Evidence of his grasp of language is apparent, regardless of the genre, and there are mysteries to uncover in all that he wrote. Deborah Clark says of his novel Light in August, "Faulkner's manipulation of sexual dynamics and gender roles . . . illustrates the full complexity of his . . . power and authority"(398). However, it is in the short story that the full force of his authority over language is felt. As Petry reveals at the conclusion of her argument, he "himself remarked in 1957, [that] the short story as a genre demands precision of language: 'In a short story that's next to a poem, almost every word has got to be almost exactly right. In the novel you can be careless but in the short story you can't'"(54). When a writer in so conscious of the power which he possesses, it should surprise us little that he is so successful in creating emotion and mystery with his
Evidence of his grasp of language is apparent, regardless of the genre, and there are mysteries to uncover in all that he wrote. Deborah Clark says of his novel Light in August, "Faulkner's manipulation of sexual dynamics and gender roles . . . illustrates the full complexity of his . . . power and authority"(398). However, it is in the short story that the full force of his authority over language is felt. As Petry reveals at the conclusion of her argument, he "himself remarked in 1957, [that] the short story as a genre demands precision of language: 'In a short story that's next to a poem, almost every word has got to be almost exactly right. In the novel you can be careless but in the short story you can't'"(54). When a writer in so conscious of the power which he possesses, it should surprise us little that he is so successful in creating emotion and mystery with his