William Faulkner (
September 25 1897 -
July 6,
1962) was a southern novelist of genius. His work can be hard to read, and it is not to every taste. Like every prolific author, he suffered the envy and scorn of others who could not imagine producing quality work at such a pace. But Faulkner's writing is rich, tragic and funny.
Faulkner was born in New Albany, Mississippi, raised in Mississippi and heavily marked by the state. Mississippi marked his sense of humor, his sense of the tragic position of Blacks and Whites, and his theme that fiercely intelligent people dwelled behind the facade of good old boys and simpletons.
Some of his more popular works are As I Lay Dying, The Unvanquished, and The Sound and the Fury. He set many of his stories and novels in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County.
In his later years Faulkner moved to Hollywood to be a screenwriter (producing scripts for The Big Sleep and Ernest Hemingway's To Have and Have Not--both directed by Howard Hawks. Faulkner became an alcoholic and started an affair with a script girl for Hawks.
He was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 1949. He lay around in bed, drunk as a sailor, until shortly before he had to sail to Stockhoolm to receive the distinguished prize. He then went to Stockholm and delivered one of the greatest speeches any literature recipient has ever given. Both events were fully in character.
Works by date of first publication:
Novels
- [/Soldiers Pay]? (1926)
- /Mosquitoes? (1927}
- /Sartoris? (1929)
- [/The Sound and the Fury]? (1929)
- [/As I Lay Dying]? (1930)
- /Sanctuary? (1931)
- [/Light in August]? (1932)
- /Pylon? (1935)
- [Absalom, Absalom!]? (1936)
- /The Unvanquished (1938)
- [/If I Forget Thee Jerusalem]? (1939)
- [/The Hamlet]? (1940)
- [/Go Down, Moses]? (1942)
- [/Intruder in the Dust]? (1948)
- [/Requiem for a Nun]? (1951)
- [/A Fable]? (1954)
- [/The Town]? (1957)
- [/The Mansion]? (1959)
- [/The Reavers]? (1962)
- [/Flags in the Dust]? (1973)
Short Stories
- [/Landing in Luck]? (1919)
- [/The Hill]? (1922)
- [/New Orleans]?
- [/Mirrors of Chartres Street]? (1925)
- [/Damon and Pythias Unlimited]? (1925)
- /Jealousy? (1925)
- /Cheest? (1925)
- [/Out of Nazareth]? (1925)
- [/The Kingdom of God]? (1925)
- [/The Rosary]? (1925)
- [/The Cobbler]? (1925)
- /Chance? (1925)
- /Sunset? (1925)
- [/The Kid Learns]? (1925)
- [/The Liar]? (1925)
- /Home? (1925)
- /Episode? (1925)
- [/Country Mice]? (1925)
- [/Yo Ho and Two Bottles of Rum]? (1925)
- [[/Music? - Sweeter than the Angels Sing
- [/A Rose for Emily]? (1930)
- /Honor? (1930)
- /Thrift? (1930)
- [/Red Leaves]? (1930)
- [/Ad Astra]? (1931)
- [/Dry September]? (1931)
- [/That Evening Sun]? (1931)
- /Hair? (1931)
- [/Spotted Horses]? (1931)
- [/The Hound]? (1931)
- [/Fox Hunt]? (1931)
- /Carcassonne? (1931)
- [/Divorce in Naples]? (1931)
- /Victory? (1931)
- [/All the Dead Pilots]? (1931)
- /Crevasse? (1931)
- /Mistral? (1931)
- [/A Justice]? (1931)
- [/Dr. Martino]? (1931)
- [/Idyll in the Desert]? (1931)
- [/Miss Zilphia Grant]? (1932)
- [/Death Drag]? (1932)
- [/Centaur in Brass]? (1932)
- [Once Aboard the Lugger (I)]? (1932)
- [Lizards in Jamshyd's Courtyard]? (1932)
- /Turnabout? (1932)
- /Smoke? (1932)
- [/Mountain Victory]? (1932)
- [/There Was a Queen]? (1933)
- [/Artist at Home]? (1933)
- /Beyond? (1933)
- /Elly? (1934)
- [/Pennsylvania Station]? (1934)
- /Wash? (1934)
- [/A Bear Hunt]? (1934)
- [/The Leg]? (1934)
- [/Black Music]? (1934)
- [/Mule in the Yard]? (1934)
- /Ambuscade? (1934)
- /Retreat? (1934)
- Lo!? (1934)
- /Raid? (1934)
- [/Skirmish at Sartoris]? (1935)
- [/Golden Land]? (1935)
- [/That Will Be Fine]? (1935)
- [/Uncle Willy]? (1935)
- /Lion? (1935)
- [/The Brooch]? (1936)
- [/Two Dollar Wife]? (1936)
- [/Fool About a Horse]? (1936)
- /The Unvanquished (1936)
- /Vendee? (1936)
- /Monk? (1937)
- [/Barn Burning]? (1939)
- [/Hand Upon the Waters]? (1939)
- [/A Point of Law]? (1940)
- [/The Old People]? (1940)
- [/Pantaloon in Black]? (1940)
- [/Gold Is Not Always]? (1940)
- /Tomorrow? (1940)
- [/Go Down, Moses]? (1941)
- [/The Tall Men]? (1941)
- [/Two Soldiers]? (1942)
- [/Delta Autumn]? (1942)
- [/The Bear]? (1942)
- [/Afternoon of a Cow]? (1943)
- [/Shingles for the Lord]? (1943)
- [/My Grandmother Millard and General Bedford Forrest and the Battle of Harrykin Creek]? (1943)
- [/Shall Not Perish]? (1943)
- [/Appendix, Compson, 1699-1945]? (1946)
- [/An Error in Chemistry]? (1946)
- [/A Courtship]? (1948)
- [Knight's Gambit]? (1949)
- [/A Name for the City]? (1950)
- [/Notes on a Horsethief]? (1951)
- /Mississippi? (1954)
- [[/[Sepulture South: Gaslight]?]] (1954)
- [/Race at Morning]? (1955)
- [/By the People]? (1955)
- [/Hell Creek Crossing]? (1962)
- [/Mr. Acarius]? (1965)
- [/The Wishing Tree]? (1967)
- [/Al Jackson]? (1971)
- [And Now What's To Do]? (1973)
- /Nympholepsy? (1973)
- [/The Priest]? (1976)
- /Mayday? (1977)
- [/Frankie and Johnny]? (1978)
- [/Don Giovanni]? (1979)
- /Peter? (1979)
- [/A Portrait of Elmer]? (1979)
- /Adolescence? (1979)
- /Snow? (1979)
- /Moonlight? (1979)
- [/With Caution and Dispatch]? (1979)
- [/Hog Pawn]? (1979)
- [/A Dangerous Man]? (1979)
- [/A Return]? (1979)
- [/The Big Shot]? (1979)
- [Once Aboard the Lugger (II)]? (1979)
- [/Dull Tale]? (1979)
- /Evangeline? (1979)
- /Love? (1988)
- [/Christmas Tree]? (1995)
- [/Rose of Lebanon]? (1995)
- [/Lucas Beauchamp]? (1999)
Poetry Collections
- [/Vision in Spring]? (1921)
- [/The Marble Faun]? (1924)
- [/This Earth, a Poem]? (1932)
- [/A Green Bough]? (1965)
- [/Mississippi Poems]? (1979)
- [/Helen, a Courtship and Mississippi Poems]? (1981)