On this date in American literary history – September 25,
1897, William Faulkner was born near Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner's father was
the business manager of the University of Mississippi, and his mother was a
literary woman who encouraged Faulkner and his three brothers to read. Faulkner
was a good student but lost interest in studies during high school. He dropped
out sophomore year and took a series of odd jobs while writing poetry.
In 1918, his high school girlfriend, Estelle Oldham,
married another man, and Faulkner left Mississippi. He joined the British Royal
Flying Corps, but World War I ended before he finished his training in Canada,
and he returned to Mississippi. A neighbor funded the publication of his first
book of poems, The Marble Faun
(1924). His first novel, Soldiers' Pay,
was published two years later.
In 1929, Faulkner married Estelle, his high school
sweetheart, who had divorced her first husband after having two children. The
couple a home near Oxford and began restoring it while Faulkner finished The Sound and the Fury, published in October
1929. Other novels to follow included As
I Lay Dying (1930), Light in August
(1932) and Absalom, Absalom (1936). Faulkner's
writing did not earn him enough money to support his family, so he supplemented
his income selling short stories to magazines and working as a Hollywood
screenwriter. He wrote two critically acclaimed films, both starring Humphrey
Bogart: To Have and Have Not was
based on an Ernest Hemingway novel, and The
Big Sleep was based on a mystery by Raymond Chandler. Faulkner's reputation
received a significant boost with the publication of The Portable Faulkner (1946). Three years later, in 1949, he won
the Nobel Prize in literature. His Collected
Stories (1950) won the National Book Award. For the remainder of his life,
he lectured frequently on university campuses. He died of a heart attack at age
65 on July 6, 1962.
Michael Thomas Barry is the author of numerous books that
includes the soon to be released America’s
Literary Legends: The Lives and Burial Places of 50 Great Writers. Visit
Michael’s website www.michaelthomasbarry.com
for more information. The book can be pre-ordered from Amazon through the link
below.
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