The Life of William Faulkner: The Past Is Never Dead, 1897-1934
- ISBN-10
- 0813943833
- ISBN-13
- 9780813943831
- Category
- Literary Criticism
- Pages
- 512
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2020-03-24
- Publisher
- University of Virginia Press
- Author
- Carl Rollyson
Description
Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1949, William Faulkner was a southerner who became widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of all time. Despite being such a studied figure, however, to date no biography has captured the complexities at the heart of the man and his work. In The Life of William Faulkner, acclaimed literary biographer Carl Rollyson portrays a new Faulkner—a man of astonishing paradoxes. Based on extensive interviews with family and friends of Faulkner, as well as unparalleled access to primary and secondary source materials, this first of what will be a major two-volume work offers a dramatic narrative that breaks the bounds of the traditional literary biography. This first volume covers Faulkner’s formative years. The oldest brother born into a family who had lost their glory, Faulkner at first excelled at school, until his teens when he defied family expectations by pursuing an interest in art and writing that promised no discernable profit for himself or others. World War I and its aftermath galvanized a new generation of writers, none more than Faulkner. Yet while his contemporaries Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald were establishing themselves in Paris and New York, the shy Faulkner kept his distance, not even crossing the length of a café to introduce himself to James Joyce. Drenched in the culture of the Deep South, Faulkner came to write iconic novels of enduring literary significance, but his body of work also included Hollywood screenplays and potboilers for the Saturday Evening Post. Presenting himself as an aloof, self-proclaimed renegade artist, he was at the same time a dedicated family man. He could not create a cosmos of his own without having a sense of counterpull, of being in two places at once, like many of the characters in his novels. In letters to his friends and publishers, Faulkner frequently wrote of "this alarming paradox" that, Rollyson argues, would define his life. Integrating Faulkner’s screenplays, fiction, and life, Rollyson argues that the novelist deserves to be reread not just as a literary figure but as a still-relevant force, especially in relation to issues of race, sexuality, and equality. The culmination of years of research in archives that have been largely ignored by previous biographers, The Life of William Faulkner offers a significant challenge and an essential contribution to Faulkner scholarship.
Get the book
Other editions
-
- 2020-09-22
- 656 pages
- Ebook
- University of Virginia Press
Similar books
-
William Faulkner: His Life and Work
By David MinterForeword , Sherwood Anderson and Other Famous Creoles . Compare R : D. Laing , The Divided Self ( New York , 1970 ) , p . 90. See also Spratling , “ Chronicle of a Friendship , ” as cited in the general note to this chapter . 7.
-
One Matchless Time: A Life of William Faulkner
By Jay PariniDrawing on previously unavailable sources--including letters, memoirs, and interviews with Faulkner's daughter and lovers--Jay Parini has crafted a biography that delves into the mystery of this gifted and troubled writer.
-
Becoming Faulkner: The Art and Life of William Faulkner
By Philip WeinsteinAllen Tate recalled Faulkner asking Tate's wife where he could get another drink, then vomiting all over her dress (WFSH ). The situation had gotten out of hand. Hal Smith, Faulkner's friend and publisher, finally reacted.
-
Myself and the World: A Biography of William Faulkner
By Robert W. HamblinDoyle, Don H. Faulkner's County: The Historical Roots of Yoknapatawpha. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2001. Falkner, Murry C. The Falkners of Mississippi: A Memoir. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1967.
-
William Faulkner and Southern History
By Joel WilliamsonEqually important, Williamson uses these stories to underscore themes of race, class, economics, politics, religion, sex and violence, idealism and Romanticism--"the rainbow of elements in human culture"--that reappear in Faulkner's work.
-
A William Faulkner Encyclopedia
By Robert W. Hamblin, Charles A. PeekBIBLIOGRAPHICAL SOURCES Bassett , John E. Faulkner : An Annotated Checklist of Recent Criticism . Kent , Ohio : Kent State University Press , 1983 . Faulkner the Eighties : An Annotated Critical Bibliography . Metuchen , N.J .
-
The Saddest Words: William Faulkner's Civil War
By Michael GorraA New York Times Notable Book of 2020 How do we read William Faulkner in the twenty-first century? asks Michael Gorra, in this reconsideration of Faulkner's life and legacy.
-
William Faulkner and the Southern Landscape
By Charles Shelton AikenCain's name was Cornelius Franklin, not Robert or Bob. He usually was called by the nickname Tince. Cain owned stock in the First National Bank of Oxford, the financial institution begun in 1910 by J. W. T. Falkner, William Faulkner's ...
-
Collected Stories
By William Faulkner“Jesus, I can't hardly wait,” I said. “You which?” Rosie hollered. “Jesus?” she hollered. “Jesus? You let your mamma hear you cussing and I bound you'll wait. You talk to me about a nickel! For a nickel ...
-
William Faulkner, the Man and the Artist: A Biography
By Stephen B. OatesBased on Faulkner collections at two universities, a previously unexamined private collection, and interviews with Faulkner's associates, this biography profiles the often contradictory personality of the famed Southern author