The Compson family is a fictional family created by American author

William Faulkner 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 o ...

for use in his novels and short stories. A once prominent family in

Yoknapatawpha County Yoknapatawpha County () is a fictional Mississippi county created by the American author William Faulkner, largely based upon and inspired by Lafayette County, Mississippi, and its county seat of Oxford (which Faulkner renamed "Jefferson"). Faulk ...

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

, the family began to fall on hard times in the twentieth century. Principally depicted in ''

The Sound and the Fury ''The Sound and the Fury'' is a novel by the American author William Faulkner. It employs several narrative styles, including stream of consciousness. Published in 1929, ''The Sound and the Fury'' was Faulkner's fourth novel, and was not immedi ...

'' and in its appendix, they also make appearances in ''

Absalom, Absalom! ''Absalom, Absalom!'' is a novel by the American author William Faulkner, first published in 1936. Taking place before, during, and after the American Civil War, it is a story about three families of the American South, with a focus on the life o ...

'' and stories such as "

That Evening Sun "That Evening Sun" is a short story by the American author William Faulkner, published in 1931 in the collection '' These 13'', which included Faulkner's most anthologized story, "A Rose for Emily". The story was originally published, in a slight ...

". The family name is also referred to briefly in the opening chapter of '' Requiem for a Nun''. Faulkner traced their

genealogy Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kin ...

from 1699 to 1945.

Compson family members

Jason Lycurgus Compson I; Quentin MacLachan Compson II (the Old Governor); Gen. Jason Lycurgus Compson II; Jason Richmond Lycurgus Compson III; his wife Caroline Bascomb Compson (–1933); their children Quentin (1891–1910), Jason (born 1894), Candace (known as Caddy), Benjamin (known as Benjy, originally named Maury before his name was changed) (1895–1936); Caddy's daughter (Miss) Quentin (born 1911).

References

Characters in American novels William Faulkner characters Fictional families {{novel-char-stub