“Emerging as a Writer in Faulkner’s Mississippi”

Abstract

In this chapter, the author reflects on William Faulkner's influence on her and on other Southern writers. The author says it would be impossible to think of Oxford, Mississippi without thinking of Faulkner, its most famous citizen. She recalls growing up in Carrollton, but admits that it took her many long years in associating Oxford and the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) with Faulkner. It wasn't until she was in her early twenties and in graduate school at Vanderbilt that the author realized she must find out more about Faulkner. She began reading some of Faulkner's novels, including The Hamlet, Go Down, Moses and The Collected Stories. Critics inevitably compared her to Faulkner because of resemblances between their works. The author also reflects on three unanswered questions about Faulkner's work: his nihilism, his treatment of women characters, and the fictional Snopes family in his novels.