William Faulkner and Southern History

539 Pages·1995·35.34 MB·English

by  Joel Williamson

TWILLIAM FAULKNER
AND SOUTHERN HISTORY
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WILLIAM FAULKNER
AND SOUTHERN HISTORY
Joel Williamson
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York Oxford
Oxford University Press
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and associated companies in
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Copyright © 1993 by Joel Williamson
First published in 1993 by Oxford University Press, Inc.,
198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016-4314
First issued as an Oxford University Press paperback, 1995
Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior permission of Oxford University Press, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Williamson, Joel.
William Faulkner and southern history /
Joel Williamson,
p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-19-507404-1
ISBN 0-19-510129-4 (Pbk.)
1. Faulkner, William, 1897-1962—Knowledge—Southern States.
2. Faulkner, William, 1897-1962—Biography.
3. Novelists, American—20th century—Biography.
4. Southern States in literature.
5. Southern States—Civilization.
6, Southern States—Biography. I. Title.
PS3511.A86Z98574 1993
813'.52—dc20 [b] 92-22780
Permissions are listed on p vi.
For Anna
I am grateful to the following writers and publishers for permission to reprint selections from previously
published works and to use selections from previously unpublished works:
Random House, Inc. For excerpts from:
Light in August by William Faulkner. Copyright 1932 and renewed 1960 by William Faulkner. Reprinted
by permission of Random House, Inc.
The Hamlet by William Faulkner. Copyright 1940 by William Faulkner and renewed 1968 by Estelle
Faulkner and Jill Faulkner Summers. Reprinted by permission of Random House, Inc.
Go Down, Moses by William Faulkner. Copyright 1942 by William Faulkner and renewed 1969 by Jill
Faulkner Summers. Reprinted by permission of Random House, Inc.
Selected Letters of William Faulkner, ed. Joseph Blotner. Copyright 1977 by Joseph Blotner. Reprinted by
permission of Random House, Inc.
The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner. Copyright 1946. Reprinted by permission of Random
House, Inc.
The Reivers by William Faulkner. Copyright 1962. Reprinted by permission of Random House, Inc.
The Mansion by William Faulkner. Copyright 1959. Reprinted by permission of Randon House, Inc.
Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner. Copyright 1936. Reprinted by permission of Random House,
Inc.
Intruder in the Dust by William Faulkner. Copyright 1948. Reprinted by permission of Random House, Inc.
The Town by William Faulkner. Copyright 1957. Reprinted by permission of Random House, Inc.
Faulkner: A Biography by Joseph Blotner. Copyright 1974, 1984. Reprinted by permission of Random
House, Inc.
University Press of Mississippi. For excerpts from:
William Faulkner: A Life on Paper, script by A.I. Bezzerides, introduction by Carvel Collins, adapted and
edited by Ann Abadie. Copyright © 1980.
Count No-Count, Flashbacks to Faulkner by Ben Wasson. Copyright © 1983.
University of Tennessee Press. For excerpts from:
Sherwood Anderson: Selected Letters, ed. Charles E. Modlin. Copyright © 1984.
University of Texas Press. For excerpts from:
William Faulkner: Life Glimpses by Louis Daniel Brodsky. Copyright © 1990. By permission of the
author and the University of Texas.
Seajay Press. For excerpts from:
William Faulkner: His Tippah County Heritage by Jane Isbell Haynes. Copyright © 1985.
The Letters of Sherwood Anderson, ed. Howard Mumford Jones. Copyright 1953 by Eleanor Anderson.
Copyright renewed 1981 by Eleanor Copenhaver Anderson.
The Viking Press. For excerpts from:
Writers at Work: The Paris Interviews, ed. Malcolm Cowley. Copyright 1958.
Dun and Bradstreet and the Baker Library of the Harvard University Graduate School of Business
Administration. For excerpts from:
The R. G. Dun & Co. Collection.
Writer to writer, I am also grateful to the following:
Ann Abadie
Joseph Blotner
Louis Daniel Brodsky
Robert Hamblin
James Meriwether
Michael Millgate
Joan Williams
Contents
OUT OF THE GARDEN 3
ONE Ancestry
1. The Falkners 11
2. The Colonel 41
3. The Butlers 77
4. Flight 111
TWO Biography
5. Youth, 1897-1918 141
6. The Artist as a Young Man, 1918-1929 184
7. The Middle Years, 1929-1950 225
8. The Search, 1950-1956 275
9. The Virginia Years, 1956-1962 315
THREE The Writing
A Faulknerian Universe 355
10. Sex in the Sylvan Setting 365
11. Community 399
THE GARDEN 427
Acknowledgments 435
Notes 439
Index 483
Genealogy 511
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WILLIAM FAULKNER
AND SOUTHERN HISTORY