A Fable

EDITORS’ NOTE

A Fable was conceived in 1943 during a discussion in wartime Hollywood among Faulkner, producer William Bacher, and director Henry Hathaway about a film on the Unknown Soldier. One proposal was that the Unknown Soldier might have been Jesus Christ returned to earth to give humanity one last chance, an idea Faulkner was enthusiastic about. They never made a film on this theme, but the basic idea was to consume Faulkner for over a decade, with brief stints away from it to work on filmscripts, “The Compson Appendix,” Intruder in the Dust, the stories that would make up Knight’s Gambit, and Requiem for a Nun. There exist several hundred pages of preliminary typescript and manuscript, some of it dated as early as 1947, and the typescript setting copy is itself composed of typescript pages from several different versions of various passages, typed on at least two different typewriters and clearly representing materials dating from throughout the decade of its composition. Faulkner took the typescript of A Fable to Random House on November 5, 1953, and soon after left for four months in Europe, where he visited friends and worked on a film for Howard Hawks. While reading proof in Rome in April 1954, he wired Random House that he had forgotten to include the “Judas Misery” material in the chapter titled “Tomorrow,” and he supplied that material when he returned to New York. Random House published the book on August 2, 1954, in a text altered in hundreds of major and minor ways by editorial intervention. Faulkner’s typescript is the setting copy for the Polk text reproduced here, except for the “Judas Misery” sequence, for which the first edition is the only extant text.

American English continues to fluctuate; for example, a word may be spelled more than one way, even in the same work. Commas are sometimes used expressively to suggest the movements of the voice, and capitals are sometimes meant to give significances to a word beyond those it might have in its uncapitalized form. Since standardization would remove such effects, this volume preserves the spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and wording of the text as established by Noel Polk, which strives to be as faithful to Faulkner’s usage as surviving evidence permits.

The following notes were prepared by Joseph Blotner and are reprinted with permission from Novels 1942–1954 (1994) in the edition of Faulkner’s collected works published by The Library of America. Numbers refer to page and line of the present volume (the line count includes chapter headings). No note is made for material included in the eleventh edition of Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. For more detailed notes, references to other studies, and further biographical background, see: Joseph Blotner, Faulkner, A Biography, 2 vols. (New York: Random House, 1974); Joseph Blotner, Faulkner, A Biography, One-Volume Edition (New York: Random House, 1984); Selected Letters of William Faulkner (New York: Random House, 1977), edited by Joseph Blotner; and Calvin S. Brown, A Glossary of Faulkner’s South (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1976).

1 Place de Ville] Town square.

2 Hôtel] In full, Hôtel de Ville, town hall.

3 Comité des Forges] A national association of iron and steel manufacturers.

4 S.P.A.D.] Société Provisoire des Aéroplanes Deperdussin, a society of aircraft manufacturers.

5 expletive … legend.] French general Pierre-Jacques Cambronne, commander of the Imperial Guard at Waterloo, was said to have replied “Merde” in response to a British demand for surrender.

6 ‘Gil Blas,’] A picaresque romance by Alain René Lesage (1668–1747).

7 Able … France] A play on a well-known palindrome, “Able was I ere I saw Elba.”

8 École Militaire] Military college, then at St. Cyr, for the training of infantry and cavalry officers.

9 K.R. and O.] King’s Regulations and Orders.

10 Sandhurst] Village in England, site of the Royal Military Academy.

11 Mons … bar] The Mons Star medal was given to those who served in France and Belgium before November 23, 1914. The Military Cross is a decoration for bravery awarded to officers; the bar indicates that it has been awarded a second time.

12 Cox’s] Cox and Co., Bankers and Army Agents.

13 R.T.O.] Railway Transport Office.

14 A.S.C.] Army Service Corps.

15 lo … dead] Cf. Christopher Marlowe (1564–93), The Jew of Malta, IV, 1.

16 archie] Anti-aircraft artillery.

17 In Christ … began] Cf. 1 Corinthians 15:20–22.

18 ’Change … windy] The stock exchange. Windy is slang for afraid, nervous, alarmed (from “got the wind up”).

19 long vac.] The long vacation, as in the Oxford and Cambridge academic year.

20 Gaston de la Tour] Gaston de Latour (1896), unfinished novel by Walter Pater.

21 Pip Emma] Signaling code for P.M.

22 Vickers … Lewis] On the S.E. fighter aircraft, a belt-fed Vickers machine gun was mounted on the fuselage in front of the pilot’s cockpit and synchronized to fire through the arc of the propeller without hitting its blades. A drum-fed Lewis machine gun was mounted on the top wing; in its normal position it fired forward over the propeller arc, but it could be elevated to fire upwards.

23 Aldis] A gun sight.

24 napoo] Finished, done, nothing doing, end of argument (from il n’y a plus, “it is no more”).

25 p.b.i.] Poor bloody infantry.

26 Les Amis … Monde] Literally, “The Myriad and Anonymous Friends to France of All the World”.

27 D.C.M.] Distinguished Conduct Medal.

28 d’Artagnan] Hero of The Three Musketeers.

29 espada] Matador.

30 p.c.] Signaling code for post of command.

31 Ack Emma] A.M.

32 Antipas] Herod Antipas (21 B.C.–A.D. 39).

33 St Cyr] See note 52.10–11.

34 banlieu] Suburbs, outskirts.

35 Der Tag] The Day.

36 No heel taps] A toast, like “Bottoms up!” (from the heel tap shape of the residue of liquor left at the bottom of a glass).

37 his poule] His whore.

38 Mon homme … mari] My man—my husband.

39 ‘Monjay.] “Eat” (mangez!).