Editing William Faulkner (section)

===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>