William Faulkner: Literature Giant Essay, Research Paper

William Faulkner: Literature Giant

? The adult male himself ne’er stood taller than five pess, six inches tall, but in the kingdom of American literature, William Faulkner was a elephantine? ( ? Faulkner, ? American 101 ) . The background and early old ages of Faulkner? s life sets the phase for his outstanding success in literature. He is alone in his plants due to the assorted types and manners of literature including: ? A Rose for Emily. ? These assorted signifiers of work landed Faulkner outstanding awards and awards. As an American giant, Faulkner? s novels have been recognized as among the greatest novels of all time written by an American ( ? Faulkner, ? American 101 ) .

William Faulkner was born on September 25, 1897 to Murry Cuthbert and Maud Butler Faulkner. He was born into a genteel Southern household in New Albany, Mississippi. ? An apathetic pupil, he dropped out of high school in 1915 to work as a clerk in his gramps? s bank, began composing poesy, and submitted drawings to the University of Mississippi? s yearbook? ( ? William, ? Detecting 1 ) . When World War I began, Faulkner enlisted in the Royal Air Force in Canada ; he ne’er saw action. Following the war he returned to Mississippi and briefly attended the University of Mississippi. Later, in 1925, he moved to New Orleans where he met Sherwood Anderson, who encouraged his development and helped procure his first novel ( ? William, ? Masterplots 1 ) . Over the following few old ages, Faulkner wrote reappraisals, verse forms, and prose pieces for? The Mississippian? and worked several uneven occupations. At the recommendation of Stark Young, a novelist in Oxford, in 1921 Faulkner took a occupation in New York City as an helper in a bookshop managed by Elizabeth Prall, who subsequently became the married woman of Sherwood Anderson. Faulkner? s most ill-famed occupation during this clip was the place as a postmaster in the university station office from the spring of 1922 to October 31, 1924. By all histories, he was a awful postmaster, passing much of his clip misplacing or losing mail, and neglecting to function clients. When a postal inspector came to look into, Faulkner agreed to vacate. During this clip, he besides served as a scoutmaster for the Oxford Boy Scout troop, but he was asked to vacate for? moral grounds? ( likely imbibing ) ( Thompson 4-5 ) .

William Faulkner is considered by many readers to hold been America? s greatest modern author ( ? William, ? Masterplots 1 ) . He was ever the creative person, ever concerned to supply a work of the imaginativeness ( ? Faulkner, ? American 103 ) . ? His fiction satisfies the critical demands that composing be imaginative and invigorating, as ready to let go of the imaginativeness as it is to impart it? ( ? William, ? Masterplots 2 ) . Faulkner had wit, frequently dry and acrimonious, in the series of play and calamities he wrote about the Old South ( Thompson 5 ) . The sheer majority of his life-work was impressive. Faulkner? s publications include about 50 verse forms, 90 short narratives, 17 novels, and a three-act play which was produced on Broadway ( Thompson 5 ) . In, 1930, get downing with? A Rose for Emily, ? William Faulkner began printing short narratives in national magazines. In the short narrative? A Rose for Emily, ? Faulkner writes about an old adult female named Emily Grierson who o

wes the authorities revenue enhancements. One twenty-four hours, Emily receives a formal missive inquiring her to name the sheriff? s office, but Emily does non answer to the missive. Then, the city manager and the aldermen go to Emily? s house inquiring her to pay her revenue enhancements. Emily repeatedly says, ? See Colonel Sartoris. I have no revenue enhancements in Jefferson. ? The gentlemen eventually leave. Two old ages subsequently, the major receives a call from Emily? s neighbours kicking about an olfactory property that is coming from her house. So the following dark, four work forces cross Emily? s lawn and scattering calcium hydroxide in her house. After a hebdomad or two the odor disappears. Old ages after Emily? s male parent? s decease, she meets a building worker named Homer Barron. Emily wants to get married Homer, but matrimony is non what Homer wants. One Sunday afternoon Emily goes to the pharmaceutics and asks for some toxicant. ? I want arsenic, ? she said. The druggist assumes that the toxicant was for rats. A few yearss subsequently, Homer leaves town, and Emily sends her negro out to happen him. Three yearss subsequently Homer is back and the front door to Emily? s house remains closed all the clip. Miss Emily becomes toddling and finally dies. The town comes to Emily? s house to look at her organic structure. Emily had been kiping in her bed with Homer? s cadaver old ages after the slaying. ? This may be an extension of her refusal to accept the decease of her male parent and Colonel Sartoris. It may reflect a pathological finding that no 1, particularly Barron, would go forth her once more? ( Faulkner – TE 722 ) . Faulkner one time explained the rubric? A Rose for Emily? this manner: ? Oh, it? s merely the hapless adult female who had no life at all. Her male parent had kept her more or less locked up and so she had a lover who was about to discontinue her, she had to slay him. It was merely? A Rose for Emily? – that? s all? ( Faulkner – TE 724 ) . In my sentiment, it takes excessively much thought to read Faulkner? s narratives. It seems like all great writers are difficult to grok and necessitate a batch of thought.

William Faulkner received many outstanding awards in his literary calling. In January 1955, Faulkner? s novel A Fable earned the National Book Award for Fiction and in May a Pulitzer Prize in fiction, although this was considered one of his weaker novels. In 1930, Faulkner received word that the Swedish Academy had voted to present him and Bertrand Russell as corecipients of the Nobel Prize for literature, Russell for 1950 and Faulkner for the old twelvemonth. At first Faulkner refused to travel to Stockholm to have the award, but pressured by the U.S. State Department, the Swedish Ambassador to the United States, and eventually by his ain household, he agreed to travel ( Thompson 8 ) . Among other awards received by Faulkner were the O. Henry Memorial Short Story Award in 1939, 1940 and 1949 ; the William Dean Howells Medal ; and the credence to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1950 ( ? William, ? Detecting 2 ) .

Since William Faulkner? s decease, his work has been examined exhaustively and is more apprehended now than of all time earlier. He created a organic structure of work that is clearly American yet reflects, on a larger graduated table, the cosmopolitan values of life. From the beginning of Faulkner? s life, to his celebrated plants created, to his unpresidented awards and wagess ; William Faulkner stood as such a bitty small adult male but will everlastingly stand tall as an American literature giant.