Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Wars effect on literature
The influence of William Faulkner
William faulkner influence on literature essay
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Wars effect on literature
Who is William Faulkner?
Today, I am going to introduce one of the greatest writer, William Faulkner. Faulkner was known as an influential novelist in the United States during the 20th century. Faulkner received the Nobel Prize in Literature, a prize that is only given to the most accomplished writers.
Faulkner’s full name is William Cuthbert Falkner and was born on September 25, 1897, in New Albany, Mississippi. However, after several years in New Albany, Faulkner’s father decided the family will settle in Oxford, Mississippi. As a child, Faulkner grew up in poverty and even though he had early successes in his primary school, he never got to graduate high school. When Faulkner was 17, he was around his mentor Phil Stone, a person who was an important influence to Faulkner’s writing. In his early twenties Faulkner wrote poems and short stories in hope of them being published. Sadly all of them were turned down.
When World War 1 broke out, Faulkner decided to enlist as an Englishman in the RAF, but returned to Mississippi as the armistice was declared in November 1918. Even though Faulkner returned to school, he stated he didn’t like school and started to work at a bank and began writing books. Even though Faulkner had no professional knowledge about literature or writing, his writing style was inspired heavily by other writers. Faulkner wrote his first novel, Soldier’s Pay and was written after a direct influence from Sherwood Anderson, who asked Faulkner to try fictional writing. ‘Soldier’s Pay’ is about fragmented life because of war and a injured soldier’s pain and death.
William Faulkner didn’t just write novels, but also on diverse subjects. He wrote novels, short stories, plays, poetry, essays and screenplays. His w...
... middle of paper ...
...ulkner’s novels are about alienated subjects. The definition of alienation is a turning away or estrangement. William Faulkner grew up in the annexation area, he occasionally felt a sense of alienation, so he can describe what is an alienation well. Some of his works show that alienation can accompanied death. Alienation is very dreadful sense.
Most of his works along with the setting and various race culture are also recreated. On account of used various perspective, William Faulkner focused more on the self reflective than other writers. William Faulkner distincted from the other writers. He was more special because he wanted to do everything alone. He did not compare to others, nor needed others. Lastly, this leaves us with one of the his famous saying, ‘Do not bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.’.
The 1920's had many influential writers in literature. While reaching this time period it is almost certain that the names William Faulkner, Earnest Hemingway, and F. Scott Fitzgerald will be found. Each of the writers has their own personal style of writing and each one of the lives has influenced what they write about to even the way they each portray their literature.
Faulkner’s father and great grandfather could be described as the embodiment of Southern masculinity. The video “A Life on Paper” made it clear that the Faulkner men were “manly men.” The “Old Colonel” was remembered as a valiant war hero and a wonderful storyteller. William’s father continued perfectly in his footsteps. He had an intense work ethic and he served in the military. He provided for his family and he never turned down a good fight. Together they set the mold for the perfect Southern man, a role that William could never hope to fulfill.
Growing up in the South, Faulkner gives a good perspective on what it was like for
In this book, and others of this series, it was commonplace to find sentences that stretched on for a page in order to create mood, multiple narrators, or short stories complicated with a stream-of-consciousness blather that was hard to understand. Therefore, readers had difficulty following these novels, and Faulkner’s popularity soon dwindled, that is until Malcolm Cowley wrote The Portable Faulkner, which contained excerpts from the Yoknapatawpha series, and made Faulkner’s genius evident to his readers. Shortly thereafter, many of Faulkner’s works were reissued and he became a literary giant, and was even awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1949. Until death, Faulkner continued to create works of literature, including both short stories and novels.
Attempting to leave his mark in history as a great author, Faulkner created a host of characters comprised of the faults of human nature in the South. And Faulkner is characterized by the range of his technique and tone along with the themes concerning the South.
Pouillon, Jean. "Time and Destiny in Faulkner." Ed. Robert Penn Warren. Faulkner: A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1966. 79-93.
William Faulkner was a twentieth century American author who won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Most famous for his novel The Sound and the Fury, Faulkner defines Southern literature. In his mythical county of Yaknapatawpha, Faulkner contrasted the past with the present era. The past was represented in Emily Grierson, Colonel Sartoris, the Board of Alderman, and the Negro servant. Homer Barron, the new Board of Alderman, and the new sheriff represented the present.
Brooks, Cleanth. "William Faulkner: Visions of Good and Evil." Faulkner, New Perspectives. Ed. Richard H. Brodhead. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey : Prentice-Hall, 1983.
William Cuthbert Faulkner was born in New Albany, Mississippi on September 25, 1897. His family moved to Oxford, Mississippi when Faulkner was five years old (Larinde). His parents were Murry and Maud Falkner (Zane 2). Faulkner added the "u" to his last name on his Royal Air Force application for unknown reasons (5).
Padgett, John B. "MWP: William Faulkner (1897-1962)." The University of Mississippi. 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 1 Apr. 2011. .
...However, this doesn’t deter Faulkner from writing very complex stories that reflect his literary prowess. Most of his characters can hardly speak correct English, and yet, his pieces are filled with words that even I have trouble discerning meaning from. In particular, Rider’s character is very blue collar. Faulkner communicates this to us in many ways, but has no trouble throwing in phrases like “the junctureless backloop of times trepan”. This occurs throughout all of these stories. It is like the characters are very natural, they know the environment, the have the skills to hunt, they work hard, and they love each other. But these ideas are contrasted by his writing style and complexity and really blend nicely to create very good pieces of literature. It was just one thing that caught my eye in reading these pieces and I am very envious of this skill he possesses.
By reading closely and paying attention to details, I was able to get so much more out of this story than I did from the first reading. In short, this assignment has greatly deepened my understanding and appreciation of the more complex and subtle techniques Faulkner used to communicated his ideas in the story.
All throughout his novel, Faulkner presents multiple narrators who all give somewhat differing versions of emotions and events that cause the reader to question their reliability. Because he strays from the traditional practice of having a single narrator, every account is completely subjective to whoever is telling it, and therefore a wide range of events are subsequently left up to the reader to decide who and what is most truthful. Readers must sort through the various interpretations of events and each character’s emotions, as they can no longer accept the story that is usually being told by one reliable narrator. Because of this narration style, there is no final truth or final universal meaning in the novel, as everything that happens is open to an individ...
On September 25, 1897 in New Albany, Mississippi, a son was born to Murry Cuthbert and Maud Butler Faulkner. This baby, born into a proud, genteel Southern family, would become a mischievous boy, an indifferent student, and drop out of school; yet “his mother’s faith in him was absolutely unshakable. When so many others easily and confidently pronounced her son a failure, she insisted that he was a genius and that the world would come to recognize that fact” (Zane). And she was right. Her son would become one of the most exalted American writers of the 20th century, winning the Nobel Prize for Literature and two Pulitzers during his lifetime. Her son was William Faulkner.
"William Faulkner (1897-1962)." Short Story Criticism. Ed. Jelena Krstovic. Vol. 97. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2007. 1-3. Literature Criticism Online. Gale. Hempfield High School. 31 March 2010.