Editing William Faulkner (section)

==Life==
===Childhood and heritage===
[[File:William Clark Falkner.jpg|thumb|Faulkner was influenced by stories of [[William Clark Falkner]], his paternal great-grandfather and namesake.]]
Faulkner was born on September 25, 1897, in [[New Albany, Mississippi]],<ref>[[#Minter|Minter (1980)]], p. 1.</ref> the first of four sons of Murry Cuthbert Falkner and Maud Butler.<ref name= "Ole Miss">[http://www.olemiss.edu/mwp/dir/faulkner_william/ MWP: William Faulkner (1897–1962)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151101145349/http://www.olemiss.edu/mwp/dir/faulkner_william/ |date= November 1, 2015 }}, OleMiss.edu; accessed September 26, 2017.</ref> His family was upper middle-class, but "not quite of [[Planter class|the old feudal cotton aristocracy]]".<ref name="obit">{{cite news |date=July 7, 1962 |title=Faulkner's Home, Family and Heritage Were Genesis of Yoknapatawpha County |work=The New York Times |url= https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0925.html |url-status= live |access-date=June 17, 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201218054512/https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0925.html |archive-date=December 18, 2020}}</ref> After Maud rejected Murry's plan to become a rancher in Texas,<ref>[[#Minter|Minter (1980)]], p. 7.</ref> the family moved to [[Oxford, Mississippi|Oxford]], Mississippi in 1902,<ref name="Minter 1980, p. 8">[[#Minter|Minter (1980)]], p. 8.</ref> where Faulkner's father established a livery stable and hardware store before becoming the [[University of Mississippi]]'s business manager.<ref>[[#O'Connor|O'Connor (1959)]], p. 4.</ref><ref name="Minter 1980, p. 8"/> Except for short periods elsewhere, Faulkner lived in Oxford for the rest of his life.<ref name="Ole Miss"/><ref name="Nobel Prize">{{Nobelprize}}</ref>

Faulkner spent his boyhood listening to stories told to him by his elders – stories that spanned the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], slavery, the [[Ku Klux Klan]], and the Faulkner family.<ref name="ReferenceA">Minter, David L. ''William Faulkner, His Life and Work''. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1980; {{ISBN|0-8018-2347-1}}</ref> Young William was greatly influenced by the history of his family and the region in which he lived. Mississippi marked his sense of humor, his sense of the tragic position of "[[African Americans|black]] and [[White Americans|white]]" [[Americans]], his characterization of Southern characters, and his timeless themes, including fiercely intelligent people who are dwelling behind the façades of good ol' boys and simpletons.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=2020-11-18 |title=William Faulkner's Demons |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/11/30/william-faulkners-demons |access-date=2023-03-03 |magazine=The New Yorker |language=en-US}}</ref> He was particularly influenced by stories of his great-grandfather [[William Clark Falkner]], who had become a near legendary figure in North Mississippi. Born into poverty, the elder Falkner was a strict disciplinarian and was a Confederate colonel. Tried and acquitted twice on charges of murder, he became a member of the [[Mississippi House of Representatives|Mississippi House]] and became a part-owner of a railroad before being murdered by his co-owner. Faulkner incorporated many aspects of his great-grandfather's biography into his later works.<ref>[[#O'Connor|O'Connor (1959)]], pp. 4–5.</ref>
<!--His family, particularly his mother Maud, his maternal grandmother Lelia Butler, and Caroline "Callie" Barr (the African American nanny who raised him from infancy) influenced the development of Faulkner's artistic imagination. Both his mother and his grandmother were avid readers as well as painters and photographers, educating him in visual language. While Murry enjoyed the outdoors and encouraged his sons to hunt, track, and fish, Maud valued education and took pleasure in reading and going to church. She taught her sons to read before she sent them to public school and she also exposed them to literary classics such as the works of [[Charles Dickens]] and the [[Grimms' Fairy Tales]].<ref name="ReferenceA">Minter, David L. ''William Faulkner, His Life and Work''. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1980; {{ISBN|0-8018-2347-1}}</ref>-->

Faulkner initially excelled in school and skipped the second grade. However, beginning somewhere in the fourth and fifth grades, he became a quieter and more withdrawn child. He occasionally played truant and became indifferent about schoolwork. Instead, he took an interest in studying the [[history of Mississippi]]. The decline of his performance in school continued, and Faulkner wound up repeating the eleventh and twelfth grades, never graduating from high school.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> As a teenager in Oxford, Faulkner dated Estelle Oldham (1897–1972), the popular daughter of Major Lemuel and Lida Oldham, and he also believed he would marry her.<ref>[[#Parini|Parini (2004)]], pp. 22–29.</ref> However, Estelle dated other boys during their romance, and, in 1918, [[Cornell Franklin]] (five years Faulkner's senior) proposed marriage to her before Faulkner did. She accepted.<ref name="Parini 2004 pp. 36">[[#Parini|Parini (2004)]], pp. 36–37.</ref>{{efn|group=note|He proposed marriage to her before Faulkner did. Her parents insisted she marry Franklin for various reasons: he was an Ole Miss law graduate, had recently been commissioned as a major in the [[Hawaii Army National Guard]], and came from a respectable family with whom they were old friends.<ref name="Parini 2004 pp. 36"/>}}

===Trip to the North and early writings===

When he was 17, Faulkner met [[Phil Stone]], who became an important early influence on his writing. Stone was four years his senior and came from one of Oxford's older families; he was passionate about literature and had bachelor's degrees from [[Yale University|Yale]] and the University of Mississippi. Stone read and was impressed by some of Faulkner's early poetry, becoming one of the first to recognize and encourage Faulkner's talent. Stone mentored the young Faulkner, introducing him to the works of writers like [[James Joyce]], who influenced Faulkner's own writing. In his early 20s, Faulkner gave poems and short stories he had written to Stone in hopes of their being published. Stone sent these to publishers, but they were uniformly rejected.<ref name="Coughlan, Robert 1953"/> In spring 1918, Faulkner traveled to live with Stone at Yale, his first trip to the North.<ref>[[#Zeitlin|Zeitlin (2016)]], p. 15.</ref> Through Stone, Faulkner met writers like [[Sherwood Anderson]], [[Robert Frost]], and [[Ezra Pound]].<ref name="connor5">[[#O'Connor|O'Connor (1959)]], p. 5.</ref>

During the [[First World War]], Faulkner attempted to join the US Army. There are accounts of this that indicate he was rejected for being under weight and his short stature of 5'5".<ref name="connor5"/> Other accounts purport to prove that the aforementioned accounts are false.<ref>[[#Zeitlin|Zeitlin (2016)]], pp. 17–18.</ref> Although he initially planned to join the [[British Army]] in hopes of being commissioned as an officer,<ref>[[#Zeitlin|Zeitlin (2016)]], pp. 15–17.</ref> Faulkner instead joined the [[Royal Flying Corps (Canada)|Royal Air Force (Canada)]] with a forged letter of reference and left Yale to receive training in [[Toronto]].<ref>[[#Zeitlin|Zeitlin (2016)]], pp. 17, 20.</ref>  He enlisted in Toronto on July 10, 1918, as a Private (II Class), No.173799, in the [[Royal Flying Corps (Canada)|RAF (C)]]<ref>{{cite web |author=<!-- not stated --> |date= 1919|title=Attestation Form: William Faulkner |url=https://www.fold3.com/image/614970413/1567-page-260-uk-royal-air-force-airmens-service-records-1918-1940 |website= Fold3.com|location=National Archives |publisher=War Office |access-date=23 March 2025}}</ref> but never saw active service overseas during the First World War, only training at the recruit depot in Toronto.<ref>{{cite book|title=William Faulkner: Self-Presentation and Performance|last=Watson|first=James G.|year=2002|publisher=University of Texas Press|location=Austin|isbn=978-0-292-79151-0}}</ref> 
[[File:William Faulkner in Toronto, Canada (1918).jpg|thumb|alt=Faulkner is pictured in a military uniform and cap, leaning on a cane. A caption reads "Royal Flying Corps".|Faulkner as a cadet in the Canadian RAF, 1918]]
On January 4, 1919, he was discharged as a Private (II Class) due to end the of the War, having served 179 days.<ref>{{cite web |author=<!-- not stated --> |date= 1919|title=Attestation Form: William Faulkner |url=https://www.fold3.com/image/614970413/1567-page-260-uk-royal-air-force-airmens-service-records-1918-1940 |website= Fold3.com|location=National Archives |publisher=War Office |access-date=23 March 2025}}</ref> Despite claiming so in his letters, Faulkner did not receive cockpit training or ever fly.<ref>[[#Zeitlin|Zeitlin (2016)]], pp. 24–25.</ref> Returning to Oxford in December 1918, Faulkner told acquaintances false war-stories and even faked a war wound.<ref>[[#Zeitlin|Zeitlin (2016)]], pp. 26–27.</ref>

In 1918, Faulkner's surname changed from "Falkner" to "Faulkner". According to one story, a careless typesetter made an error. When the misprint appeared on the title page of his first book, Faulkner was asked whether he wanted the change. He supposedly replied, "Either way suits me."<ref>Nelson, Randy F. ''The Almanac of American Letters'' Los Altos, California: William Kaufmann, Inc., 1981: pp. 63–64. {{ISBN|0-86576-008-X}}</ref> His 1918 Attestation Papers for the RAF (C) note his name as “Faulkner”. In adolescence, Faulkner began writing poetry almost exclusively. He did not write his first novel until 1925. His literary influences are deep and wide. He once stated that he modeled his early writing on the [[Romanticism|Romantic era]] in late 18th- and early 19th-century England.<ref name="Ole Miss"/>

He attended the University of Mississippi, enrolling in 1919, studying for three semesters before dropping out in November 1920.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.olemiss.edu/mwp/dir/faulkner_william|title=University of Mississippi: William Faulkner|publisher=Olemiss.edu|access-date=September 27, 2010|archive-date=September 22, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100922051232/http://www.olemiss.edu/mwp/dir/faulkner_william/|url-status=live}}</ref> Faulkner joined the [[Sigma Alpha Epsilon]] fraternity, and pursued his dream to become a writer.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Messenger |first1=Christian K. |title=Sport and the Spirit of Play in American Fiction: Hawthorne to Faulkner |date=1983 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-51661-7 |page=219 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-2XOVxoWpiQC&pg=PA219 |language=en |access-date=March 2, 2022 |archive-date=March 2, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220302103604/https://books.google.com/books?id=-2XOVxoWpiQC&pg=PA219 |url-status=live }}</ref> He skipped classes often and received a "D" grade in English. However, some of his poems were published in campus publications.<ref name="Coughlan, Robert 1953">Coughlan, Robert. ''The Private World of William Faulkner'', New York: Harper & Brothers, 1953 {{isbn|0-8154-0424-7}}</ref><ref name="Porter, Carolyn 2007">Porter, Carolyn. [https://books.google.com/books?id=awt9X0cAC40C ''William Faulkner''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201202104652/https://books.google.com/books?id=awt9X0cAC40C&printsec=frontcover |date=December 2, 2020 }}, New York: Oxford University Press, 2007; {{ISBN|0-19-531049-7}}</ref> In 1922, his poem "Portrait" was published in the New Orleans literary magazine ''Double Dealer''. The magazine published his "New Orleans" short story collection three years later.<ref>[[#Koch|Koch (2007)]], p. 57.</ref> After dropping out, he took a series of odd jobs: at a New York City bookstore, as a carpenter in Oxford, and as the Ole Miss postmaster. He resigned from the post office with the declaration: "I will be damned if I propose to be at the beck and call of every itinerant scoundrel who has two cents to invest in a postage stamp."<ref>[[#O'Connor|O'Connor (1959)]], p. 6.</ref>

===New Orleans and early novels===
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[[File:FQFauknerPirates.jpg|thumb|upright|left|During part of his time in New Orleans, Faulkner lived in a house in the [[French Quarter]] (pictured center yellow).]]

While most writers of Faulkner's [[Lost Generation|generation]] traveled to and lived in Europe, Faulkner remained writing in the United States.<ref name="Pikoulis 1982">[[#Pikoulis|Pikoulis (1982)]], p. ix.</ref> Faulkner spent the first half of 1925 in [[New Orleans, Louisiana]], where many [[Bohemianism|bohemian]] artists and writers lived, specifically in the [[French Quarter]] where Faulkner lived beginning in March.<ref>[[#Koch|Koch (2007)]], pp. 55–56.</ref> During his time in New Orleans, Faulkner's focus drifted from poetry to prose and his literary style made a marked transition from [[Victorian literature|Victorian]] to [[Literary modernism|modernist]].<ref>[[#Koch|Koch (2007)]], pp. 56, 58.</ref> ''[[The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate|The Times-Picayune]]'' published several of his short works of prose.<ref>[[#Koch|Koch (2007)]], p. 58.</ref>

After being directly influenced by [[Sherwood Anderson]], Faulkner wrote his first novel, ''[[Soldiers' Pay]],''<ref name="Ole Miss" /> in New Orleans. ''Soldiers' Pay'' and his other early works were written in a style similar to contemporaries [[Ernest Hemingway]] and [[F. Scott Fitzgerald]], at times nearly exactly appropriating phrases.<ref>[[William Faulkner#CITEREFMcKay2009|McKay (2009)]], pp. 119–121.</ref> Anderson assisted in the publication of ''Soldiers' Pay'' and ''[[Mosquitoes (novel)|Mosquitoes]]'' by recommending them to his publisher.<ref name="Faulkner 2004">Hannon, Charles. "Faulkner, William". ''The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature''. Jay Parini (2004), Oxford University Press, Inc. The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature: (e-reference edition). Oxford University Press {{doi|10.1093/acrefore/9780190201098.013.484}}</ref>

The miniature house at 624 Pirate's Alley, just around the corner from [[St. Louis Cathedral (New Orleans)|St. Louis Cathedral]] in New Orleans, is now the site of Faulkner House Books, where it also serves as the headquarters of the Pirate's Alley Faulkner Society.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wordsandmusic.org|title=Pirate's Alley Faulkner Society Featuring Words & Music|publisher=Wordsandmusic.org|access-date=2012-08-13|archive-date=June 28, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120628224641/http://www.wordsandmusic.org/|url-status=live}}</ref>

During the summer of 1927, Faulkner wrote his first novel set in his fictional Yoknapatawpha County, ''[[Flags in the Dust]]''. This novel drew heavily from the traditions and history of the South, in which Faulkner had been engrossed in his youth. He was extremely proud of the novel upon its completion and he believed it a significant step up from his previous two novels—however, when submitted for publication to [[Boni & Liveright]], it was rejected. Faulkner was devastated by this rejection but he eventually allowed his literary agent, Ben Wasson, to edit the text, and the novel was published in 1929 as ''[[Sartoris]].''<ref name="Porter, Carolyn 2007" /><ref name="Faulkner 2004" />{{efn|group=note|The original version was issued as ''[[Flags in the Dust]]'' in 1973.}} The work was notable in that it was his first novel that dealt with the Civil War rather than the contemporary emphasis on World War I and its legacy.<ref>[[#CITEREFMcKay2009|McKay (2009)]], p. 119.</ref> Eventually Faulkner's daughter, Jill, would approach University of Virginia professor [[Douglas Day]] about restoring the text. Almost a fourth of the original manuscript had been cut by Wasson to meet the demands of publishers Harcourt, Brace in 1929. Working from a surviving typescript, Day reinstated cut passages but also included at least one added section from the published text. This new edition, published in 1973, also restored Faulkner's original title, ''Flags in the Dust.'' A third version by Noel Polk has since replaced Day's and is considered the definitive text by Random House, the current publishers of Faulkner's fiction.<ref>{{cite web |editor-last1=Padgett |editor-first1=John |editor-last2=Railton |editor-first2=Stephen  |date=2012 |title=Flags in The Dust |url=https://faulkner.drupal.shanti.virginia.edu/content/flags-dust |website=The Digital Yoknapatawpha Project |location=Charlottesville VA |publisher=The University of Virginia |access-date=23 Feb 2025}}</ref>

===''The Sound and the Fury''===
[[File:The Sound and the Fury (1929 1st ed dust jacket).jpg|thumb|upright|''[[The Sound and the Fury]]'' (1929)]]
In autumn 1928, just after his 31st birthday, Faulkner began working on ''[[The Sound and the Fury]]''. He started by writing three short stories about a group of children with the last name Compson, but soon began to feel that the characters he had created might be better suited for a full-length novel. Perhaps as a result of disappointment in the initial rejection of ''Flags in the Dust'', Faulkner had now become indifferent to his publishers and wrote this novel in a much more experimental style. In describing the writing process for this work, Faulkner later said, "One day I seemed to shut the door between me and all publisher's addresses and book lists. I said to myself, 'Now I can write.'"<ref>Porter, Carolyn. [https://books.google.com/books?id=awt9X0cAC40C ''William Faulkner''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201202104652/https://books.google.com/books?id=awt9X0cAC40C&printsec=frontcover |date=December 2, 2020 }}, New York: Oxford University Press, 2007; {{ISBN|0-19-531049-7}}, p. 37</ref> After its completion, Faulkner insisted that Wasson not do any editing or add any punctuation for clarity.<ref name="Porter, Carolyn 2007"/>

=== 1929{{ndash}}1931 ===<!--Two months later, Faulkner and Estelle wed in June 1929 at [[College Hill Presbyterian Church]] just outside [[Oxford, Mississippi]].<ref>Parini (2004) p. 139.</ref> They honeymooned on the Mississippi Gulf Coast at [[Pascagoula, Mississippi|Pascagoula]], then returned to Oxford, first living with relatives while they searched for a home of their own to purchase. In 1930, Faulkner purchased the [[antebellum architecture|antebellum]] home [[Rowan Oak]], known at that time as The Shegog Place from Irish planter Robert Shegog.<ref>{{cite book|last=Peek|first=Charles A.|title=A William Faulkner encyclopedia|year=1999|publisher=Greenwood|isbn=0-313-29851-3|page=[https://archive.org/details/williamfaulknere0000unse_z3k0/page/335 335]|url=https://archive.org/details/williamfaulknere0000unse_z3k0/page/335}}</ref>-->
In 1929, Faulkner married Estelle Oldham, with Andrew Kuhn serving as best man at the wedding. Estelle brought with her two children from her previous marriage to [[Cornell Franklin]] and Faulkner hoped to support his new family as a writer. Faulkner and Estelle later had a daughter, Jill, in 1933. He began writing ''[[As I Lay Dying]]'' in 1929 while working night shifts at the [[University of Mississippi Power House]]. The novel was published in 1930.<ref name="1parini">[[#Parini|Parini (2004)]], p. 142.</ref>

Beginning in 1930, Faulkner sent some of his short stories to various national magazines. Several of these were published and brought him enough income to buy a house in Oxford for his family, which he named [[Rowan Oak]].<ref name="Williamson, Joel 1993">Williamson, Joel. [https://books.google.com/books?id=0nZ93-IKIeoC ''William Faulkner and Southern History''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170305200848/https://books.google.com/books?id=0nZ93-IKIeoC&printsec=frontcover |date= 2017 }}, New York: Oxford University Press, 1993; {{ISBN|0-19-510129-4}}.</ref> Fueled by a desire to make money, Faulkner wrote ''[[Sanctuary (Faulkner novel)|Sanctuary]]''.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1981-03-08 |title='The Most Horrific Tale I Could Imagine' |language=en-US |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/entertainment/books/1981/03/08/the-most-horrific-tale-i-could-imagine/e74c2afe-50a8-4800-ae42-9f87015c2f17/ |access-date=2023-03-03}}</ref> With limited royalties from his work, he published short stories in magazines such as ''[[The Saturday Evening Post]]'' to supplement his income.<ref name="Bartunek 2017 p. 98">[[#Bartunek|Bartunek (2017)]], p. 98.</ref>

===''Light in August'' and Hollywood years===
[[File:Light in August (1932 dust jacket cover).jpg|thumb|upright|left|''[[Light in August]]'' (1932)]]
By 1932, Faulkner was in need of money. He asked Wasson to sell the serialization rights for his newly completed novel, ''Light in August'', to a magazine for $5,000, but none accepted the offer. Then [[MGM Studios]] offered Faulkner work as a screenwriter in Hollywood. Faulkner was not an avid movie goer and had reservations about working in the movie industry. As André Bleikasten comments, he "was in dire need of money and had no idea how to get it...So he went to Hollywood."<ref name="Bleikasten 2017 218">[[#Bleikasten|Bleikasten (2017)]], p. 218.</ref> It has been noted that authors like Faulkner were not always hired for their writing prowess but "to enhance the prestige of the ...writers who hired them."<ref name="Bleikasten 2017 218"/> He arrived in [[Culver City, California]], in May 1932. The job began a sporadic relationship with moviemaking and with California, which was difficult but he endured in order to earn "a consistent salary that supported his family back home."<ref name="Solomon 2017 1">{{cite book |last=Solomon |first=Stefan |date=2017 |title=William Faulkner in Hollywood: Screenwriting for the Studios |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eyIuDwAAQBAJ |location=Athens |publisher=University of Georgia |page=1 |isbn=9780820351148 |access-date=May 29, 2020 |archive-date=May 29, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210529180140/https://books.google.com/books?id=eyIuDwAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Initially, he declared a desire to work on [[Mickey Mouse (film series)|Mickey Mouse cartoons]], not realizing that they were produced by [[Walt Disney Animation Studios|Walt Disney Productions]] and not MGM.<ref>{{cite news|date=May 7, 2002|title=Literary Daybook, May 7|url=https://www.salon.com/2002/05/07/may07/|work=Salon|access-date=June 4, 2022|archive-date=June 4, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220604204626/https://www.salon.com/2002/05/07/may07/|url-status=live}}</ref> His first screenplay was for ''[[Today We Live]]'', an adaptation of his short story "Turnabout", which received a mixed response. He then wrote a screen adaptation of ''Sartoris'' that was never produced.<ref name="Bartunek 2017 p. 98"/> From 1932 to 1954, Faulkner worked on around 50 films.<ref>[[#Bartunek|Bartunek (2017)]], p. 100.</ref> In early 1944, Faulkner wrote a screenplay adaptation of [[Ernest Hemingway]]'s novel ''[[To Have and Have Not]]''.<ref>[[#Minter|Minter (1980)]], p. 201.</ref> The [[To Have and Have Not (film)|film]] was the first starring [[Lauren Bacall]] and [[Humphrey Bogart]]. Bogart and Bacall would star in Hawks's ''[[The Big Sleep (1946 film)|The Big Sleep]]'', another film Faulkner worked on.<ref>{{cite news|last=Crowther|first=Bosley|date=June 4, 2022|title=' To Have and Have Not,' With Humphrey Bogart, at the Hollywood – Arrival of Other New Films at Theatres Here|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1944/10/12/archives/to-have-and-have-not-with-humphrey-bogart-at-the-hollywood-arrival.html|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=June 4, 2022|archive-date=June 4, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220604225104/https://www.nytimes.com/1944/10/12/archives/to-have-and-have-not-with-humphrey-bogart-at-the-hollywood-arrival.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Faulkner was highly critical of what he found in Hollywood, and he wrote letters that were "scathing in tone, painting a miserable portrait of a literary artist [[Babylonian captivity|imprisoned in a cultural Babylon]]."<ref>{{cite book |last=Solomon |first=Stefan |date=2017 |title=William Faulkner in Hollywood: Screenwriting for the Studios |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eyIuDwAAQBAJ |location=Athens |publisher=University of Georgia |page=1 |isbn=9780820351148 |access-date=May 29, 2020 |archive-date=May 29, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210529180152/https://books.google.com/books?id=eyIuDwAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> Many scholars have brought attention to the dilemma he experienced and the predicament that caused him serious unhappiness.<ref>[[#Bleikasten|Bleikasten (2017)]], pp. 215–220.</ref><ref name="Solomon 2017 1"/><ref name="Lights! camera! author! authorship as Hollywood performance.">{{Cite journal | author= Leitch, Thomas | title= Lights! camera! author! authorship as Hollywood performance | journal= Journal of Screenwriting | volume=7 | year=2016 | issue= 1 | pages=113–127 | doi= 10.1386/josc.7.1.113_1 }}</ref> In Hollywood he worked with director [[Howard Hawks]], with whom he quickly developed a friendship, as they both enjoyed drinking and hunting. Howard Hawks' brother, [[William Hawks]], became Faulkner's [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]] agent. Faulkner continued to find reliable work as a screenwriter from the 1930s to the 1950s.<ref name="Faulkner 2004"/><ref name="Williamson, Joel 1993"/> While staying in Hollywood, Faulkner adopted a "vagrant" lifestyle, living in brief stints in hotels like the [[Garden of Allah Hotel]] and frequenting the bar at the [[The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel|Roosevelt Hotel]] and the [[Musso & Frank Grill]] where he was said to have regularly gone behind the bar to mix his own Mint Juleps.<ref>{{cite news|last=Spano|first=Susan|date=September 16, 2011|title=William Faulkner's Hollywood|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/william-faulkners-hollywood-84560082/|work=Smithsonian Magazine|access-date=June 4, 2022|archive-date=June 4, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220604212909/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/william-faulkners-hollywood-84560082/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-04-10 |title=The Fascinating History of the Mint Julep |url=https://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/drinks/news/a6026/history-of-the-mint-julep/ |access-date=2022-10-14 |website=Town & Country |language=en-us |archive-date=October 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221014115736/https://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/drinks/news/a6026/history-of-the-mint-julep/ |url-status=live }}</ref> He had an extramarital affair with Hawks' secretary and [[script supervisor|script girl]], Meta Carpenter.<ref>[[#Parini|Parini (2004)]], pp. 198–199.</ref>

With the onset of World War II, in 1942, Faulkner tried to join the [[United States Air Force]] but was rejected. He instead worked on local [[United States civil defense|civil defense]].<ref name="Capps 1966, p. 3">[[#Capps|Capps (1966)]], p. 3.</ref> The war drained Faulkner of his enthusiasm. He described the war as "bad for writing".<ref>[[#Minter|Minter (1980)]], pp. 198–200.</ref> Amid this [[Writer's block|creative slowdown]], in 1943, Faulkner began work on a new novel that merged World War I's [[Tomb of the Unknown Soldier#History|Unknown Soldier]] with the [[Passion of Jesus|Passion of Christ]]. Published over a decade later as ''[[A Fable]]'', it won the 1954 Pulitzer Prize.<ref>[[#Minter|Minter (1980)]], p. 198.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-category/219|title=Fiction|website=The Pulitzer Prizes|publisher=Columbia University|access-date=June 4, 2022|archive-date=April 2, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402201626/https://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-category/219|url-status=live}}</ref> The award for ''A Fable'' was a controversial political choice.  The jury had selected [[Milton Lott]]'s ''[[The Last Hunt (novel)|The Last Hunt]]'' for the prize, but Pulitzer Prize Administrator Professor John Hohenberg convinced the Pulitzer board that Faulkner was long overdue for the award, despite ''A Fable'' being a lesser work of his, and the board overrode the jury's selection, much to the disgust of its members.<ref>Hohenberg, John.  ''John Hohenberg:  The Pursuit of Excellence'', University Press of Florida, Gainesville, 1995, pp. 162–163</ref>

By the time of ''The Portable Faulkner''{{'}}s publication, most of his novels had been out of print.<ref name="Pikoulis 1982"/>

===Nobel Prize and later years===
[[File:William Faulkner 1954 (2) (photo by Carl van Vechten).jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Faulkner is pictured in a chair before a brick well. He looks to the left.|Faulkner in 1954]]
Faulkner was awarded the [[1949 Nobel Prize in Literature]] for "his powerful and artistically unique contribution to the modern American novel".<!-- Nobel Prize was for 1949, but not actually awarded until 1950, due to discussions in the Swedish Academy carried over to 1950 --><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1949/summary/|title=The Nobel Prize in Literature 1949|work=Nobelprize.org|access-date=July 25, 2009|archive-date=June 2, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200602015135/https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1949/summary/|url-status=live}}</ref> It was awarded at the following year's banquet along with the 1950 Prize to [[Bertrand Russell]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1949/award-docu.html|title=The Nobel Prize in Literature 1949: Documentary|work=Nobelprize.org|access-date=July 25, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090831134036/http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1949/award-docu.html|archive-date=August 31, 2009|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

When Faulkner visited [[Stockholm]] in December 1950 to receive the Nobel Prize, he met Else Jonsson (1912–1996), who was the widow of journalist [[Thorsten Jonsson]] (1910–1950). Jonsson, a reporter for ''[[Dagens Nyheter]]'' from 1943 to 1946, had interviewed Faulkner in 1946 and introduced his works to Swedish readers. Faulkner and Else had an affair that lasted until the end of 1953. At the banquet where they met in 1950, publisher Tor Bonnier introduced Else as the widow of the man responsible for Faulkner winning the Nobel Prize.<ref>{{Citation|url=https://www.dn.se/kultur-noje/bocker/en-karlekshistoria-i-nobelprisklass/|language=sv|place=Sweden|title=En kärlekshistoria i Nobelprisklass|newspaper=[[Dagens Nyheter]]|date=January 9, 2010|access-date=April 22, 2010|archive-date=April 10, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100410031413/http://www.dn.se/dnbok/en-karlekshistoria-i-nobelprisklass-1.1023972|url-status=live}}</ref>

Faulkner's Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech on the immortality of the artists, although brief, contained a number of allusions and references to other literary works.<ref>[[#Rife|Rife (1983)]], pp. 151–152.</ref> However, Faulkner detested the fame and glory that resulted from his recognition. His aversion was so great that his 17-year-old daughter learned of the Nobel Prize only when she was called to the principal's office during the school day.<ref>Gordon, Debra. "Faulkner, William". In Bloom, Harold (ed.) ''William Faulkner, Bloom's BioCritiques''. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishing, 2002 {{ISBN|0-7910-6378-X}}</ref> He began by saying: "I feel that this award was not made to me as a man, but to my work – a life's work in the agony and sweat of the human spirit, not for glory and least of all for profit, but to create out of the materials of the human spirit something which did not exist before. So this award is only mine in trust. It will not be difficult to find a dedication for the money part of it commensurate with the purpose and significance of its origin."<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Nobel Prize in Literature 1949 |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1949/faulkner/speech/ |access-date=2023-03-18 |website=NobelPrize.org |language=en-US}}</ref> He donated part of his Nobel money "to establish a fund to support and encourage new fiction writers", eventually resulting in the [[William Faulkner Foundation]] (1960–1970).

Controversially, he is noted to have once stated: “Television is for [[Nigger|niggers]]”. On the subject, it was noted that "for many white southerners nothing changed with the end of slavery except slavery."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Powers |first=Thomas |date=2017-04-20 |title=The Big Thing on His Mind |url=https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2017/04/20/william-faulkner-big-thing-on-his-mind/ |access-date=2025-05-09 |work=The New York Review of Books |language=en |volume=64 |issue=7 |issn=0028-7504}}</ref>

In 1951, Faulkner received the [[Legion of Honour|Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur]] medal from the government of [[France]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.today.com/news/william-faulkner-archival-material-be-sold-auction-wbna51366358|title=William Faulkner archival material to be sold at auction|website=Today.com|date=March 28, 2013 }}</ref>

Faulkner served as the first Writer-in-Residence at the [[University of Virginia]] at [[Charlottesville, Virginia|Charlottesville]] from February to June 1957 and again in 1958.<ref name="wapo">{{cite news|last=Ringle|first=Ken|date=September 25, 1997|title=Faulkner, Between the Lines|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1997/09/25/faulkner-between-the-lines/45fd0eeb-da79-422d-a976-997437f995e0/|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=June 18, 2021|archive-date=June 8, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220608162047/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1997/09/25/faulkner-between-the-lines/45fd0eeb-da79-422d-a976-997437f995e0/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Blotner, J. and Frederick L. Gwynn, (eds.) (1959) ''Faulkner in the University: Conferences at the University of Virginia, 1957–1958'' {{OCLC|557743504}}</ref>

In 1961, Faulkner began writing his nineteenth and final novel, ''[[The Reivers]]''. The novel is a nostalgic reminiscence, in which an elderly grandfather relates a humorous episode in which he and two boys stole a car to drive to a [[Memphis, Tennessee|Memphis]] bordello. In summer 1961, he finished the first draft.<ref>[[#Minter|Minter (1980)]], pp. 246−247.</ref> During this time, he injured himself in a series of falls.<ref>[[#Minter|Minter (1980)]], pp. 247−248.</ref>

On June 17, 1962, Faulkner suffered a serious injury in a fall from his horse, which led to [[thrombosis]]. He suffered a fatal heart attack on July 6, 1962, at the age of 64, at Wright's Sanatorium in [[Byhalia, Mississippi]].<ref name="Ole Miss"/><ref name="Nobel Prize"/> Faulkner is buried with his family in St. Peter's Cemetery in Oxford.<ref name="Grave Site">{{cite web|author=Jennifer Ciotta|url=http://www.literarytraveler.com/travel/travel_tour_profiles/tour_oxford_mississippi.aspx|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721091708/http://www.literarytraveler.com/travel/travel_tour_profiles/tour_oxford_mississippi.aspx|archive-date=July 21, 2011|title=Touring William Faulkner's Oxford, Mississippi|publisher=Literarytraveler.com|access-date=September 27, 2010}}</ref>