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William Cuthbert Faulkner ( September 25, 1897 - July 6, 1962) was a novelist from the Southern United States. Though his works are sometimes challenging or even difficult, he is generally regarded as one of America's most important fiction writers.
William Faulkner wrote works of psychological drama and emotional depth, typically with long serpentine prose and high, meticulously-chosen diction. Like most prolific authors, he suffered the envy and scorn of others, and was considered to be the stylistic rival to Ernest Hemingway (his long sentences and ornate verbiage contrasted to Hemingway's short, 'minimalist' style). He is perhaps also considered to be the only true American Modernist prose fiction writer of the 1930s, following in experimental tradition European writers such as James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, and Marcel Proust, and known for using groundbreaking literary devices such as stream of consciousness, multiple narrations or points of view, and time-shifts within narrative.
Faulkner was born William Falkner (no "U") in New Albany, MississippiNew Albany is a city located in Union County, Mississippi. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 7,607. It is the county seat of Union County 6. Geography New Albany is located at 34°29'32" North, 89°0'34" West (34. 492237, -89. Accord, and raised in and heavily influenced by that state, as well as the general ambience of the South. His great-grandfather, William Clark FalknerWilliam Clark Falkner ( July 6, 1825 or 1826 November 6, 1889) was a soldier, lawyer, politician, businessman, and author in northern Mississippi. He is most notable for the influence he had on the work of his great-grandson, author William Faulkner., was an important figure in the history of northern Mississippi. He served as an colonel in the Confederate Army, founded a railroad, and gave his name to the town of FalknerFalkner is a town located in Tippah County, Mississippi. As of the 2000 census, the town had a total population of 212. The town was named for William Clark Falkner, one of whose descendants was author William Faulkner. Geography Falkner is located at 34° in nearby Tippah CountyTippah County is a county located in the U. State of Mississippi. As of 2000, the population is 20,826. Its county seat is Ripley 6. Geography According to the U. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,191 km˛ (460 mi˛). 1,186 km˛ (458 mi˛) of it. Perhaps most importantly, he wrote several novels and other works, establishing a literary tradition in the family. Eventually, Colonel Falkner was the model for Colonel John Sartoris in his great-grandson's writing.
It is understandable that the younger Falkner was influenced by, and drew on, the history of his family and the region. Mississippi marked his sense of humor, his sense of the tragic position of Blacks and Whites, his keen characterization of usual Southern characters and his timeless themes, one of them being that fiercely intelligent people dwelled behind the facade of good old boys and simpletons. An early editor misspelled Falkner's name as "Faulkner", and the author decided to keep the spelling.
Faulkner's most celebrated novels include The Sound and the FuryThe Sound and the Fury is a novel written by William Faulkner. It was his fourth novel, and was published in 1929. The novel is written in a stream of consciousness style, and is split into four sections: the first from the viewpoint of Benjy Compson, a r ( 1929Centuries: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s Years: 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 See also 1929 in aviation 1929 in film 1929 in literature 1929 in mu), As I Lay DyingAs I Lay Dying is a novel published in 1930 and written by William Faulkner, one of the most notable American novelists of the twentieth century. The novel, which Faulkner himself referred to as a "tour de force," was the author's fifth and is read in man ( 1930), Light in August ( 1932), The Unvanquished ( 1938), and Absalom, Absalom! ( 1936), which are usually considered masterpieces. Faulkner was a prolific writer of short stories: his first short story collection, These 13 ( 1931), includes many of his most acclaimed (and most frequently anthologized) stories, including " A Rose for Emily ," " Red Leaves ," " That Evening Sun ," and " Dry September ." During the 1930s, in an effort to make money, Faulkner crafted Sanctuary, a sensationalist " pulp fiction"-styled novel. (first published in 1931). Its themes of evil and corruption (bearing Southern Gothic tones), resonate to this day. A sequel to the book, Requiem for a Nun , is the only play that he has published. It involves an introduction that is actually one sentence that spans for a couple pages. He received a Pulitzer Prize for A Fable , and won a National Book Award (posthumously) for his Collected Stories.
Faulkner was also an acclaimed writer of mysteries, publishing a collection of crime fiction, Knight's Gambit, that featured Gavin Stevens, an attorney, wise to the ways of folk living in Yoknapatawpha County. He set many of his short stories and novels in his fictional Yoknapatawpha County, based on--and nearly identical to in terms of geography--Lafayette County, of which his hometown of Oxford, Mississippi is the county seat; Yoknapatawpha was his very own "postage stamp" and it is considered to be one of the most monumetal fictional creations in the history of literature.
In his later years Faulkner moved to Hollywood to be a screenwriter (producing scripts for Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep and Ernest Hemingway's To Have and Have Not--both directed by Howard Hawks). Faulkner started an affair with a secretary for Hawks, Meta Carpenter.
Faulkner was known rather infamously for his drinking problem as well, and throughout his life was known to be an alcoholic.
He was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 1949. He drank shortly before he had to sail to Stockholm to receive the distinguished prize. Once there, he delivered one of the greatest speeches any literature recipient had ever given. In it, he remarked "I decline to accept the end of man...Man will not only endure, but prevail..." Both events were fully in character. Faulkner donated his Nobel winnings, "to establish a fund to support and encourage new fiction writers", eventually resulting in the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.
Faulkner served as Writer-In-Residence at the University of Virginia from 1957 until his death in 1962.
Works by date of first publication: