Jason Compson, Quentinâs detached southern aristocrat father, tells a lot of whatâs in chapters three and four, so the verbosity is turned up a bit. To be honest, I might have to re-read these chapters to figure out just what the hell goes onâor, more precisely, what Jason Compson says went onâbetween Henry Sutpen and Charles Bon in New Orleans. In any case, on to the words:
Morganatic
Of or being a legal marriage between a person of royal or noble birth and a partner of lower rank, in which it is agreed that no titles or estates of the royal or noble partner are to be shared by the partner of inferior rank nor by any of the offspring of the marriage.1
Turgid
1. Excessively ornate or complex in style or language; grandiloquent: turgid prose.
2. Swollen or distended, as from a fluid; bloated: a turgid bladder; turgid veins.
Epicene
1. Having male and female characteristics.
2. Having characteristics traditionally ascribed to another sex, especially as a male who is considered to be effeminate.
Dilatory indolence
Habitual laziness intended to cause delay
(Note: This noun/descriptor pair, like the next one, is a Faulknerian calling card. Constructions like this seem brilliant to meâso much is communicated in such a concise phrase, and it even sounds exactly like what it meansâbut he can admittedly get a bit indulgent. The writer John Jeremiah Sullivan, for example, has noted some frustrations with a recurring, âNeither this, nor this, but thatâ construction that can lack resonance and purpose, for all its sonorous qualities.)
Abnegant transference
A transfer of rights, ownership, or in this case patrilineal inheritance characterized by a direct disavowal or renunciation.
Languorous
(Note: I knew this word, to be honest, but the subtle differences in the three listed definitions of âlanguorâ are worth noting, as each describes a sustained preoccupation for Faulkner:)
1. Lack of physical or mental energy; listlessness: "the languor of the men, induced by the heat"
2. A dreamy, lazy, or sensual quality, as of expression: "the clarity of her complexion, the length and languor of her eyelashes"
3. Oppressive stillness, especially of the air: the languor of a hot July afternoon.
Suzerainty
1. A nation that controls another nation in international affairs but allows it domestic sovereignty.
2. A feudal lord to whom fealty was due.
As always, definitions are taken from The American Heritage Dictionary wherever available.