William Faulkner's Influence in Literature

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William Faulkner is known as one of the most important writers of American literature and of Southern literature especially. According to Wikipedia, Faulkner was born on 25 September 1897 in Oxford, Mississippi. He was a Nobel Laureate and Pulitzer Prize winning author who was highly acclaimed for his numerous novels and short stories. He also wrote a play, movie screenplays, and essays. Faulkner used his hometown of Oxford, Mississippi as the model for the fictional city of Jefferson.
Faulkner was very influenced by the area and environment in which he lived. In turn, by his fame, he influenced this area of the state he was from and later the University of Mississippi that he attended. While there are many famous writers from Oxford, Mississippi, literary aficionados will name William Faulkner first among them. He was influenced by old stories and rumors of the area and stories from his family and African-American caretaker (“William Faulkner”). These stories and influences are shown in his writing when you look at the relationships between the characters and the relationships between the generations. Faulkner’s famous short story A Rose for Emily is one of the many stories set in the fictional story of Jefferson, Mississippi and displays the conflict between the old and the new in small Southern towns which he was obviously well acquainted with. The plot is about a Southern spinster from an old Southern aristocratic but crumbling family. As she grows old the town of Jefferson treats her like an institution of the town that must be maintained and whose whims must be tolerated. She is not forced pay taxes and when a horrible smell starts emanating from the house the town secretly spreads lime around the property. Only when...

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... the world. Through his work he brilliantly showed the complex relationships between families and the conflicts that can happen in communities and the complexities of race relations. He will always be associated with Southern literature.

Works Cited

Faulkner, William. “A Rose For Emily.” The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Ed. Nina Baym et al. Shorter 8th ed. Vol. 1. New York: Norton, 2013. 151-55. Print. 2 vols.
“William Faulkner.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 9 Oct. 2013. Web. 2 Nov. 2013. .
Rowan Oak: Home of William Faulkner-Oxford, MS. Community of Oxford, Mississippi. Web. 2 Nov. 2013
< http://www.rowanoak.com/>
University of Mississippi: Division of Outreach and Continuing Education. Faulkner & Yoknapatawpha 2014.UM, 2013. Web. 2 Nov. 2013
< http://www.outreach.olemiss.edu/events/faulkner/>

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