Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Faulkner Firsts
In order to prepare for the Sound and the Fury, I'd like you to scour the internet to discover some facts about William himself. Faulkner's background and experiences are critical in establishing a context for the book. Once you have done this, post an interesting fact in the comment section! We will begin on Friday!
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William Faulkner wrote the screenplay for the 1946 adaption of Raymond Chandler's "The Big Sleep," starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.
For all hippies reading this, “The Big Lebowski” was kind of an homage to this book and movie.
Something that's interesting about William Faulkner is that he never really had a formal education. He never graduated high school, never received a college degree, and he yet received a Nobel prize for literature in 1949. He once wrote in a letter, "what an amazing gift I had: uneducated in every formal sense, without even very literate, let alone literary, companions, yet to have made the things I made." Also, I think that his background is very important to the context of Sound and the Fury. Faulkner came from an old southern family and grew up in Oxford, Mississippi. Many of his stories deal with the decay of the old South (the Compson family in Sound and the Fury) and also racial prejudice.
Apparently Faulkner's name was originally William Cuthbert Falkner. However after being turned down from the U.S. Army Air Force because of his height, he then applied to join the Royal Air Force and lied about many personal facts to make himself seem more British and spelled his name "Faulkner" believing it looked more British. Pretty cool.
Many of Faulkner's novels and short stories take place in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, based on his actual home of Lafayette County, Mississippi. According to Faulkner, Yoknapatawpha means "water flowing slow through the flatland." Try saying Yoknapatawpha 5 times fast.
-While serving in the Canadian Royal Air Force, Faulkner never actually took a solo flight. He never saw any action yet still lied to people and told them that he was shot down over France.
-Faulkner was fired from his postmaster's job at the University of Mississippi for reading on the job.
Sound and the Fury (published in 1929) is told through the narratives of 4 characters. Faulkner's novel As I Lay Dying (pub. 1930) is told through the narratives of 15 characters (!!!), so maybe this style is one that Faulkner especially likes or excels at.
1. Faulkner was able to become successful despite battling alcoholism.
2. He had multiple extramarital affairs.
Faulkner cheated on his wife with a woman named Meta.
Faulkner married his childhood sweetheart
Faulkner was denied acceptance into the U.S. Air Force so he turned to the Royal Air Force.
William and Murry Jr. (Faulkner's parents) were nearly lost to scarlet fever.
He tried his hand at play writing.
Faulkner served as Writer-in-Residence at the University of Virginia from 1957 until his death at the age of 64.
Faulkner's Hollywood experience is fictionalized in the movie "Barton Fink," whose supporting character, W.P. Mayhew, is intended as a composite of Faulkner and F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Epiphany: Based on Tommy's "big lebowski" comment and Faulkner being the basis for "Barton Fink", it appears that the Coen Brothers may have an infinity for Faulkner.
"Faulkner was reportedly intoxicated when he gave his Nobel Prize acceptance speech in 1949."
He was an alcoholic, but was more prone to use drinking as an exit- not to overcome writer's block or inspire.
Also, adding on to my first post, Faulkner did movie work largely because he could not make enough money solely with his novels to support his many dependents.
Faulkner never stood taller than 5 foot 6 inches. (weird?)
This is why he was rejected from the air force, as many people mentioned.
He also first began his literary career in poetry, but he was unsuccessful. This is when he began to write novels.
Faulkner's middle name is Cuthbert. That's awesome.
He won the 1949 Nobel Prize in Literature and most of his novels are set in his home state of Mississippi. Faulkner also had a serious drinking problem although he did not drink when he wrote because he thought it stunted his creative ideas.
When he joined the Air Force in Canada, he faked a British accent (along with changing the spelling of his name.)
He also faked a limp when he went to NY after being in the Air Force, speaking of a crash that never actually took place.
He sounds as complicated as the first part of this book is going to be!!
Faulkner served in the Canadian and British Air Force.
He lived for the most part in Oxford, Mississippi. The inspiration for most of his novels are the south and the generational changes that occurred during his lifetime.
apparently he dropped out of school for a while and worked at his grandfather's bank. and he was a quarterback for the football team and he broke his nose. breaking bones...it does change a person. so does playing football, i suppose.
Faulkner was featured on a 22 cent U.S. Postal Service stamp, on August 3, 1987.
AND
Faulkner once said that rival Ernest Hemingway lacked courage as a writer. Hemingway replied that Faulkner lacked talent.
AND
Faulkner said he wrote his novel Sanctuary in order to make money.
Faulkner was an alcoholic throughout his lifetime and had two known extramarital affairs. One he had with Meta Carpenter, Howard Hawks' secretary. He also had an affair with Joan Williams, a writer who later wrote a book about her relationship with Faulkner entitled, The Wintering.
He wrote the majority of his novel and short stories in Oxford, Mississippi, that is when he was not writing Hollywood screen plays.
He was never taller than five foot six inches, but is a literary giant.
We wrote the majority of his major works over the course of one decade, a relatively short time frame.
As a child, he modeled his early writing on the models of English writers, like Burns, Thomson, Housman, and Swinburne.
Two people who played important roles in his future were his childhood sweetheart Estelle Oldham and his literary mentor Phil Stone. Estelle accidentally marries a lawyer going to school at Ole Miss University. She knew he was going to Hawaii to start his practice, so she thought he was joking around, but he sent her a ring and obviously was serious. They were eventually married.
Faulkner's grandfather was killed in a duel with his former business partner.
Estelle married another man before marrying Faulkner. She dated other boys while dating Faulkner. She was proposed by another guy while she was dating Faulkner.
He was the oldest child in his family.
He was itinerant, moving from Oxford to NYC to Mississippi to New Orleans.
His earliest literary efforts were romantic, conscientiously modeled on English poets such as Burns, Thomson, Housman, and Swinburne, obviously all from a classical, or deviation from the classical english schooling.
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