Associate Professor of English and American Studies Catherine Gunther Kodat contributed an essay to Blackwell Publishing's recently-released A Companion to William Faulkner. Titled " 'C'est Vraiment Dégueulasse': Meaning and Ending in A bout de souffle and If I Forget Thee, Jerusalem," Kodat's essay discusses the long-recognized influence Faulkner's narrative structures had on mid-20th century cinema, and in particular on the early work of the French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard.
The essay examines the relationship between Faulkner's 1939 novel If I Forget Thee, Jerusalem (first published as The Wild Palms) and Godard's 1960 film A bout de souffle (better known to U.S. viewers as Breathless). Faulkner's novel is directly quoted in the film.
