Biography of William Faulkner

ENC1102 : English Composition II

Brian Thompson

Topic Biography of William Faulkner

William Faulkner Biography

William Faulkner was a renowned author of several of some of the most intricate literary works of his time, and received a Nobel prize in literature, won two Pulitzers and even had some of his work made into films. We can take a look at his family life, his path to becoming a writer, and his later accomplishments.

William Cuthbert Falkner was born on September 25, 1897, and was from New Albany, Mississippi USA. He added a “u” to his last name in 1918 making himself since known as William Faulkner. Faulkner’s parents Maud Butler Falkner and Murry Cuthbert Falkner, where married in 1896 and he was the first of their four children. His other siblings names were: Mury born in 1899, John born in 1901, and Dean born in 1907. At the center of Faulkner’s love life was his childhood sweetheart Estelle Oldham, but their parents forbade their union, and according Hans Skei author from the Nobel Prize Laureates in Literature, was in part due to the fact then he had no education or profession at the time. Oldham was still open to being with Faulkner, and even willing to elope, but he refused to marry her without her father’s consent. Oldham’s family pressured her into accepting the proposal of another man named Cornell Franklin who was a law graduate from the University of Mississippi that had a seemingly more promising future to offer her at the time, so she accepted and had two children with Franklin. Estelle later she divorced her husband and married Faulkner on 20 June 1929. They had a daughter together but unfortunately she was born prematurely, and died nine days later. They both tried again, and this time had a daughter Jill Faulkner who was born on 24 June 1933.

Apparently Faulkner was not a fan of school, and actually quit each time he attempted to back.  As Skei explains, Faulkner did well in elementary school, but he became more interested in playing football than school as he grew older. He eventually quit school at Oxford High, approximately midway through the school year of 1914-1915. He went back to his the following school year to play football, but quit school again at the end of the game’s season. Faulkner attempted higher education, by enrolling at the University of Mississippi as a special student. There he wrote for the school papers and magazines in addition to taking a few for a few courses, but promptly dropped out after less than a year. Faulkner worked as a bank clerk for his grandfather John Wesley Thompson Falkner, who owned both a railroad and a bank.  He then after worked as a postmaster at the University, for a long period of time before starting his literary career. Faulkner attempted to join the military, but he did not meet the height and weight requirements of the United States Army, so he joined the Canadian branch of the Royal Air Force (RAF) instead at Toronto. World War I ended before he completed his flight training, and he was discharged. As exposed by Skei he often embellish his time served in the Army to play himself up as a top pilot, even donning his uniform when he came back home from the army.  He remained fascinated with flying, and throughout his career he wrote short stories about Flying. Faulkner worked briefly as a bookstore clerk at the Fifth Avenue Doubleday Bookstore in New York 1921, on suggestion from Young, but later returned to Oxford and became the postmaster of the University of Mississippi post office. His great-grandfather Colonel William Clark Falkner has a literary background with works namely “The White Rose of Memphis (1881), who was a major influence on Faulkner. His great-grandfather was killed by a business partner on a street in Ripley, Mississippi and Faulkner included the incident in fictional manner in some of his stories in his carrier. Faulkner was friends with Phil Stone, who was very important in his younger years, towards his development as a writer. Falkner met the writer Stark Young while spending time at the Mississippi University campus who studied law there, and moved on to Yale Law School. Young became one of Faulkner’s early mentors and was very important to launching his literary career.