Temporal Heatmaps

Heatmaps use colors to measure levels or locations of activity. The heatmaps here represent the way Faulkner's imagination inhabits different periods in the history of Yoknapatawpha in different texts and at different points in his career, according to the color scheme below. The "cooler" colors on the left (blue, violet) indicate the least activity; the "hotter" ones to the right (orange, yellow) indicate the most:

Heat Map Color Ramp

Timeline Sequences

For example, the timeline below plots the events in As I Lay Dying. Note the vertical line that intersects the timeline in the 1920s. Throughout Digital Yoknapatawapha, such a vertical line always marks the date of the event with which the text begins, and the fact that the brightest spot on this timeline occurs at the same point indicates that that period - the narrative present - is "where" in time most of the novel takes place. The darker colors to the left indicate how often and how far the narrative travels into the past.

1930

As I Lay Dying

As I Lay Dying - Heatmap

Use the links above to display the texts in four different sequences. For more on these temporal heatmaps, use the "About" link top right.