Books for sale at

The following books are available for purchase online:

Requiem for a Nun: On Stage and Off

By Barbara Izard
Aurora Publishers
ISBN: 0876950241

Requiem for a Nun: Preliminary Material (Faulkner Manuscripts, Vol. 2)

By Joseph Blotner, Thomas McHaney, Michael Millgate, and Noel Polk
Garland
Hardcover
ISBN: 0824068254
Published 1987

Requiem for a Nun: Typescript (Faulkner Manuscripts, Vol. 3)

By Noel Polk
Garland
Hardcover
ISBN: 0824068262
Published 1987

Requiem for a Nun: Manuscript (Faulkner Manuscripts, Vol. 4)

By Noel Polk
Garland
Hardcover
ISBN: 0824068270
Published 1987

Faulkner’s Requiem for a Nun: A Critical Study

By Noel Polk
Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253133025
Published 1981

Requiem for a Nun: A Concordance to the Novel

By Noel Polk
Faulkner Concordance Advisory Board
ISBN: 0835703703

Contents

	“The past is never dead …”
	Character List

“The past is never dead. It’s not even past.”

Spoken by Gavin Stevens near the end of Act I, Scene III, this passage is without a doubt the most-quoted line in all of Faulkner, though it is usually used in support of southern traditionalism or other ideas contrary to its original purpose. In the novel, the line refers to how an individual’s past acts continue to resonate in and shape the present. The scene depicts the wrangling between Temple Drake (wife of Gowan Stevens) and attorney Gavin Stevens (Gowan’s uncle) over why Temple wishes to save the life of Nancy, Stevens’client, who has been sentenced to death for killing Temple’s child:

STEVENS

Yet you invented the coincidence.

 

TEMPLE

Mrs Gowan Stevens did.

 

STEVENS

Temple Drake did. Mrs Gowan Stevens is not even fighting in this class. This is Temple Drake’s.

 

TEMPLE

Temple Drake is dead.

 

STEVENS

The past is never dead. It’s not even past.

Character List

Names in bold face indicate major or significant characters.

Coldfield Compson Compson, General Compson Jason Lycurgus De Pre, Mrs. Virginia Farmer Farmer, Cecilia Gombault, Uncle Pete Grenier, Louis Habersham, Doctor Samuel Hare Harpe, Wiley (Big) Henry Holston, Alexander Ikkemotubbe Issetibbeha Mallison, Maggie Stevens Mannigoe, Nancy Mason McCaslin Mohataha Mulberry

Murrel, John Peabody, Doctor Pete Pettigrew, Thomas Jefferson Ratcliffe Red (Alabama) Redmond Sartoris Sartoris, Bayard Sartoris, Colonel John Stevens Stevens, Bucky Stevens, Gavin Stevens, Gowan Stevens, Temple Drake Sutpen Sutpen, Thomas Tubbs, Mrs. Vitelli, Popeye Whitfield

Intruder in the Dust

A Fable

How to cite this page (MLA style):

Padgett, John B. “Requiem for a Nun: Resources.” William Faulkner on the Web. 17 Aug. 2006. Ed. John B. Padgett. U of Mississippi. 06 Jul. 2024 <>.