Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1949, William Faulkner was
a southerner who became widely regarded as one of the greatest
American writers of all time. Despite being such a studied figure,
however, to date no biography has captured the complexities at the
heart of the man and his work. In The Life of William Faulkner,
acclaimed literary biographer Carl Rollyson portrays a new
Faulkner—a man of astonishing paradoxes. Based on extensive
interviews with family and friends of Faulkner, as well as
unparalleled access to primary and secondary source materials, this
first of what will be a major two-volume work offers a dramatic
narrative that breaks the bounds of the traditional literary
biography.This first volume covers Faulkner's formative years. The
oldest brother born into a family who had lost their glory,
Faulkner at first excelled at school, until his teens when he
defied family expectations by pursuing an interest in art and
writing that promised no discernable profit for himself or others.
World War I and its aftermath galvanized a new generation of
writers, none more than Faulkner. Yet while his contemporaries
Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald were establishing
themselves in Paris and New York, the shy Faulkner kept his
distance, not even crossing the length of a café to introduce
himself to James Joyce. Drenched in the culture of the Deep South,
Faulkner came to write iconic novels of enduring literary
significance, but his body of work also included Hollywood
screenplays and potboilers for the Saturday Evening Post.
Presenting himself as an aloof, self-proclaimed renegade artist, he
was at the same time a dedicated family man. He could not create a
cosmos of his own without having a sense of counterpull, of being
in two places at once, like many of the characters in his novels.
In letters to his friends and publishers, Faulkner frequently wrote
of "this alarming paradox" that, Rollyson argues, would define his
life. Integrating Faulkner's screenplays, fiction, and life,
Rollyson argues that the novelist deserves to be reread not just as
a literary figure but as a still-relevant force, especially in
relation to issues of race, sexuality, and equality. The
culmination of years of research in archives that have been largely
ignored by previous biographers, The Life of William Faulkner
offers a significant challenge and an essential contribution to
Faulkner scholarship.
General
Imprint: |
University of Virginia Press
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Release date: |
February 2020 |
Authors: |
Carl Rollyson
|
Dimensions: |
235 x 156 x 36mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Hardcover
|
Pages: |
512 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-8139-4382-4 |
Categories: |
Books
Promotions
|
LSN: |
0-8139-4382-5 |
Barcode: |
9780813943824 |
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