Faulkner: A Biography

By Joseph Blotner

Book Overview

William Faulkner (1897-1962) remains the pre-eminent literary chronicler of the American South and a giant of American arts and letters. Creatively obsessed with problems of race, identity, power, politics, and family dynamics, he wrote novels, stories, and lectures that continue to shape our understanding of the region's promises and problems. His experiments and inventions in form and style have influenced generations of writers.

Originally published in 1974 as a two-volume edition and extensively updated and condensed in a 1991 reissue, Joseph Blotner's Faulkner: A Biography remains the quintessential resource on the Nobel laureate's life and work. The Chicago Tribune said, "This is an overwhelming book, indispensable for anyone interested in the life and works of our greatest contemporary novelist." That invaluable 1991 edition is now back in print.

Blotner, a friend and one-time colleague of Faulkner's, brings a vivid, personalized tone to the biography, as well as a sense of masterful, comprehensive scholarship. Using letters, inter-views, reminiscences, critical work, and other primary sources, Blotner creates a detailed and nuanced portrait of Faulkner from his birth to his death. The revision of the original 1974 biography incorporates commentary on the plethora of Faulkner criticism, family memoirs, and posthumously published works that appeared in the wake of the first version. It also examines collections of letters and other materials that only came to light after the original publication.

Featuring a detailed chronology of Faulkner's life and a genealogical chart of his family, Faulkner is authoritative and essential both for literary scholars and for anyone wanting to know about the life of one of the nation's foremost authors. Blotner's masterpiece is the template for all biographical work on the acclaimed writer.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1578067324
• ISBN13: 9781578067329
• Release Date: May 2005
• Publisher: University Press of Mississippi
• Length: 800 Pages
• Weight: 2.67 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 6.3" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

The facts- all the facts-

This is a very long and detailed biography which tells more than most people will want to know about its subject. What disappointed me however was not the work of Blotner which was painstaking and caring, but the figure he depicted. The great writer and Faulkner truly is a great writer seems in his life much smaller than his work. It is not only his unhappy relationship with wife and family, but a general spirit of meanness which prevailed in many of his human relationships. One heartwarming element though is the recognition he received at the end of his life, and the way that seemed to transform him into being more outgoing and generous.

Blotner's compendium of Faulkner's life.

Originally published in two volumes, Joseph L. Blotner's biography of the imminent writer of the American South, William Faulkner, is often touted as THE chronicle of Faulkner's life. Blotner's style is really quite readable. Indeed, this text is so accessible, one must question his accountability on some instances of Faukner's words to friends and loved ones. (Who really remembers what his wife's father said to him on a particular day--famous or not?) All in all, though, this chronicle sits on the top of the biographical heap for the time being. And it probably won't be displaced for many years to come.