THE INFLUENCE OF WILLIAM FAULKNER'S WORKS ON R.E.M.'S LYRICS: FABLES OF THE RECONSTRUCTION AND LIFES RICH PAGEANT
THE INFLUENCE OF WILLIAM FAULKNER'S WORKS ON R.E.M.'S LYRICS: FABLES OF THE RECONSTRUCTION AND LIFES RICH PAGEANT

Summary/Abstract: The main purpose of the paper is to show the ways in which a text which is bound to music can be related to a text that has no obvious connections with any kind of music. Also, it is meant to explore the possibilities of drawing parallels between them (by means of showing their similarities and differences). It concentrates on the influence of Faulkner's prose works (Absalom, Absalom!, The Sound and the Fury, and Light in August) on the lyrics that accompany R.E.M.'s songs (Fables of the Reconstruction and Lifes Rich Pageant albums). The paper consists of two major sections – one dealing with the notion of lyrics and its place in literature and the other dealing with the concrete connections between Faulkner's works and R.E.M.'s lyrics. Each section is structured in its own manner – the former defines the term ‘lyrics' and describes its different aspects, leading towards the second section of the paper; the latter shows the specific links between R.E.M. and Faulkner in terms of: 1. the geographically- influenced presence of Southern storytelling and other aspects of Southern culture in their works, 2. using different perspectives and 3. their choice of topics.

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