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William Faulkner: Sage of Yoknapatawpha

William Faulkner: Sage of Yoknapatawpha. 1897-1962. Biography. Born and raised in the state of Mississippi Deeply influenced by Southern culture and literature Raised by his mother, grandmother, and a black nanny named Callie Barr who had a lasting influence on him

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William Faulkner: Sage of Yoknapatawpha

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  1. William Faulkner:Sage of Yoknapatawpha 1897-1962

  2. Biography • Born and raised in the state of Mississippi • Deeply influenced by Southern culture and literature • Raised by his mother, grandmother, and a black nanny named Callie Barr who had a lasting influence on him • Faulkner said he had three important teachers: his mother (books), his grandmother (social graces and manners) and Callie Barr (Southern culture and folklore

  3. Biography Continued • Faulkner attended three semesters at the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) before dropping out • Rejected by the Army for World War I because of his height (5’5”), he joined the Canadian Royal Air Force, but never saw action in the war • Moved to New Orleans in 1923 and wrote his first novel, Soldier’s Pay, published in 1925, there

  4. Body of Work • Faulkner moved back to Mississippi and wrote his first Yoknapatawpha novel in 1927, but it was rejected by publishers until his editor extensively changed it. It was published as Sartoris in 1928. • His first successful novel was The Sound and the Fury, published in 1929 • By his death, he had published almost 40 novels and collections of short stories all set in the fictional world of Yoknapatawpha county.

  5. Allusion in the Title—best-known work • Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow,Creeps in this petty pace from day to dayTo the last syllable of recorded time,And all our yesterdays have lighted foolsThe way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!Life's but a walking shadow, a poor playerThat struts and frets his hour upon the stageAnd then is heard no more: it is a taleTold by an idiot, full of sound and fury,Signifying nothing. • --from Macbeth upon learning of his wife’s death

  6. The Sound and the Fury • Faulkner changed narrative technique • He used a combination of stream of consciousness and alternating narration (first/third person) • His narrators were often unreliable In The Sound and the Fury, there were four narratives, all of them skewing the story: Benjy is mentally retarded and unable to understand the significance of the story he tells Jason is overly concerned with the family reputation and colors the narrative so as to not damage the family Quentin loves his sister, Caddie, and tries to underplay her problems and the situation. He commits suicide at the end of his narration

  7. The Sound and the Fury, continued • The final section focuses on Dilsey, an illiterate servant in the Compson home who speaks in a specific dialect which is difficult to understand • Complexity of narration adds to difficulty of his work. • Faulkner was a critical success, but not a popular one. He had money problems for most of his career

  8. Southern Gothic • Faulkner is considered, along with Tennessee Williams and Carson McCullers, a “southern gothic” writer • Work is set in the American South • Concentrates on the lives of people who might be considered “freaks” or outsiders of all sorts • Often spotlights matters others would want ignored—race, homosexuality, miscegenation, rape, incest, etc.

  9. “The Bear” • Began as a novella in the collection Go Down, Moses • Eventually he rewrote it as we read it in order to focus on the hunting story • “The Bear,” in original form, had four sections. Book Four concerns what Ike found in his grandfather’s study. • The ledger revealed exactly how corrupt LQC (his grandfather) actually was.

  10. Faulkner and Race “The bear” and miscegenation Ike McCaslin’s choice • The ledger shows LQC’s marriage, children, and illegitimate children • Literary scholars have taken the McCaslin family and created the tree. Look at it carefully and notice what Ike learned from the ledger • Ike, having studies the ledger, realizes the truth about his father, uncle, grandfather, and the family money • He chooses to keep a small portion of the land, give his cousin Cass his share, and divide the rest among ALL the heirs

  11. McCaslin Genealogy

  12. Nobel and Pulitzer Prizes • Faulkner won the 1949 Nobel Prize for literature • He also won two Pulitzer Prizes for fiction • A Fable in 1954 • The Reivers in 1962

  13. Faulkner and the Movies • Faulkner accepted a contract from Warner Brothers in the early 1940’s to work as a screenwriter • He wasn’t particularly good at it, but he plugged away and eventually received screen credit for several films • Best known among these was the Humphrey Bogart-Lauren Bacall classic The Big Sleep

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