Abstract:
The main purpose of the paper is to identify the function of the city, as a central artistic
element, in a work of literature. In this regard, works of American modernist author William
Faulkner are of much interest.
The paper reviews Jefferson, the central city of the Yoknapatawpha county, as a symbolic
and conditional space. The name of the county means a river, which runs slow through flat
land. This, in its turn, gives an impression to the reader that time runs slower here. As for space,
it is confined with boundaries and its door is closed for outer world. Reflecting psychological,
cultural and social environment of the whole county, Jefferson remains memory of South, is
focused on the past and neglects everything that is new.
The paper argues that time and space are the subjects of experiment in the novels of
Faulkner. The aim of the author is to fulfill the idea of creating the chronotope that is free from
limitations of time and space and represents the most general model of the world that has
nothing to do with the real city.