William Faulkner Essays (952 words) - Modernist Literature

William Faulkner Biography of William Faulkner William Faulkner was an enormous man in literature despite the fact that he stood less than five foot six. He reshaped the way in which the world views literature today. Faulkner was one of the greatest influences to American culture of his time. In fact, his influence spread throughout many years to come. Faulkner started out as a child with a dream, and with this dream he redefined the literary society of America. William Cuthbert Faulkner was born on September 25, 1897, in New Albany, Mississippi. Faulkner was the son of Maud and Murry Faulkner. He was the eldest of four sons, and was named after his great grandfather, who was a bestselling writer of The White Rose of Memphis. When Faulkner was young, he showed an artistic talent for drawing and writing poetry. Estelle Oldham and Phil Stone were acquaintances of him while in his youth who would become important figures in Faulkners future. Stone found great interest in Faulkners poetry, which soon caused him to recognize Williams unmistakable talent. He set out to advise Faulkner and give him models for his study of literature. He said that Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself. (William Faulkner). It was in this way that he conducted his literature, for the rest of his life was sloppy and indulgent. He worked as a postmaster and a scoutmaster for Boy Scouts, and in both he was asked to resign for drinking, and poor work. He dropped out of both high school and college in favor of partying, but during his stay in college, Faulkner was able to create many short stories and poems which were featured in the school newspaper and the yearbook. Faulkner may have been irresponsible and incompetent, but his writings proved to be extravagant works of art that redefined American literature for centuries to come. William Faulkners work was defining to the culture of America during the early 1900s and beyond. Faulkner invented characters to create a saga such as the series of literary works which involved an imaginary county known as Yoknapatawpha. Those works theme was the decay of the Old South, as represented by the Sartoris and Compson families, and the emergence of ruthless and brash newcomers, the Snopeses. (www.olemiss.edu). The New Orleans culture he lived in influenced much of his writing. Many of his great works, including Soldiers Pay, Mosquitoes, and the New Orleans Sketches Collection were written at that locale. He went on to write Sartoris, which he considered to be extremely good but could not get it published. He began writing The Sound and the Fury for fun. That was at the time his writing career was at rock bottom because of his lack of money. It turned out that both of these novels got published. The structure of The Sound and the Fury was revolutionary. It was divided into four parts, and when put together they created a large image of the slow demise of a once- powerful and prominent southern family. The theme of their demise is especially exhibited with the gradual decline of Cady Compson, and her eventual disappearance. Another novel that he had written in 1929, Sanctuary, was one which Faulkner claimed to be simply a moneymaker. Unfortunately, because of its subject, the novel was immediately turned down by the publisher although he eventually got it published. Faulkners writing during these years revolutionized literary culture. Later in his life, Faulkner slowed down in his writing. He moved to Hollywood to be a screenwriter. Faulkner became good friends with Howard Hawks, and his efforts in Hawks scripts granted him on-screen credit. One of the first movies directed by Hawks and which he received credit in was Today We Live which was based on Faulkners short story Turn about. In June 1930, Faulkner married Estelle Oldham. A year later they had a daughter, Alabama, who died after only a few days of being born. In June of 1933, Estelle gave birth to Faulkners only surviving daughter, Jill. In 1949, Faulkner was awarded a Nobel Prize for literature. "His powerful