Major de Spain

Submitted by johnmcorrigan@g... on Sun, 2015-04-12 06:30
Text: 
"The Bear"
Character Key: 
Manfred de Spain
Display Name: 
Major de Spain
Sort Name: 
De Spain, Major
AKA: 
Manfred de Spain
Race: 
White
Gender: 
Male
Class: 
Upper Class
Rank: 
Secondary
Vitality: 
Alive
Occupation: 
Management
First Mentioned: 
Big Bottom in "The Bear" (Location)
Other Texts: 
"A Bear Hunt"
"Shall Not Perish"
"The Old People"
The Mansion
The Reivers
The Town
Biography: 

Beginning with "Wash" (1934), a least one "Major de Spain" appears in over a dozen Yoknapatawpha fictions - although only one of the two characters with that military title was a real Confederate major. The other, his son, inherited the title. Both father and son are powerful in Yoknapatawpha business and politics, wealthy planters with large land holdings, including the hunting camp where this story is set. In some of the texts - including this one - it is impossible to say for sure if the "Major de Spain" who appears is the father or the son. In the version of this story that is published as "The Bear" in Go Down, Moses (1942), Faulkner moved the timeline back a generation, making it definite that the novel's De Spain is the father. Based on the dates, however, it seems more likely that this story's De Spain is the son.

Note: 
JBP Changed "Sort name" to "de Spain, Major," and changed First Mentioned from Fishing Camp to Unnamed Boy's Father's Farm/Plantation. (He is mentioned in event 282.1) CUT: In a number of the earlier composed narratives that went on to become part of <em>Go Down, Moses</em>, including the magazine version of "Lion," the surviving typescript of "The Old People" and possibly the magazine version of that story as well, he appears to be the son of that man, given the title "Major" as a courtesy. . . . , where each year he is joined in November by his friends: the narrator's father, old General Compson, Walter Ewell and Boon HoggenbeckThere are at least two characters called "Major de Spain," although only one was a real Confederate Major. . . . Since the magazine version of "The Bear" is drawn from that narrative, this De Spain is probably the actual Confederate Major, .
Individual or Group: 
Individual
Character changes class in this text: 

digyok:node/character/7499