William Faulkner: "An Artist Is A Creature Driven By Demons."

Today is the birthday (1897) of William Faulkner, the celebrated world-famous writer and favorite son of Oxford, Mississippi. He explored the character of the South in a string of novels and stories predominately over a twenty year period beginning around 1920. This work earned him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1949. Later work was recognized with two Pulitzer Prizes.

Faulkner has never been an easy read for this writer. His complexity and detail, along with the run on sentences and page long paragraphs, makes the experience as challenging as the analysis of his characters. Having lived four decades in the Deep South, I can appreciate in my own small way the 20th century Southern personality Faulkner captured. Folks here were different then. Now that regional character continues to change with a changing South. It is an interesting overlay.

In 1956, Faulkner sat for a Paris Review interview by author, oral historian, and editor, Jean Stein. It became a seminal piece on the art of fiction as well as an insightful exchange on the writer himself. Readers can access an article based on the interview at this link.

And here is the the author reading from The Sound and the Fury, a novel ignored by readers when first published in 1929, but earning him fame after the publication of Sanctuary in 1931.

It would be a serious error to end a post about Faulkner without mentioning Rowan Oak, his home in Oxford. For over thirty years the house and acres surrounding it provided Faulkner with sanctuary and inspiration during his most productive period. Today the home is a mecca for Faulkner enthusiasts. Visitors can tour the house and grounds as well as the nearby historic Oxford Square and the University of Mississippi Museum and campus.

Sources
Photos and Illustrations:
Faulkner photo, Carl Van Vecten Collection, United States Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Rowan Oak photo, User:Wescbell, Creative Common Attribution-ShareAlike3.0 Unported

Text:
title quote, from the Paris Review interview, 1956.
Wikipedia.org