Faulkner Intro

We're set to begin reading Sound and the Fury in AP Literature class, and our first assignment was to read about the history of the author himself. Based purely off of the other books we've read this year it's become a prominent theme that the authors family, home and cultural life can become large influences in the way they write and what they choose to write about.

Faulkner (which was originally spelled Falkner) grew up and continued to live in the south for the majority of his life. This may be the more influential aspect of his past; much of his writing was based in the south or in a fictional land he modeled after it. Besides just the settings, a lot of his tales were built around the ideas of change or tradition, much of which he was thoroughly surrounded with in the post-reconstruction era south. For a short time he also enlisted in the army, but never saw battle. His enlistment, however, became a source of inspiration for his embellished style of story telling, and eventually led to his first novel. He was also greatly impacted by his first love, Estelle Oldham. She was originally married to another man, but eventually was divorced and married Faulkner. Some of his writing, especially early writing, was romantically based, and a lot of that inspiration can be traced back to her. He was given many literary awards throughout his life, and an abundance of his works are considered to be some of the best modern writing around.

It's incredible that a man with very little educational experience was able to accomplish so much in the literary scheme. I'm really excited to read the book now because of the foreign and different writing style that Faulkner employs.