Popeye (Faulkner character)

Popeye is a character in William Faulkner's 1931 novel Sanctuary. He is a Memphis, Tennessee-based criminal who rapes Temple Drake and introduces her into a criminal world which corrupts her.

Popeye is unable to sexually perform.^[1] Owing to this aspect of his body, in the original novel, Popeye instead uses a corncob to violate her. Doreen Fowler, author of "Reading for the "Other Side": Beloved and Requiem for a Nun," wrote that Popeye wished to "despoil and possess the secret dark inner reaches of woman."^[2]

Adaptations

In the 1933 film The Story of Temple Drake he is replaced by Trigger, played by Jack La Rue. Trigger is able to sexually perform.^[1]

In the 1961 film Sanctuary the equivalent character is named Candy Man, played by Yves Montand. He is an amalgamation of the original Popeye; Red, another gangster; and Pete, Red's brother. Pauline Degenfelder, who analyzed several Faulkner stories and wrote academic articles about them, described him as Cajun,^[3] while a publicity poster called him "Creole".^[4] Gene D. Phillips of Loyola University of Chicago wrote that Candy's "French accent gives him an exotic quality" attracting Temple to him; the film has the character originate in New Orleans to match the change.^[5] Candy Man is able to sexually perform, and Phillips stated that when Temple is raped, Candy Man "demonstrates his virility unequivocally".^[6] According Degenfelder, the new character name is a reference to his sexual allure and his job illegally transporting alcohol, as "candy" also referred to alcohol.^[7] Phillips stated that the merging of Pete into Candy Man means the film is made "more tightly into a continuous narrative" from the plots of the two original works, and also that the film does not have to make efforts to establish a new character towards the film's end.^[8]

Analysis

T. H. Adamowski wrote in Canadian Review of American Studies that usual characterizations of Popeye reflect an ""electric-light-stamped-tin" syndrome".^[9] Philip G. Cohen, David Krase, and Karl F. Zender, authors of a section on William Faulkner in Sixteen Modern American Authors, wrote that Adamowski's analysis of Popeye was "philosophically and psychologically sophisticated".^[10]

Legacy

Gene D. Phillips of Loyola University of Chicago wrote that Slim Grisson of No Orchids for Miss Blandish was "modeled after Popeye."^[11]

References

Adamowski, T. H. (Spring 1977). "Faulkner's Popeye: The "Other" As Self". Canadian Review of American Studies. 8 (1). University of Toronto Press: 36–51. doi:10.3138/CRAS-008-01-04. S2CID 159783563. - Published online by University of Toronto Press on March 10, 2011. Also available at Project MUSE
- This was reprinted in: Bleikasten, André and Nicole Moulinoux (editors). Douze lectures de Sanctuaire. PU de Rennes/Fondation William Faulkner (Rennes, France), 1995. p. 51-66.

Notes

^ ^a ^b Phillips, Gene D. (Summer 1973). "Faulkner And The Film: The Two Versions Of "Sanctuary"". Literature/Film Quarterly. 1 (2). Salisbury University: 263–273. JSTOR 43795435. - Cited: p. 269.
^ Fowler, Doreen. "Reading for the "Other Side": Beloved and Requiem for a Nun." In: Kolmerton, Carol A., Stephen M. Ross, and Judith Bryant Wittenberg (editors). Unflinching Gaze: Faulkner and Morrison Re-Imagined. University Press of Mississippi, 1997. ISBN 1617035297, 9781617035296. Start: p. 139. CITED: p. 142.
^ Degenfelder, E. Pauline (Winter 1976). "The Four Faces of Temple Drake: Faulkner's Sanctuary, Requiem for a Nun, and the Two Film Adaptations". American Quarterly. 28 (5): 544–560. doi:10.2307/2712288. JSTOR 2712288. - Cited: p. 554.
^ "Sanctuary" (JPG). (from here)
^ Phillips, Gene D. (Summer 1973). "Faulkner And The Film: The Two Versions Of "Sanctuary"". Literature/Film Quarterly. 1 (2). Salisbury University: 263–273. JSTOR 43795435. - Cited: p. 271.
^ Phillips, Gene D. Fiction, Film, and Faulkner: The Art of Adaptation. University of Tennessee Press, 2001. ISBN 1572331666, 9781572331662. p. 81.
^ Phillips, Gene D. Fiction, Film, and Faulkner: The Art of Adaptation. University of Tennessee Press, 2001. ISBN 1572331666, 9781572331662. p. 80.
^ Phillips, Gene D. Fiction, Film, and Faulkner: The Art of Adaptation. University of Tennessee Press, 2001. ISBN 1572331666, 9781572331662. p. 82-83.
^ Adamowski, page unknown.
^ Cohen, Philip G., David Krause, and Karl F. Zender. "William Faulkner." In: Sixteen Modern American Authors Volume 2. Duke University Press, 1990. Start: p. 210. CITED: p. 276-275.
^ Phillips, Gene D. (Summer 1973). "Faulkner And The Film: The Two Versions Of "Sanctuary"". Literature/Film Quarterly. 1 (2). Salisbury University: 263–273. JSTOR 43795435. - Cited: p. 273.