William Faulkner

William Faulkner was a Southern American author who was born in New Albany, Mississippi. He was the eldest son of Maud Butler and Murry Falkner. Around the age of 5, Faulkner moved to Oxford, Mississippi, where he stayed until he took a job in 1918. He joined the Royal Air Force in Canada, but received an honorable discharge when World War I ended before his training was completed. On his enrollment papers, he had altered the spelling of his name from Falkner to Faulkner to appear more British. He returned to Oxford in December 1918.http://www.olemiss.edu/mwp/dir/faulkner_william/

After returning to Oxford, Faulkner enrolled in the University of Mississippi, where he was active with the school newspaper and a dramatic club. Faulkner dropped out of college after three semesters. He wrote prose, reviews and poems for The Mississippian and worked as a postmaster after leaving the university.http://www.olemiss.edu/mwp/dir/faulkner_william/

Faulkner used a method of writing that has been dubbed a "stream of consciousness" writing technique. In addition to his works as a novelist, Faulkner was also a playwright and poet. He wrote screenplays, short stories, and poetry in addition to his books. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950. This award thrust him into the public eye, including goodwill tours sponsored by the U.S. State Department.http://www.mcsr.olemiss.edu/~egjbp/faulkner/owner.html He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in November 1948 and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1995 and posthumously in 1965.http://www.pulitzer.org/bycat/Fiction

Faulkner began writing as a creative endeavor at a young age. He published is first book of poetry, The Marble Faun, in 1924. He moved to New Orleans where he was involved with a literary crowd that included Sherwood Anderson. During this time, he wrote his first fiction novel, Soldiers' Pay. After he wrote his second novel, Mosquitoe, Sherwood Anderson advised Faulkner to write to his native region. Faulkner drew upon his family history and the landscape of the Oxford, Mississippi area to create a fictional county called Yoknapatawpha. The Sound and the Fury was published in 1929 and As I Lay Dying was published in 1930. He continued writing novels and short stories. At various points in his career he worked in Hollywood on screen writing assignments.

Faulkner fell from a horse in June of 1962 and was injured. On July 5th, he requested to be taken to a Sanatorium that he had frequented after binge drinking sessions. Less than eight hours after being admitted, Faulkner suffered a heart attack and died at the age of 64, even after the doctor attempted to resuscitate him for almost 45 minutes. Faulkner is buried at St. Peter's Cemetery in Oxford, Mississippi.http://www.olemiss.edu/mwp/dir/faulkner_william

"Whoever God is, He would not permit that. I’m a lady. You might not believe that from my offspring, but I am."—The Sound and the Furyhttp://www.usask.ca/english/faulkner/main/index.html

"...the young man or woman writing today has forgotten the problems of the human heart in conflict with itself which alone can make good writing because only that is worth writing about, worth the agony and the sweat."—William Faulkner's Nobel Prize Speechhttp://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1949/faulkner-speech.html

"I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance."— William Faulkner's Nobel Prize Speechhttp://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1949/faulkner-speech.html

• 1924: The Marble Faun
• 1926: Soldiers' Pay
• 1927: Mosquitoes
• 1929: Satoris
• 1930: As I Lay Dying
• 1931: Sanctuary
• 1932: Light in August
• 1933: A Green Bough
• 1934: Doctor Martino, and Other Stories
• 1935: Pylon
• 1936: Absalom, Absalom!
• 1938: The Unvanquished
• 1939: The Wild Palms
• 1940: The Hamlet
• 1942: Go Down, Moses and Other Stories
• 1946: The Portable Faulkner
• 1948: Intruder in the Dust
• 1949: Knight's Gambit
• 1950: Collected Stories
• 1951: Requiem for a Nun
• 1954: A Fable
• 1955: Big Woods
• 1957: The Town
• 1958: New Orleans Sketches
• 1959: The Mansion
• 1962: The Reivershttp://www.americanwriters.org/writers/faulkner.asp