Faulkner: A Biography (Southern Icons Series) (Paperback)

by Joseph Blotner (Author) "HE was a colicky baby..." (more)
Key Phrases: New York, William Faulkner, Rowan Oak (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"This is an overwhelming book, indispensable for anyone interested in the life and works of [our] greatest contemporary novelist" - Chicago Tribune"

Product Description
William Faulkner (1897-1962) remains the preeminent 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, brings a vivid, personalized tone to the biography, as well as a sense of masterful, comprehensive scholarship. Using letters, personal interviews, 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 nation's preeminent authors. Blotner's masterpiece is the template for all biographical work on the acclaimed writer.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 778 pages
• Publisher: University Press of Mississippi; One-volume Ed edition (May 4, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1578067324
• ISBN-13: 978-1578067329
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 5.9 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #575,100 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Blotner's compendium of Faulkner's life., July 15, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: Faulkner: A Biography (Paperback)

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.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars An earlier reviewer: "It won't be displaced for many years to come", April 18, 2009

By	New Zealander (New Zealand) - See all my reviews

... couldn't agree more. My copy's a doorstop on a little-used door.

A book such as this is only justified as a first biography, which it most definitely is not.

The author's (unfortunate) name classifies an epithetical genre all its own--the unreadable, endless compendium of mind-numbing factoids: the Blotner.

10 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A useful but deeply flawed biography., October 15, 2001

By	R. H OAKLEY "roboakley" (Vienna, VA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Faulkner: A Biography (Paperback)

Blotner did a prodigious amount of research for this biography. Any later writer who wants to produce a biography of Faulkner will inevitably find himself or herself relying on much of Blotner's work. The reader, however, will not be so grateful. Blotner seems incapable of distinguishing between that which is important and that which is not. It seems as though he has dumped almost everything he learned into this book. And he learned quite a lot. Why we need, for example, to know the names of everyone Faulkner came into contact with? Finally, Blotner is not a gifted writer; his style is typical of the academic. I can only hope someone writes a shorter, more readable biography of Faulkner someday.