William Faulkner

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William Faulkner once said, “It is the writer's privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart." (Quoted from goodreads.com). As a writer, William Faulkner embraced writing as an art form and brought out the true beauty in literature. Denied by many throughout his life, Faulkner was accepted into the world of literature as a literary genius. With his novel The Sound and the Fury, Faulkner presents a unique writing style that leaves the reader engrossed and eager for further reading. (Aiken 1188) His style presents time in a distorted manner which creates a present that is “essentially catastrophic.” (Sartre 1190) Faulkner’s display of words is the epitome of pictorial literature, and it propels the very essence of his writing. William Faulkner’s picturesque prose exploited the boundaries of time and expanded it into a style of writing that would revolutionize the world of American literature.

On December 10, 1950 William Faulkner was the first writer to receive the Nobel Peace Prize since World War II. (Fact from nobelprize.org) During his speech Faulkner touched many points but most importantly he said the following: “I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail.” (Quoted from nobelprize.org) At an early age, it seemed as if William Faulkner would simply “endure”. After dropping out of high school in 1915, Faulkner began working as clerk for his grandfather’s bank. When “The Great War” erupted, Faulkner enlisted in the U.S. Army but was rejected due to his small stature. Eager to join the war, Faulkner forged a few documents and faked a British accent in order to join the Royal Canadian Air Force. Unfortunately, Faulkner never got to experience combat and soon returned to his hometown of Oxford, Mississippi. (Dr...

... middle of paper ...

... from goodreads.com). Faulkner didn’t live to write; he lived through writing. And as his novels and short stories are passed on through generations, so will he. William Faulkner could have “merely endured” and his story would have finished with his life but to endure is to fail. Faulkner chose to prevail.

Works Cited

Draper, James P. ed. “William Faulkner.” World Literature Criticism. Detroit: Gale

Research Company, 1992. 1185-1200.

Aiken, Conrad. “William Faulkner.” Collected Criticism.(1968): 200-207. Rpt. In

World Literature Criticism. Ed. James P. Draper. Detroit: Gale Research

Company, 1992. 1187.

Satre, Jean-Paul. “On ‘The Sound and the Fury’: Time in the Works of Faulkner.”

Faulkner: A Collection of Critical Essays.(1966): 87-93. Rpt. In

World Literature Criticism. Ed. James P. Draper. Detroit: Gale Research

Company, 1992. 1190.

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