Editing William Faulkner (section)

===''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"/>