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William Faulkner Facts

William Faulkner Facts
William Faulkner was an American writer who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for Literature and Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. He was born William Cuthbert Falkner on September 25, 1897, in New Albany, Mississippi, to Murry Cuthbert Falkner and Maud Butler. William had three younger brothers. When he was one his family moved to Ripley, Mississippi so his father could work for the family-owned railroad. At five the family moved again, to Oxford, Mississippi which would become William's home base for the rest of his life. His mother and grandmother loved to read and he learned to read before going to school. He grew up listening to stories of the KKK, slavery and the Civil War.
Interesting William Faulkner Facts:
William Faulkner was mentored by Philip Stone early in his writing career. Stone encouraged him to pursue literature.
William Faulkner was too short to join the U.S. Army so he instead joined the British Army reservist unit in Toronto.
William changed his surname from Falkner to Faulkner in 1918 when a typist made a mistake on his first book's title page.
William wrote his first novel at 25. Prior to this he had focused on poetry.
William attended the University of Mississippi from 1919 to 1920, dropping out after three semesters.
William received a D in English at the University of Mississippi because he skipped classes a lot.
William worked as a postmaster at the University of Mississippi to help support himself but was fired when he was caught reading on the job.
William Faulkner wrote his first novel titled Soldier's Pay in 1925 while living in New Orleans, Louisiana.
William Faulkner's second novel was titled Mosquitos, which he also wrote in New Orleans.
William dated his future wife while a teenager. Her name was Estelle Oldham. She married another man but their marriage ended after ten years. William and Estelle married in 1929, two months after Estelle's divorce was final.
In some of William's novels he created a fictional place called Yoknapatawpha County. It was based on his home on Oxford, Mississippi.
The insights that William Faulkner made regarding the culture in the South and characters he created are considered to be some of the most vivid ever written.
Jackie Kennedy once invited William Faulkner to dinner when she was the First Lady of the United States. His excuse was that it was 100 miles away just to go eat.
William Faulkner was named as the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for Literature in 1949. He didn't actually receive it until 1950 because the committee could not decide in time who to award the prize to. Other candidates included Albert Camus, John Steinbeck, and Ernest Hemingway.
Several of William Faulkner's novels and been adapted to films.
William Faulkner died of a heart attack in 1962 at the age of 64. He was buried in his family plot in Oxford. There is mystery surrounding one grave in the plot as it only contains the initials of a family friend, marked E.T.


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