Requiem for a Nun
First edition
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| Author | William Faulkner |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Random House |
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Publication date
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1951 |
| Pages | 286 |
| Preceded by | Intruder in the Dust |
| Followed by | A Fable |
Requiem for a Nun is a work of fiction written by William Faulkner which was first published in 1951. It is a sequel to Faulkner's early novel Sanctuary, which introduced the characters of Temple Drake, her friend (later husband) Gowan Stevens, and Gowan's uncle Gavin Stevens. The events in Requiem are set in Faulkner's fictional Yoknapatawpha County and Jackson, Mississippi, in November 1937 and March 1938, eight years after the events of Sanctuary. In Requiem, Temple, now married with a child, must learn to deal with her violent, turbulent past as related in Sanctuary.
Requiem, originally published in book form, was later adapted for the stage. It was also a co-source, along with Sanctuary, for the 1961 film Sanctuary.
Like many of Faulkner's works, Requiem experiments with narrative technique; the book is part novel, part play. The main narrative, which is presented in dramatic form, is interspersed with prose sections recounting the history of the fictional Yoknapatawpha County. Each prose section focuses on a specific institution (the courthouse, state house, and jailhouse respectively) that serves as the setting for the following dramatic section of the story.
The major theme of Requiem concerns spiritual redemption for past evil deeds through suffering and the recognition of one's guilt. The word "nun" in the title refers to the character Nancy, a prostitute convicted of murder, and has been understood to carry both its Elizabethan era-slang meaning of a prostitute, and its contemporary meaning of a woman who sacrifices herself to save sinners.
In Jefferson, Mississippi, Nancy Mannigoe, who was formerly employed as a nursemaid by Temple Drake Stevens (Mrs. Gowan Stevens), is found guilty of the murder of Temple's six-month-old daughter and sentenced to death. Eight years earlier, as described in Sanctuary, Temple fell into the hands of a gang of violent bootleggers and was raped and imprisoned in a brothel through the drunken irresponsibility of her escort, Gowan Stevens. Afterwards, Gowan married Temple out of a sense of honor and responsibility, and they had two children. The Stevenses have resumed their place in the respectable, well-to-do society of the county, and appear to have a normal life, but their marriage is strained by Temple's past and the unspoken idea that on some level, she enjoyed or got some excitement from her brothel experience. Temple hired Nancy, a black drug addict and occasional prostitute, in order to have someone to talk to who understood her.
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