Revealing the invisible: A phenomenological reading of N.B. Phuong’s The Absent (1999) and W. Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying (1930)

Abstract

This article conducts a comparative analysis of the concept of invisibility within two literary works: The Absent (Nguoi di vang, in Vietnamese) by N.B. Phuong and As I Lay Dying by W. Faulkner. It employs M. Henry’s phenomenological insights into life and aesthetics as a theoretical framework to delve into the expression and perception of invisibility in these texts. The study demonstrates that invisibility plays a dynamic role in both novels, exploring how it is articulated, revealed, perceived, and comprehended. By immersing characters in states of dying and coma, these narratives facilitate an exploration of the invisible as a perceptual experience. Both authors delve into the realm of invisibility by granting voices to the earth and its inhabitants, simultaneously emphasizing the silences and gaps in human communication. The central objective of this article is to identify common themes and perspectives related to the manifestation of life in these two writers’ works. Both N.B. Phuong and Faulkner conceive life as fundamentally invisible, with art serving as the means to unveil this invisible life.