WILLIAM FAULKNER

 Grew up in Oxford, Mississippi  His great-grandfather was a Civil War hero  Family had aristocratic bearing  Belonged to a once wealthy family of plantation owners  Quit high school in the 10 th grade  US Army rejected him in WWI (didn’t meet height and weight requirements)  Joined the Canadian and British Royal Air Force during WWI – but war ended before he saw action

 Studied at the University of Mississippi briefly then dropped out  Worked at a bookstore in New York, for a newspaper in New Orleans, and as a postmaster at the university in Oxford  Met Sherwood Anderson (Winesburg, Ohio)  Faulkner originally wrote poetry  Anderson inspired Faulkner to write fiction about Mississippi (what he knew best)

 Faulkner writes about the South  He created a fictional county in Mississippi called Yoknapatawpha, a city called Jefferson, and a cast of characters based on real people  Writes about the decay of the Old South and the emergence of ruthless newcomers

 Reconstruction after the Civil War had a humbling effect on the South  Outdated plantation economy was effected  Once Southern aristocrats were working the land alongside tenant farmers and former slaves  Some Southerners had a difficult time letting go of the past, disliked the many changes occurring, and clung to traditional values

CHARACTERS  Faulkner created fictional families who reappear from novel to novel  Patterned after Faulkner’s great-grandfather  Rose from poverty to command a regiment, built a railroad, wrote a best-selling novel, and was murdered on the street

FAMOUS WORKS  The Sound and the Fury (1929) – decline of a once-great Southern family, the Compsons  As I Lay Dying (1930) – Poor white family trying to bring someone back to town for a burial  Light in August (1932) – Main character’s racial heritage is mixed and isn’t accepted by whites or African- Americans  Absalom, Absalom! (1936) – a young man is rejected by his father and brother b/c of his mixed blood

LITERARY STYLE  Experimented with different points of view, stream of consciousness, and flashback

AWARDS  Nobel Prize in Literature, 1949  Pulitzer Prizes, 1955 and 1963

OTHER  Traveled to Hollywood several times and wrote screenplays purely to make money  Married his first love after she divorced her first husband  She tried to drown herself on their honeymoon  Had a child die a few days after birth  During their marriage, he had affairs  Both Faulkner and his wife had struggles with alcohol