Customer Reviews

William Faulkner and Southern History

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Surprisingly, considering that Williamson authored the excellent Crucible of Race, this book was shorter on relating Faulkner to southern history than on relating Faulkener's sexual history. Long stretches are more about Faulkner and his various mistresses than about Faulkner and southern history (there's even some rather strained meanderings on homosexuality). Literary analysis is shunted mostly to the end, and, when it comes to that, I have read better from English professors. There's a discussion of a lynching that Faulkner may (or may not) have witnessed as a youth. By far the best material on Faulkner and the South deals with the period when he became a liberal (by white southern standards) spokesman on racial issues in the fifties, was viciously attacked and beat an ignominious retreat; but this could have made a journal article. Overall, a neither fish nor fowl book, but still with some interesting sections.

For anyone interested in William Faulkner, this book is far better than any of the other biographies on the market. By illuminating the organic society of the South that is mirrored in Faulker's works, the author has added significant depth to the historical understanding of this great author's works.

For anyone interested in William Faulkner, this book is far better than any of the other biographies on the market. By illuminating the organic society of the South that is mirrored in Faulker's works, the author has added significant depth to the historical understanding of this great author's works.