William Faulkner - (1897-1962)

New Albany

By Tiffany Hammond
Houston High School in Houston, Mississippi.

I.  Upbringing, Education, Family and Professional Life

William Cuthbert Faulkner (as his name was then spelled) was born on September 25, 1897, in New Albany, Mississippi, the first of four sons born to Murry and Maud Butler Faulkner. He was named after his great-grandfather William Clark Faulkner, the "Old Colonel."  Faulkner's family moved to Oxford when he was four. Faulkner demonstrated artistic talent at a young age, drawing and writing poetry, but around the sixth grade he began to grow increasingly bored with his studies.  Estelle Oldham, his childhood sweetheart, was a popular, vivacious girl in Oxford with an active social life that included dances and parties. Despite her romance with William, she dated other boys, one of who was Cornell Franklin, an Ole Miss law student whom she later halfheartedly married.   Phil Stone, a lawyer and guide to Faulkner, recognized Faulkner's talent and set out to help him.

In 1919, Faulkner enrolled at the University of Mississippi in Oxford. While a student at Ole Miss, he published poems and short stories in the campus newspaper, the Mississippian, and submitted artwork for the university annual. In January 1925, Faulkner moved to New Orleans and fell in with a literary crowd, which included Sherwood Anderson.   He wrote his first novel Soldiers' Pay. In February 1926, Boni and Liveright published 2,500 copies of Soldiers' Pay. After The Sound and the Fury was published in October 1929, Faulkner had to turn his attention to making money.   Faulkner's need for income stemmed largely from his growing family.

In April, Estelle Oldham had divorced Cornell Franklin, and in June she and Faulkner were married at or near College Hill Presbyterian Church, just north of Oxford. Estelle brought to the marriage two children, Malcolm and Victoria.  In 1930, Faulkner bought a house that he named "Rowan Oak." In January 1931, Estelle gave birth to a daughter, Alabama. The child, born prematurely, would live only a few days. Faulkner's first collection of short stories, These 13, would be published in September and dedicated to "Estelle and Alabama."  On June 24, 1933, Faulkner's second daughter, Jill was born.  

In June 1950, Faulkner was awarded the Howells Medal for distinguished work in American fiction. In August, he published Collected Stories , his third and last collection of stories. In March 1954, he received a letter from Jill, who wrote that she had met Paul D. Summers, a lieutenant at West Point, whom she would like to marry.  From February to June 1957, Faulkner was a writer-in-residence at the University of Virginia and agreed to a number of question-and-answer sessions with the students, faculty, and faculty spouses. 

Over the years, Faulkner had written many short stories and screen plays. On June 17, Faulkner was injured from his second fall off a horse.  He remained in constant pain since that day. On July 5, 1962, William Faulkner requested to be taken to Wright's Sanitarium in Byhalia.  He was admitted at 6pm.  Less than eight hours later, at about 1:30am on July 6, 1962 — the Old Colonel's birthday — his heart stopped.  At the age of sixty-four, William Faulkner died of a heart attack.  He was buried on July 7 at St. Peter's Cemetery in Oxford.

II.  Literary Works

Soldiers' Pay:  
In Soldiers' Pay Donald Mahon, a fighter pilot who was shot and believed to be dead, returns mysteriously on a train.  He has suffered a tremendous head wound and has amnesia. Donald meets Joe Gilligan and Margaret Powers, both of whom decide to take care of him, on the train. Everyone is shocked to learn that Donald is alive, especially Cecily Saunders, his fiancée who has started dating again.

A Fable: 
This is a fabulous story of World War I, set in the trenches of France and dealing customarily with a rebellion in a French order.

The Reivers:
This novel tells of three unlikely car thieves from rural Mississippi: eleven-year-old Lucius "Loosh" Priest; a hapless worker for Loosh's grandfather, Boon Hogganbeck; and the family's black coachman, Ned McCaslin.  When they steal Loosh's grandfather's car to go on a joyride to Memphis, they begin a wild adventure involving horse smuggling, sheriff's deputies, jail, and Miss Reba's brother.

III.  Literary Works

Soldiers' Pay (1926)
The Sound and the Fury (1929)
As I Lay Dying (1930)
The Hamlet (1940)
Go Down, Moses (1942)
Requiem for a Nun (1951)
A Fable (1954) *Pulitzer Prize
The Town (1957)
The Mansion (1959)
The Reivers (1962) *Pulitzer Prize

IV.  William Faulkner on the Web

http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/english/ms-writers/dir/faulkner_william/
http://www.news-observer.com/daily/1997/09/21/arts00.html
http://shs.starkville.k12.ms.us/mswm/MSWritersAndMusicians/
http://www.encyclopedia.com/articles/04392.html

V.  Sources

Faulkner, Murray C.  The Faulkners of Mississippi.  1967.

Webb, James W. and A. Wigfall Green.  William Faulkner of Oxford.  1965
http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/english/ms-writers/dir/faulkner_william/

This essay was submitted by a student of Beverly Doss, a teacher at Houston High School in Houston, Mississippi.