“As I lay Dying” by William Faulkner (post 11): Passages in italics are interruptions in stream of consciousness by alternate personalities

I have just begun this novel and am only up to the chapter narrated by Darl on pages 28-31. This chapter is the first one to have certain passages in italics.

As previously discussed in posts on other authors, italic passages in novels are often used to indicate that the character is hearing a voice in his head of an alternate personality.

But that simple scenario cannot explain everything that is going on here. For example, it could not explain this: “…I am I and you are you and I know it and you don’t know it and you could do so much for me if you just would and if you just would then I could tell you and then nobody would have to know it except you and me and Darl” (1, p. 30).

I have looked online to see if Faulkner or anyone else has explained his use of italics. There is no consensus. Explanations range from thoughts coming from a different place or time to mental disturbance. There above-quoted passage looks like crosstalk among unidentified alternate personalities, but most of the italic passages in this chapter are not like that.

In my online search of Faulkner’s use of italics, I found that it is present in a number of his novels, and that when an editor wanted to do away with it, Faulkner was adamant that it was necessary and meaningful, but his explanation was unclear.

My hypothesis is that the first-person narration is being interrupted by thoughts of unidentified alternate personalities, and that Faulkner did not always understand the interruption, but he felt that it was a genuine part of the narrative being provided to him, and must be included.

1. William Faulkner. As I Lay Dying [1930]. New York, WW Norton, 2010.