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Spatial settings in William Faulkner’s short stories present a unique challenge to the reader. On the one hand, they are almost banal in their ordinariness. On the other hand, they host strange, unnerving events and characters who alter how the imaginary landscape of Yoknapatawpha is perceived. Navigating both the quotidian and its extraordinary inversion by unexpected events, I bring to bear the category of the ‘spatial uncanny’ in reading three of Faulkner’s short stories: “A Rose for Emily,” “That Evening Sun,” and “Barn Burning.” In doing so, I frame the contrasting qualities places embody through the spatial trope of the threshold–the boundary separating the domestic from the world outside, Jefferson from the surrounding wildernesses of Yoknapatawpha, the commonplace from the strange. Yet, the threshold also bridges these worlds and prepares ground for the uncanny to unfold. Ultimately, it serves as a reminder of the intimate presence the uncanny marks in ordinary spaces and the daily lives of Faulkner’s world.
Dr Upamanyu Sengupta. “Homeless at Yoknapatawpha: Exploring the Spatial Uncanny in William Faulkner’s Short Stories.” The Criterion: An International Journal in English, vol. 17, no. 4, August 2026, pp. 418-439. DOI, https://doi.org/10.66376/criterion.v17.n4.26.
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