AFTER THE FINAL NO”: THE WORLD OF WALLACE STEVENS, Editura Universitatii din Bucuresti (University of Bucharest Publishing House), 2001, ISBN 973-575-610-2, 168 pages
B. ACADEMIC ESSAYS
Preface: “Proză de sertar”(Fiction left unpublished) to the vol.POVESTIRI INEDITE (STORIES LEFT UNPUBLISHED) by William Faulkner, translated into Romanian by Anca Peiu;Bucharest, RAO International Publishing Company, 2009; ISBN 978-973-54-0095-8; pp. 9-24.
Chronology and notes to the vol. POVESTIRI INEDITE (STORIES LEFT UNPUBLISHED) by William Faulkner, translated into Romanian by Anca Peiu; Bucharest, RAO International Publishing Company, 2009; ISBN 978-973-54-0095-8; pp. 25-40.
“(Re)Writings of Failure in William Faulkner’s FLAGS IN THE DUST (1973) and THE MANSION (1959)”, in vol. CONSTRUCTIONS OF IDENTITY (IV), Vol. II, “Babeş-BolyaiUniversity, Cluj-Napoca, Faculty of Letters, Department of English Language and Literature, Napoca Star Publishing House, 2008, ISBN 978-973-647-617-4, pp. 183-195.
Preface: “Yoknapatawpha: trei viziuni”(Yoknapatawpha: Three Visions), to the vol. NUVELEREGASITE (REDISCOVERED STORIES) – the former half of the vol. WILLIAM FAULKNER’S UNCOLLECTED STORIES, edited by Joseph Blotner, translated into Romanian by Anca Peiu), Bucureşti, RAO International Publishing Company, 2008, biblioteca William Faulkner (the Romanian collection William Faulkner Library), ISBN 978-973-103-292-4, pp. 9-25.
Chronology and notes to the vol. NUVELE REGĂSITE (REDISCOVERED STORIES – the former half of the vol. WILLIAM FAULKNER’S UNCOLLECTED STORIES , edited by Joseph Blotner), Bucureşti, RAO International Publishing Company, 2008, ISBN 978-973-103-292-4, pp. 26-40.
Preface: “Steaguri în ţărână: înfrânţi şi înfrângere în ultima carte a lui William
Faulkner” (Flags in the Dust: The Defeated and the Defeat in William Faulkner’s Last Book), to the vol. STEAGURI ÎN ŢĂRÂNĂ (FLAGS IN THE DUST, translated into Romanian) by William Faulkner, Bucureşti, RAO International Publishing Company, 2006, Biblioteca William Faulkner (the Romanian collection William Faulkner Library), ISBN (13) 978-973-103-007-4, pp. 5-22.
Chronology and notes to the vol. CĂTUNUL (THE HAMLET) by William Faulkner, Bucureşti, RAO International Publishing Company, 2005, ISBN 973-576-622-1, pp. 27-41.
Preface: “Yoknapatawpha: Lumea de la zero” (Yoknapatawpha: the World from Zero), chronology and notes to the vol. CĂTUNUL (THE HAMLET) by William Faulkner, Bucureşti, RAO International Publishing Company, 2005, Biblioteca William Faulkner (the Romanian collection William Faulkner Library), ISBN 973-576-622-1, pp. 5-26.
Chronology and notes to the vol. ORAŞUL (THE TOWN) by William Faulkner, Bucureşti, RAO International Publishing Company, 2005, ISBN 973-576-647-7, pp. 21-35.
Preface: “William Faulkner citadin” (William Faulkner of the City), chronology and notes to the vol. ORAŞUL (THE TOWN) by William Faulkner, Bucureşti, RAO International Publishing Company, 2005, Biblioteca William Faulkner (the Romanian collection William Faulkner Library), ISBN 973-576-647-7, pp. 5-20.
Chronology and notes to the vol. CASA CU COLOANE (THE MANSION) by William Faulkner, Bucuresti, RAO International Publishing Company, 2005, ISBN 973-573-646-9, pp. 21-35.
Preface: “Ostinato: Casa întunecată a lui William Faulkner” (Ostinato: The Dark House of William Faulkner), to the vol. CASA CU COLOANE (THE MANSION) by William Faulkner, Bucureşti, RAO International Publishing Company, 2005, Biblioteca William Faulkner (the Romanian collection William Faulkner Library), ISBN 973-573-646-9, pp. 5-20.
“Addie – The Return of the Letter A: The Cryptic Message of (Resumed) Beginnings”, in University of Bucharest Review, A Journal of Literary and Cultural Studies, Vol. VI. No. 4, 2004, The Secret and the Known, Published by the Dept. of English, Faculty of Foreign Languages & Literatures, Univ. of Bucharest, Romania, ISSN 1454-9328, pp. 35-44.
“Julian Barnes: Some Parenthetical Remarks”, in the Analele Universităţii din Bucureşti (The Annals of the University of Bucharest), No. LIII / 2004, Bucureşti, Editura Universităţii din Bucureşti (University of Bucharest Publishing House), 2004, ISSN 1220-0263, pp. 89-92.
Translation of memoirs, as a member of a group of professorsfrom the Department of English, translators of Emil Constantinescu’s book of memoirs: Time for Tearing Down, Time forBuilding, Bucureşti, Universalia Publishing House, 2005, ISBN 973-7722-06-2.
“Ştefan Baciu, un poet roman în America” in Revista Romano-Americană (The Romanian-American Digest), edited by the “Amicii Statelor Unite” Association (“Friends of the United States” Association), Issue No.VII-VIII, Dec. 2003, Bucharest, pp. 117-122, ISSN 1454-4660
“American Poetry: Wallace Stevens” in Caiete internaţionale de poezie (International Notebooks of Poetry), Poems in Translation: East and West, Essays on Poets and Poetry, LiterArt-XXI, Editor: Gabriel Stanescu, No. 4/2003, pp. 260-264, ISSN 1528-1957
“T.S.Eliot în romaneşte” (“T.S.Eliot intoRomanian”) in Revista Romano-Americană (The Romanian-American Digest), edited by the “Amicii Statelor Unite” Association (“Friends of the United States” Association”), Editor: Acad. Mihnea Gheorghiu, Issue No. VI, Dec. 2002, pp.80-84, ISSN 1454-4660