William Faulkner’s creative writing is rather known for the readers, it is studied at universities as regards its style, plots and ideas. Faulkner’s creative activity is very interesting also because of parable thinking represented in his writings. That’s why we think it’s important to study Faulkner’s creative activities during World literature seminars stressing on parable questions, reading, discussions and debates.

Several novels and short stories written by William Faulkner can be included in high school reading lists and if taught would enhance student experiences of American literature. Malcolm Cowley in his classic introduction to The Portable Faulkner said, “Faulkner’s novels have the quality of being lived, absorbed, remembered rather than merely observed. And they have what is rare in the novels of our time, a warmth of family affection, brother for brother and sister, the father for his children - a love so warm and proud that it tries to shut out the rest of the world” [11]. It is difficult to imagine someone reading the final scenes of “A Fable” and not being moved by the fate of the Corporal.

In Faulkner’s literature, he has used themes of a depth and magnitude seldom seen in other American writers. His experimentation with style, especially stream of consciousness, places him in a class of his own.

His greatness lies in the development of a body of characters which surely rivals those created by Shakespeare and Dickens. And it is this masterful body of characterization to which high school students should be exposed if they are to truly understand the human spirit as it is embodied in the study of American literature.

In this part we suggest several types of activities. They may be useful for the students to understand the novel better during the seminars.

So, the following activities could be suggested:

1. LEAD-IN activitY

2. vocabulary work

3. Reading comprehension activites

4. discussions

5. debates

LEAD-IN activit Y

The teacher asks the students a set of questions connected with World War I to prepare them for further observations and discussions. The questions are:

· What do you know about World War I?

· When did it start? When did it finish?

· What countries took part in the First World War?

· How did people feel at the front?

· How did they feel when they returned?

Possible answers:

1. World War I was started by the people in power who wanted to rearrange the spheres of their influence and acquire new sources of money.

2. At the front people usually began to realize the true nature of that event. The idea of their being used as an instrument of conducting a war came to their minds.

3. When people returned form the war they saw that nobody cared either about them or about what they had done at the front.

VOCABULARY WORK

The following activities are suggested:

I. Please find these phrases in the sentences in one of the chapters and explain them in your own words:

· to peer across at something

· to be nailed

· to lay aground

· to squat against the wall

· futility of one’s martyrdom

· gaudy as a child’s toy

· to heap up

· to flick

· gaped faces

· to assoil smb.

· grieving sky

II. Here are some sentences from the text. Please explain what the words in the bold types mean:

1. “You mock by reading your own mortal's pride into Him…”(p.363)

2. “He was nailed there and he will forgive me.” (p.370)

3. “Go on I” the rest of the cortege huddling without order, protocol vanished for the moment too as they hurried after the caisson almost with an air of pell mell, as though in actual flight from the wreckage of the disaster…” (p.436)

4. “It passes the Hotel de Villa where the three generals still stood like a posed camera group stared full at each other across the moment which could not last because of the vehicle’s speed - the peasant’s face above the corporal’s chevrons and the shackled wrists in the speeding lorry, and the grey, inscrutable face above the stars of supreme rank and the bright ribbons of honor and glory on the Hotel steps, looking at each other across the fleeting instant.” (p.17)

5. “His face was showing a comprehension, understanding, utterly free of compassion.” ( p.17)

6. “It had merely arrested itself; not the men engaged in it, but the war itself. War, impervious and even inattentive to the anguish, the torn flesh, the whole petty surge and resurge of victories and defeats…” (pp. 124, 125)

7. “There is an immorality, an outrageous immorality; you are not even contemptuous of glory; you are simply not interested in it.” (p.305)

III. Please translate these sentences into English:

1. Командир дивізії завжди спостерігав за атаками з найближчого спостережного пункту; це було його правилом і сприяло його репутації.

2. У той вівторок опівночі двоє англійських солдат розташувалися на стрілецькій сходинці одного з окопів під руїнами Бетюна.

3. Спали вони на кам’яній підлозі у коридорі; сніданком їх нагодували ще до підйому.

4. Всі розійшлися, він продовжував сидіти, днювальні закінчили прибирання, потім під’їхав автомобіль, але зупинився не біля їдальні, а біля канцелярії, крізь тонку перегородку він почув, як туди увійшли люди, потім голоси…

5. Залишаючи свої домівки, вони майже нічого не знали, всі вони були зірвані з місця тим же жахом…

6. Натовп, здавалося, не міг розгледіти або помітити вантажівки.

7. Вирішувати було вже пізно; щоб не опинитися розтоптаним, він у натовпі пліч-о-пліч з полоненим рухався через площу до будівлі суду…