Faulkner, William. (1897 - 1962).

L i f e

- born William Falkner in Mississippi, later changed the spelling to Faulkner

- grew up with the stories about his ancestors, his family, and the past

W o r k

- concerned with ‘the problems of the human heart in conflict with itself’

- dealt with a single imaginary county x but: explored the whole of human experience

- deeply appreciated the American South and the South’s history

Sartoris (1929):

- the history of several generations of a distinguished Mississippi family

(a) established his setting of the mythical Yoknapatawpha county

(b) established his characters to work with throughout the whole career

(c) established his special themes of the complexities of familial, sexual, social, and racial identities, and of the burden of the past

The Sound and the Fury (1929):

- the economic and emotional deterioration of the Compson family

- four magnificent chapters: each presents a different consciousness with a different conception of time and language

- four narrators: three brothers, including an idiot, a suicide, and a business failure; and a black servant with the traditionally omniscient point of view

- the brothers mourn the loss of their sister, each for different reason

- examines the disintegration of the family and the private obsessions of the brothers

- compared to J. Joyce’s Ulysses: his modernist approach, stream of consciousness, and dense symbolism

As I Lay Dying (1930):

- the poor white family’s efforts to fulfil the mother’s wish to be buried in her hometown

- the multiple perspectives of 15 ‘interior monologues’

- presents the consciousness of each of the 15 family members during the mourning procession behind the wagon with the coffin

Sanctuary (1931):

- a ‘flapper’ character gets involved with criminals, drugs, and prostitution

Light in August (1932):

- concerned with passion, racism, and religious fanaticism

- presents parallel destinies of two wandering orphans

Absalom, Absalom! (1936):

- concerned with a family history of a poor white man

- his dream of finding a dynasty in Mississippi ends up in the ruin of almost everyone involved

‘The Snopes Trilogy’: The Hamlet (1940), The Town (1957), and The Mansion (1959):

 - concerned with the rise of the poor white Snopes family

Go Down, Moses (1942):

- concerned with the racially mixed McCaslin family

Intruder in the Dust (1948):

- a black man’s surprising innocence in a murder trial makes him a ‘tyrant over the whole country’s white conscience’

The Fable (1954):

- a story from the WW I = an allegory for Christ’s suffering and crucifixion for the mankind

> won him the Pulitzer Prize