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William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer known for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, based on Lafayette County, Mississippi, where Faulkner spent most of his life. A Nobel Prize laureate, Faulkner is one of the most celebrated writers of
American literature American literature is literature written or produced in the United States of America and in the colonies that preceded it. The American literary tradition thus is part of the broader tradition of English-language literature, but also inc ...
and is considered the greatest writer of
Southern literature Southern United States literature consists of American literature written about the Southern United States or by writers from the region. Literature written about the American South first began during the colonial era, and developed significan ...
. Born in New Albany, Mississippi, Faulkner's family moved to Oxford, Mississippi when he was a young child. With the outbreak of World War I, he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force but did not serve in combat. Returning to Oxford, he attended the University of Mississippi for three semesters before dropping out. He moved to New Orleans, where he wrote his first novel ''
Soldiers' Pay ''Soldiers' Pay'' is the first novel published by the American author William Faulkner. It was originally published by Boni & Liveright on February 25, 1926. It is unclear if ''Soldiers' Pay'' is the first novel written by Faulkner. It is however t ...
'' (1925). He went back to Oxford and wrote ''
Sartoris ''Sartoris'' is a novel, first published in 1929, by the American author William Faulkner. It portrays the decay of the Mississippi aristocracy following the social upheaval of the American Civil War. The 1929 edition is an abridged version of ...
'' (1927), his first work set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County. In 1929, he published '' The Sound and the Fury''. The following year, he wrote '' As I Lay Dying''. Seeking greater economic success, he went to
Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...
to work as a screenwriter. Faulkner's renown reached its peak upon the publication of Malcolm Cowley's ''The Portable Faulkner'' and his being awarded the
1949 Nobel Prize in Literature The 1949 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded the American author William Faulkner (1897–1962) "for his powerful and artistically unique contribution to the modern American novel." The prize was awarded in 1950. The Nobel Committee for Literatu ...
. He is the only Mississippi-born Nobel laureate. Two of his works, '' A Fable'' (1954) and his last novel ''
The Reivers ''The Reivers: A Reminiscence'', published in 1962, is the last novel by the American author William Faulkner. The bestselling novel was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1963. Faulkner previously won this award for his book ''A Fable'', ...
'' (1962), won the
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It recognizes distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life, published during ...
."Fiction"
. ''Past winners & finalists by category''. The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved 2012-03-28.
Faulkner died from a heart attack on July 6, 1962, following a fall from his horse the prior month.


Life


Childhood and heritage

William Cuthbert Faulkner was born on September 25, 1897 in New Albany, Mississippi, the first of four sons of Murry Cuthbert Faulkner (1870–1932) and Maud Butler (1871–1960).MWP: William Faulkner (1897–1962)
, OleMiss.edu; accessed September 26, 2017.
His family was upper middle-class, but "not quite of the old feudal cotton aristocracy". After Maud rejected Murry's plan to become a rancher in Texas, the family moved to Oxford, Mississippi in 1902, Minter (1980), p. 8. where Faulkner's father established a livery stable and hardware store before becoming the University of Mississippi's business manager. Except for short periods elsewhere, Faulkner lived in Oxford for the rest of his life. Faulkner spent his boyhood listening to stories which were told to him by his elders including stories which were about the Civil War, slavery, the
Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...
, and the Faulkner family.Minter, David L. ''William Faulkner, His Life and Work''. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1980; Young William was greatly influenced by the history of his family and the region in which he lived. Mississippi marked his sense of humor, his sense of the tragic position of " black and white" Americans, his characterization of Southern characters, and his timeless themes, including fiercely intelligent people who are dwelling behind the façades of
good ol' boy An old boy network (also known as old boys' network, ol' boys' club, old boys' club, old boys' society, good ol' boys club, or good ol' boys system) is an informal system in which wealthy men with similar social or educational background help ...
s and simpletons. He was particularly influenced by stories of his great-grandfather
William Clark Falkner William Clark Falkner (July 6, 1825 or 1826 – November 6, 1889) was a soldier, lawyer, politician, businessman, and author in northern Mississippi. He is most notable for the influence he had on the work of his great-grandson, author William F ...
, who had become a near legendary figure in North Mississippi. Born into poverty, he was a strict disciplinarian and was a Confederate colonel. Tried and acquited twice on charges of murder, he became a member of the Mississippi House and became a part-owner of a railroad before being murdered by his co-owner. Many aspects of his biography were incorporated into his later works. Faulkner initially excelled in school and skipped the second grade. However, beginning somewhere in the fourth and fifth grades of his schooling, Faulkner became a much quieter and more withdrawn child. He occasionally played hooky and became indifferent about schoolwork. Instead, he took an interest in studying the history of Mississippi. The decline of his performance in school continued, and Faulkner wound up repeating the eleventh and twelfth grades, never graduating from high school. As a teenager in Oxford, Faulkner dated Estelle Oldham (1897–1972), the popular daughter of Major Lemuel and Lida Oldham, and he also believed he would marry her. However, Estelle dated other boys during their romance, and, in 1918, Cornell Franklin (five years Faulkner's senior) proposed marriage to her before Faulkner did. She accepted. Parini (2004), pp. 36–37.


Trip to the North and early writings

When he was 17, Faulkner met Phil Stone, who became an important early influence on his writing. Stone was four years his senior and came from one of Oxford's older families; he was passionate about literature and had bachelor's degrees from Yale and the University of Mississippi. Stone read and was impressed by some of Faulkner's early poetry, becoming one of the first to recognize and encourage Faulkner's talent. Stone mentored the young Faulkner, introducing him to the works of writers like James Joyce, who influenced Faulkner's own writing. In his early 20s, Faulkner gave poems and short stories he had written to Stone in hopes of their being published. Stone sent these to publishers, but they were uniformly rejected. In spring 1918, Faulkner traveled to live with Stone at Yale, his first trip to the North. Through Stone, Faulkner met writers like Sherwood Anderson,
Robert Frost Robert Lee Frost (March26, 1874January29, 1963) was an American poet. His work was initially published in England before it was published in the United States. Known for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloq ...
, and
Ezra Pound Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an expatriate American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Fascism, fascist collaborator in Italy during World War II. His works ...
. O'Connor (1959), p. 5. Faulkner attempted to join the US Army, but was rejected for being under weight and his short stature of 5'5. Although he initially planned to join the British Army in hopes of being commissioned as an officer, Faulkner then joined the Canadian RAF with a forged letter of reference and left Yale to receive training in Toronto. Accounts of Faulkner being rejected from the United States Army Air Service due to his short stature, despite wide publication, are false. Despite his claims, records indicate that Faulkner was never actually a member of the British
Royal Flying Corps "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colors = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , decorations ...
and never saw active service during the First World War. Despite claiming so in his letters, Faulkner did not receive cockpit training or even fly. Faulkner returned to Oxford in December 1918, where he told acquaintances false war-stories and even faked a war wound. In 1918, Faulkner's surname changed from "Falkner" to "Faulkner". According to one story, a careless typesetter made an error. When the misprint appeared on the title page of his first book, Faulkner was asked whether he wanted the change. He supposedly replied, "Either way suits me." In adolescence, Faulkner began writing poetry almost exclusively. He did not write his first novel until 1925. His literary influences are deep and wide. He once stated that he modeled his early writing on the Romantic era in late 18th- and early 19th-century England. He attended the University of Mississippi, enrolling in 1919, studying for three semesters before dropping out in November 1920. Faulkner joined the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, and pursued his dream to become a writer. He skipped classes often and received a "D" grade in English. However, some of his poems were published in campus publications.Coughlan, Robert. ''The Private World of William Faulkner'', New York: Harper & Brothers, 1953.Porter, Carolyn
''William Faulkner''
, New York: Oxford University Press, 2007;
In 1922, his poem "Portrait" was published in the New Orleans literary magazine ''Double Dealer''. The magazine published his "New Orleans" short story collection three years later. After dropping out, he took a series of odd jobs: at a New York City bookstore, a carpenter in Oxford, and as the Ole Miss postmaster. He resigned from the post office with the declaration: "I will be damned if I propose to be at the beck and call of every itinerant scoundrel who has two cents to invest in a postage stamp."


New Orleans and early novels

While most writers of Faulkner's generation travelled to and lived in Europe, Faulkner remained writing in the United States. Pikoulis (1982), p. ix. Faulkner spent the first half of 1925 in New Orleans, Louisiana, where many bohemian artists and writers lived, specifically in the French Quarter where Faulkner lived beginning in March. During his time in New Orleans, Faulkner's focus drifted from poetry to prose and his literary style made a marked transition from
Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literature ...
to modernist. '' The Times-Picayune'' published several of his short works of prose. After being directly influenced by Sherwood Anderson, he made his first attempt at fiction writing. Anderson assisted in the publication of ''Soldiers' Pay'' and '' Mosquitoes'', Faulkner's second novel, set in New Orleans, by recommending them to his publisher.Hannon, Charles. "Faulkner, William". ''The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature''. Jay Parini (2004), Oxford University Press, Inc. The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature: (e-reference edition). Oxford University Press. The miniature house at 624 Pirate's Alley, just around the corner from St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans, is now the site of Faulkner House Books, where it also serves as the headquarters of the Pirate's Alley Faulkner Society. Also in New Orleans, Faulkner wrote his first novel, ''
Soldiers' Pay ''Soldiers' Pay'' is the first novel published by the American author William Faulkner. It was originally published by Boni & Liveright on February 25, 1926. It is unclear if ''Soldiers' Pay'' is the first novel written by Faulkner. It is however t ...
.'' ''Soldiers' Pay'' and his other early works were written in a style similar to contemporaries Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald, at times nearly exactly appropriating phrases. During the summer of 1927, Faulkner wrote his first novel set in his fictional Yoknapatawpha County, titled '' Flags in the Dust.'' This novel drew heavily from the traditions and history of the South, in which Faulkner had been engrossed in his youth. He was extremely proud of the novel upon its completion and he believed it a significant step up from his previous two novels—however, when submitted for publication to Boni & Liveright, it was rejected. Faulkner was devastated by this rejection but he eventually allowed his literary agent,
Ben Wasson Ben is frequently used as a shortened version of the given names Benjamin, Benedict, Bennett or Benson, and is also a given name in its own right. Ben (in he, בֶּן, ''son of'') forms part of Hebrew surnames, e.g. Abraham ben Abraham ( he, ...
, to edit the text, and the novel was published in 1929 as ''
Sartoris ''Sartoris'' is a novel, first published in 1929, by the American author William Faulkner. It portrays the decay of the Mississippi aristocracy following the social upheaval of the American Civil War. The 1929 edition is an abridged version of ...
.'' The work was notable in that it was his first novel that dealt with the Civil War rather than the contemporary emphasis on World War I and its legacy.


''The Sound and the Fury''

In autumn 1928, just after his 31st birthday, Faulkner began working on '' The Sound and the Fury''. He started by writing three short stories about a group of children with the last name Compson, but soon began to feel that the characters he had created might be better suited for a full-length novel. Perhaps as a result of disappointment in the initial rejection of ''Flags in the Dust'', Faulkner had now become indifferent to his publishers and wrote this novel in a much more experimental style. In describing the writing process for this work, Faulkner later said, "One day I seemed to shut the door between me and all publisher's addresses and book lists. I said to myself, 'Now I can write.'" After its completion, Faulkner insisted that Wasson not do any editing or add any punctuation for clarity. In 1929, Faulkner married Estelle Oldham, with Andrew Kuhn serving as best man at the wedding. Estelle brought with her two children from her previous marriage to Cornell Franklin and Faulkner hoped to support his new family as a writer. Faulkner and Estelle later had a daughter, Jill, in 1933. He began writing '' As I Lay Dying'' in 1929 while working night shifts at the University of Mississippi Power House. The novel was published in 1930. Parini (2004), p. 142. Beginning in 1930, Faulkner sent some of his short stories to various national magazines. Several of these were published and brought him enough income to buy a house in Oxford for his family, which he named Rowan Oak.Williamson, Joel
''William Faulkner and Southern History''
, New York: Oxford University Press, 1993; .
He made money on his 1931 novel, '' Sanctuary'', which was widely reviewed and read (but widely disliked for its perceived criticism of the South). With the onset of the
Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
, Faulkner was not satisfied with his economic situation. With limited royalties from his work, he published short stories in magazines such as '' The Saturday Evening Post'' to supplement his income. Bartunek (2017), p. 98.


''Light in August'' and Hollywood years

By 1932, Faulkner was in need of money. He asked Wasson to sell the serialization rights for his newly completed novel, ''Light in August'', to a magazine for $5,000, but none accepted the offer. Then MGM Studios offered Faulkner work as a screenwriter in Hollywood. Faulkner was not an avid movie goer and had reservations about working in the movie industry. As André Bleikasten comments, he “was in dire need of money and had no idea how to get it…So he went to Hollywood.” Bleikasten (2017), p. 218. It has been noted that authors like Faulkner were not always hired for their writing prowess but "to enhance the prestige of the …writers who hired them." He arrived in
Culver City, California Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. Founded in 1917 as a "whites only" sundown town, it is now an ethnically diverse city with what was called the "third-most d ...
, in May 1932. The job began a sporadic relationship with moviemaking and with California, which was difficult but he endured in order to earn "a consistent salary that supported his family back home." Initially, he declared a desire to work on Mickey Mouse cartoons, not realizing that they were produced by Walt Disney Productions and not MGM. His first screenplay was for ''
Today We Live ''Today We Live'' is a 1933 American pre-Code romance drama film produced and directed by Howard Hawks and starring Joan Crawford, Gary Cooper, Robert Young and Franchot Tone.
'', an adaptation of his short story "Turnabout", which received a mixed response. He then wrote a screen adaptation of ''Sartoris'' that was never produced. From 1932 to 1954, Faulkner worked on around 50 films. In early 1944, Faulkner wrote a screenplay adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's novel '' To Have and Have Not''. The
film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
, which starred
Lauren Bacall Lauren Bacall (; born Betty Joan Perske; September 16, 1924 – August 12, 2014) was an American actress. She was named the 20th-greatest female star of classic Hollywood cinema by the American Film Institute and received an Academy Honorary Aw ...
and
Humphrey Bogart Humphrey DeForest Bogart (; December 25, 1899 – January 14, 1957), nicknamed Bogie, was an American film and stage actor. His performances in Classical Hollywood cinema films made him an American cultural icon. In 1999, the American Film In ...
, was released later that year and remains the only film with contributions from two Nobel Prize Laureates. Faulkner was highly critical of what he found in Hollywood, and he wrote letters that were "scathing in tone, painting a miserable portrait of a literary artist imprisoned in a cultural
Babylon ''Bābili(m)'' * sux, 𒆍𒀭𒊏𒆠 * arc, 𐡁𐡁𐡋 ''Bāḇel'' * syc, ܒܒܠ ''Bāḇel'' * grc-gre, Βαβυλών ''Babylṓn'' * he, בָּבֶל ''Bāvel'' * peo, 𐎲𐎠𐎲𐎡𐎽𐎢 ''Bābiru'' * elx, 𒀸𒁀𒉿𒇷 ''Babi ...
." Many scholars have brought attention to the dilemma he experienced and that the predicament had caused him serious unhappiness. In Hollywood he worked with director
Howard Hawks Howard Winchester Hawks (May 30, 1896December 26, 1977) was an American film director, producer and screenwriter of the classic Hollywood era. Critic Leonard Maltin called him "the greatest American director who is not a household name." A v ...
, with whom he quickly developed a friendship, as they both enjoyed drinking and hunting. Howard Hawks' brother, William Hawks, became Faulkner's
Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...
agent. Faulkner continued to find reliable work as a screenwriter from the 1930s to the 1950s. While staying in Hollywood, Faulkner adopted a "vagrant" lifestyle, living in brief stints in hotels like the Garden of Allah Hotel and frequenting the bar at the Roosevelt Hotel at the Musso & Frank Grill where he was said to have regularly gone behind the bar to mix his own Mint Julips. He had an extramarital affair with Hawks' secretary and
script girl A script supervisor (also called continuity supervisor or script) is a member of a film crew who oversees the continuity of the motion picture including wardrobe, props, set dressing, hair, makeup and the actions of the actors during a scene. Th ...
, Meta Carpenter. With the onset of World War II, in 1942, Faulkner tried to join the United States Air Force but was rejected. He instead worked on local
civil defense Civil defense ( en, region=gb, civil defence) or civil protection is an effort to protect the citizens of a state (generally non-combatants) from man-made and natural disasters. It uses the principles of emergency operations: prevention, miti ...
. Capps (1966), p. 3. The war drained Faulkner of his enthusiasm. He described the war as "bad for writing". Amid this creative slowdown, in 1943, Faulkner began work on a new novel that merged World War I's Unknown Soldier with the Passion of Christ. Published over a decade later as '' A Fable'', it won the 1954 Pulitzer Prize. The award for ''A Fable'' was a controversial political choice. The jury had selected Milton Lott's ''
The Last Hunt ''The Last Hunt'' is a 1956 American Western film directed by Richard Brooks and produced by Dore Schary. The screenplay was by Richard Brooks from the novel '' The Last Hunt'', by Milton Lott. The music score was by Daniele Amfitheatrof and ...
'' for the prize, but Pulitzer Prize Administrator Professor John Hohenberg convinced the Pulitzer board that Faulkner was long overdue for the award, despite ''A Fable'' being a lesser work of his, and the board overrode the jury's selection, much to the disgust of its members. By the time of ''The Portable Faulkner''s publication, most of his novels had been out of print.


Nobel Prize and later years

Faulkner was awarded the
1949 Nobel Prize in Literature The 1949 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded the American author William Faulkner (1897–1962) "for his powerful and artistically unique contribution to the modern American novel." The prize was awarded in 1950. The Nobel Committee for Literatu ...
for "his powerful and artistically unique contribution to the modern American novel". It was awarded at the following year's banquet along with the 1950 Prize to Bertrand Russell. When Faulkner visited
Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
in December 1950 to receive the Nobel Prize, he met Else Jonsson (1912–1996), who was the widow of journalist
Thorsten Jonsson Thorsten Jonsson (1910–1950) was a Swedish writer, journalist and translator. Jonsson grew up in a small village in Västerbotten. He studied at Stockholms högskola and then worked as journalist for various newspapers, including ''Dagens ...
(1910–1950). Jonsson was a reporter for '' Dagens Nyheter'' from 1943 to 1946, who had interviewed Faulkner in 1946 and introduced his works to Swedish readers. Faulkner and Else had an affair that lasted until the end of 1953. At the banquet where they met in 1950, publisher Tor Bonnier introduced Else as the widow of the man responsible for Faulkner winning the Nobel prize. Faulkner's Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech on the immortality of the artists, although brief, contained a number of allusions and references to other literary works. However, Faulkner detested the fame and glory that resulted from his recognition. His aversion was so great that his 17-year-old daughter learned of the Nobel Prize only when she was called to the principal's office during the school day. He donated part of his Nobel money "to establish a fund to support and encourage new fiction writers", eventually resulting in the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, and donated another part to a local Oxford bank, establishing a scholarship fund to help educate African-American teachers at Rust College in nearby Holly Springs, Mississippi. In 1951, the government of France made Faulkner a Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur. Faulkner served as the first Writer-in-Residence at the University of Virginia at Charlottesville from February to June 1957 and again in 1958. In 1961, Faulkner began writing his nineteenth and final novel, ''
The Reivers ''The Reivers: A Reminiscence'', published in 1962, is the last novel by the American author William Faulkner. The bestselling novel was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1963. Faulkner previously won this award for his book ''A Fable'', ...
''. The novel is a nostalgic reminiscence, in which an elderly grandfather relates a humorous episode in which he and two boys stole a car to drive to a Memphis bordello. In summer 1961, he finished the first draft. During this time, he injured himself in a series of falls. On June 17, 1962, Faulkner suffered a serious injury in a fall from his horse, which led to thrombosis. He suffered a fatal heart attack on July 6, 1962, at the age of 64, at Wright's Sanatorium in Byhalia, Mississippi. Faulkner is buried with his family in St. Peter's Cemetery in Oxford.


Writing

From the early 1920s to the outbreak of World War II, Faulkner published 13 novels and many short stories. This body of work formed the basis of his reputation and earned him the Nobel Prize at age 52. Faulkner's prodigious output include celebrated novels such as '' The Sound and the Fury'' (1929), '' As I Lay Dying'' (1930), ''
Light in August ''Light in August'' is a 1932 novel by the Southern American author William Faulkner. It belongs to the Southern gothic and modernist literary genres. Set in the author's present day, the interwar period, the novel centers on two strangers, a ...
'' (1932), and '' Absalom, Absalom!'' (1936). He was also a prolific writer of short stories. Faulkner's first short story collection, ''
These 13 ''These 13'' is a 1931 collection of short stories written by William Faulkner, and dedicated to his first daughter, Alabama, who died nine days after her birth on January 11, 1931, and to his wife Estelle. No longer in print, ''These 13'' is now ...
'' (1931), includes many of his most acclaimed (and most frequently
anthologized In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically catego ...
) stories, including " A Rose for Emily", "
Red Leaves "Red Leaves" is a short story by American author William Faulkner. First published in the ''Saturday Evening Post'' on October 25, 1930, it was one of Faulkner's first stories to appear in a national magazine. The next year the story was included i ...
", " That Evening Sun", and "
Dry September "Dry September" is a short story by William Faulkner. Published in 1931, it describes a lynch mob forming (despite ambiguous evidence) on a hot September evening to avenge an alleged (and unspecified) insult or attack upon a white woman by a blac ...
". He set many of his short stories and novels in Yoknapatawpha County—which was based on and nearly geographically identical to Lafayette County (of which his hometown of Oxford, Mississippi, is the county seat). Yoknapatawpha was Faulkner's "postage stamp", and the bulk of work that it represents is widely considered by critics to amount to one of the most monumental fictional creations in the history of literature. Three of his novels, '' The Hamlet'', '' The Town'' and ''
The Mansion The Mansion or The Mansions may refer to: Books * ''The Interior Castle'', also known as ''The Mansions'' (1577), a spiritual guide written by Teresa of Ávila * ''The Mansion'' (novel), a 1959 book written by novelist William Faulkner Buildings ...
'', known collectively as the Snopes Trilogy, document the town of Jefferson and its environs, as an extended family headed by Flem Snopes insinuates itself into the lives and psyches of the general populace. Yoknapatawpha County has been described as a mental landscape. His short story " A Rose for Emily" was his first story published in a major magazine, the ''Forum'', but received little attention from the public. After revisions and reissues, it gained popularity and is now considered one of his best. Faulkner wrote two volumes of poetry which were published in small printings, ''The Marble Faun'' (1924), and ''A Green Bough'' (1933), and a collection of mystery stories, ''Knight's Gambit'' (1949).


Style and technique

Faulkner was known for his experimental style with meticulous attention to diction and cadence. In contrast to the minimalist understatement of his contemporary Ernest Hemingway, Faulkner made frequent use of " stream of consciousness" in his writing, and wrote often highly emotional, subtle, cerebral, complex, and sometimes
Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
or grotesque stories of a wide variety of characters including former slaves or descendants of slaves, poor white, agrarian, or working-class Southerners, and Southern aristocrats. In an interview with '' The Paris Review'' in 1956, Faulkner remarked:
Let the writer take up surgery or bricklaying if he is interested in technique. There is no mechanical way to get the writing done, no shortcut. The young writer would be a fool to follow a theory. Teach yourself by your own mistakes; people learn only by error. The good artist believes that nobody is good enough to give him advice. He has supreme vanity. No matter how much he admires the old writer, he wants to beat him.
Writer Flannery O'Connor stated that "the presence alone of Faulkner in our midst makes a great difference in what the writer can and cannot permit himself to do. Nobody wants his mule and wagon stalled on the same track the ''Dixie Limited'' is roaring down". Faulkner's contemporary critical reception was mixed, with '' The New York Times'' noting that many critics regarded his work as "raw slabs of pseudorealism that had relatively little merit as serious writing". His style has been described as "impenetrably convoluted".


Themes and analysis

Faulkner's work has been examined by many critics from a wide variety of critical perspectives, including his position on slavery in the South and his view that desegregation was not an idea to be forced, arguing desegregation should "go slow" so as not to upend the southern way of life. The essayist and novelist
James Baldwin James Arthur Baldwin (August 2, 1924 – December 1, 1987) was an American writer. He garnered acclaim across various media, including essays, novels, plays, and poems. His first novel, '' Go Tell It on the Mountain'', was published in 1953; de ...
was highly critical of his views around integration. The New Critics became interested in Faulkner's work, with Cleanth Brooks writing ''The Yoknapatawpha Country'' and Michael Millgate writing ''The Achievement of William Faulkner''. Since then, critics have looked at Faulkner's work using other approaches, such as feminist and psychoanalytic methods. Faulkner's works have been placed within the literary traditions of modernism and the Southern Renaissance. French philosopher Albert Camus wrote that Faulkner successfully imported classical tragedy into the 20th century through his "interminably unwinding spiral of words and sentences that conducts the speaker to the abyss of sufferings buried in the past".


Legacy


Influence

According to critic and translator
Valerie Miles Valerie Miles (New York, 1963) is a publisher, writer, translator and the co–founder of ''Granta en español''. She is known for promoting Spanish and Latin American literature and their translation in the English speaking world, at the same ti ...
, Faulkner's influence on
Latin American fiction Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
is considerable, with fictional worlds created by Gabriel García Márquez ( Macondo) and Juan Carlos Onetti (Santa Maria) being "very much in the vein of" Yoknapatawpha: " Carlos Fuentes's '' The Death of Artemio Cruz'' wouldn't exist if not for '' As I Lay Dying''". Fuentes himself cited Faulkner as one of the writers most important to him. Faulkner also had great influence on Mario Vargas Llosa, particularly on the early novels '' The Time of the Hero'', '' The Green House'' and '' Conversation in the Cathedral''. Vargas Llosa has claimed that during his student years he learned more from Yoknapatawpha than from classes. The works of William Faulkner are a clear influence on the French novelist Claude Simon, and the Portuguese novelist António Lobo Antunes. Cormac McCarthy has been described as a "disciple of Faulkner". After his death, Estelle and their daughter, Jill, lived at Rowan Oak until Estelle's death in 1972. The property was sold to the University of Mississippi that same year. The house and furnishings are maintained much as they were in Faulkner's day. Faulkner's scribblings are preserved on the wall, including the day-by-day outline covering a week he wrote on the walls of his small study to help him keep track of the plot twists in his novel, '' A Fable''. Some of Faulkner's works have been adapted into films such as James Franco's '' As I Lay Dying'' (2013). They have received a polarized response, with many critics contending that Faulkner's works are "unfilmable". Faulkner's final work, ''The Reivers'', was adapted into a 1969 film starring
Steve McQueen Terrence Stephen McQueen (March 24, 1930November 7, 1980) was an American actor. His antihero persona, emphasized during the height of the counterculture of the 1960s, made him a top box-office draw for his films of the late 1950s, 1960s, and 1 ...
. Faulkner remains especially popular in France, where a 2009 poll found him the second most popular writer (after only
Marcel Proust Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust (; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, critic, and essayist who wrote the monumental novel ''In Search of Lost Time'' (''À la recherche du temps perdu''; with the previous Eng ...
). Contemporary Jean-Paul Sartre stated that "for young people in France, Faulkner is a god", and Albert Camus made a stage adaptation of Faulkner's '' Requiem for a Nun''. He also won the U.S. National Book Award twice, for ''Collected Stories'' in 1951"National Book Awards – 1951"
. National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2012-03-31. (With essays by Neil Baldwin and Harold Augenbraum from the Awards 50- and 60-year anniversary publications.)
and '' A Fable'' in 1955."National Book Awards – 1955"
. National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2012-03-31. (With acceptance speech by Faulkner and essays by Neil Baldwin and Harold Augenbraum from the Awards 50- and 60-year anniversary publications.)
The United States Postal Service issued a 22-cent postage stamp in his honor on August 3, 1987. Faulkner had once served as Postmaster at the University of Mississippi, and in his letter of resignation in 1923 wrote:
As long as I live under the capitalistic system, I expect to have my life influenced by the demands of moneyed people. But I will be damned if I propose to be at the beck and call of every itinerant scoundrel who has two cents to invest in a postage stamp. This, sir, is my resignation.
On October 10, 2019, a Mississippi Writers Trail historical marker was installed at Rowan Oak in Oxford, Mississippi honoring the contributions of William Faulkner to the American literary landscape.


Collections

The manuscripts of most of Faulkner's works, correspondence, personal papers, and over 300 books from his working library reside at the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia, where he spent much of his time in his final years. The library also houses some of the writer's personal effects and the papers of major Faulkner associates and scholars, such as his biographer Joseph Blotner, bibliographer Linton Massey, and Random House editor Albert Erskine.
Southeast Missouri State University Southeast Missouri State University (SEMO) is a public university in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. In addition to the main campus, the university has four regional campuses offering full degree programs and a secondary campus housing the Holland Col ...
, where the
Center for Faulkner Studies The Center for Faulkner Studies (CFS) is a research center located at Southeast Missouri State University. It is devoted to the study of the life and works of William Faulkner (1897–1962), the American author who was awarded the Nobel Prize fo ...
is located, also owns a generous collection of Faulkner materials, including first editions, manuscripts, letters, photographs, artwork, and many materials pertaining to Faulkner's time in Hollywood. The university possesses many personal files and letters kept by Joseph Blotner, along with books and letters that once belonged to Malcolm Cowley. The university achieved the collection due to a generous donation by Louis Daniel Brodsky, a collector of Faulkner materials, in 1989. Further significant Faulkner materials reside at the University of Mississippi, the Harry Ransom Center, and the
New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress ...
. The Random House records at Columbia University also include letters by and to Faulkner.Jaillant (2014) In 1966, the United States Military Academy dedicated a William Faulkner Room in its library.


Selected list of works

* '' The Sound and the Fury'' (1929) * '' As I Lay Dying'' (1930) * ''
Light in August ''Light in August'' is a 1932 novel by the Southern American author William Faulkner. It belongs to the Southern gothic and modernist literary genres. Set in the author's present day, the interwar period, the novel centers on two strangers, a ...
'' (1932) * '' Absalom, Absalom!'' (1936) * ''
The Wild Palms ''If I Forget Thee, Jerusalem'' is a novel by the American author William Faulkner published in 1939. The novel was originally published under the title ''The Wild Palms'', which is the title of one of the two interwoven stories. This title was ...
'' (1939) * ''
Go Down, Moses "Go Down Moses" is a spiritual phrase that describes events in the Old Testament of the Bible, specifically Exodus 5:1: "And the LORD spake unto Moses, Go unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Let my people go, that they may se ...
'' (1942) * ''
The Reivers ''The Reivers: A Reminiscence'', published in 1962, is the last novel by the American author William Faulkner. The bestselling novel was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1963. Faulkner previously won this award for his book ''A Fable'', ...
'' (1962)


Filmography

*'' Flesh'' (1932) *''
Today We Live ''Today We Live'' is a 1933 American pre-Code romance drama film produced and directed by Howard Hawks and starring Joan Crawford, Gary Cooper, Robert Young and Franchot Tone.
'' (1933) *'' The Story of Temple Drake'' (1933) *'' Submarine Patrol'' (1938) *'' Air Force'' (1943) *'' To Have and Have Not'' (1944) *'' The Big Sleep'' (1946)


Notes and references


Notes


Citations and references


Works cited

* * * * William Faulkner: ''Novels 1930–1935'' (Joseph Blotner and Noel Polk, ed.) ( Library of America, 1985) * William Faulkner: ''Novels 1936–1940'' (Joseph Blotner and Noel Polk, eds.) ( Library of America, 1990) * William Faulkner: ''Novels 1942–1954'' (Joseph Blotner and Noel Polk, eds.) ( Library of America, 1994) * William Faulkner: ''Novels 1957–1962'' (Noel Polk, ed., with notes by Joseph Blotner) ( Library of America, 1999) * William Faulkner: ''Novels 1926–1929'' (Joseph Blotner and Noel Polk, eds.) ( Library of America, 2006) * ''The Portable Faulkner,'' ed. Malcolm Cowley ( Viking Press, 1946). * Blotner, Joseph. ''Faulkner: A Biography''.
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
: Random House, 1974. 2 vols. * Blotner, Joseph. ''Faulkner: A Biography''.
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
: Random House, 1984. * Fowler, Doreen, Abadie, Ann. ''Faulkner and Popular Culture: Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha''. Univ. Press of Mississippi, 1990 , * Jaillant, Lise
"'I'm Afraid I've Got Involved With a Nut': New Faulkner Letters." Southern Literary Journal 47.1 (2014): 98–114.
* Kerr, Elizabeth Margaret, and Kerr, Michael M. ''William Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha: A Kind of Keystone in the Universe''. Fordham Univ Press, 1985 , * *Liénard-Yeterian, Marie. 'Faulkner et le cinéma', Paris: Michel Houdiard Editeur, 2010. * * * * Sensibar, Judith L. ''The Origins of Faulkner's Art''. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1984. * Sensibar, Judith L. ''Faulkner and Love: The Women Who Shaped His Art, A Biography''. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008. * Sensibar, Judith L. ''Vision in Spring''. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1984. . * * * * * * *


External links


William Faulkner Papers
at the University of Virginia
William Faulkner Collection
at the Harry Ransom Center * * * * *
Digital Yoknapatawpha

Faulkner at Virginia: An Audio Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Faulkner, William 1897 births 1962 deaths 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American poets 20th-century American screenwriters 20th-century American short story writers Accidental deaths in Mississippi American erotica writers American male novelists American male screenwriters American male short story writers American Nobel laureates British Army personnel of World War I Deaths by horse-riding accident in the United States Lost Generation writers Mississippi postmasters Modernist writers National Book Award winners Nobel laureates in Literature Novelists from Mississippi O. Henry Award winners People from New Albany, Mississippi People from Oxford, Mississippi People from Ripley, Mississippi Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winners Screenwriters from Mississippi Southern United States in fiction University of Virginia alumni Writers of American Southern literature Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters