Lesson 1: Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury- Activity 1

William Cuthbert Faulkner was born on September 25, 1897 in New Albany, Mississippi. At a fairly young age, William developed an apt for artistic talents such as writing poetry, drawing, and reading. William's artistic talents developed from the influence of his mother, grandmother, and Mammy Burr (Caroline Burr, the black women who raised him). These early influences were central to Faulkner's  writing. As a child, Faulkner was very shy and drawn back. He never graduated high school. Faulkner first started writing in the late 18th century. He married his sweetheart, Estelle Oldham.

"His earliest literary efforts were romantic, conscientiously modeled on English poets such as Burns, Thomson, Housman, and Swinburne.(http://www.olemiss.edu/mwp/dir/faulkner_william/index.html)
Faulkner was quite the deceiver, for he wished to join the Air Force but was denied this because his height was not adequate and therefore he lied about his origins, and even changed the spelling of his name from Faukner to Faulkner to pass off as a British man. At the age of 17, Faulkner met Philip Stone who also had a very important influence on his writing. Stone became a literary mentor to Faulkner, he introduced him to new literature and proofread many of his early works. In 1925, Faulkner wrote his first novel "Soldier's Play".  Faulkner's work was deeply rooted from traditions in the South, a majority of his fiction Yoknapatawpha Country. After a number of rejections, Faulkner began to write The Sound and The Fury in 1928 by writing 3 short stories about the children of the Compson family.

This book went on to win the Novel Prize for Literature but Faulkner did not enjoy the fame, he credited that his work was no longer his own, but it belonged to those who read it.  His previous rejections fueled Faulkner's passion in writing this new novel, for he claims "People no longer struggle with problems of the spirit". I agree with Faulkner because I feel that an important part of writing anything is to be passionate about your writing to make it truly memorable. If you aren't passionate about it, how will it turn out? In conclusion, Faulkner was a phenomenal writer who had an undying passion behind his work, which made it so memorable.