Digital Yoknapatawpha

ON THIS DAY, 12 March 1958, THE LONG, HOT SUMMER - the film version of THE HAMLET, starring Paul Newman - was released. In April Faulkner was asked about it, but told the UVA audience he was not a "moving picture man," despite all his time in Hollywood. #wfaudio23_2.14" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">faulkner.lib.virginia.edu/display/wfaudi…

Sherwood Anderson, best known for WINESBURG, OHIO, died on this date, March 8, in 1941. Faulkner met him in New Orleans in 1924, and as he told a UVA audience in one of his many tributes to the older writer, Anderson became a major influence on his career. #wfaudio01_2.14" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">faulkner.lib.virginia.edu/display/wfaudi…

ON THIS DAY, 7 March 1957, Faulkner read a half-hour excerpt from "Spotted Horses" to UVA's English Club. The story dates back to 1926, and was first published in 1931, but he read from the version in THE HAMLET (314-27, 333-37). faulkner.lib.virginia.edu/display/wfaudi…

DY's force directed graphs also provide ways to explore how gender organizes social space and defines relationships in Faulkner's world. Note how segregated is the cluster of men in "DRY SEPTEMBER" from the "women" they claim to be defending. faulkner.iath.virginia.edu/char-char-forc…

DY's Character-Events graphs can help you explore the place women occupy in Yoknapatawpha. Here: where Gender=Male and Gender=Female are Present in "DRY SEPTEMBER" - one of the texts where men and women seem to occupy almost entirely distinct spheres. faulkner.iath.virginia.edu/characters-gra…

March is Women's History Month. A DY character search reveals dozens of real life or historical male characters in Faulkner's fiction but only three women in four texts, including an "unnamed lady poet" who is almost certainly Djuna Barnes. faulkner.iath.virginia.edu/family/charact…

PHOTO OF THE MONTH: This picture of "Oxford Square" was taken by Martin J. Dain in 1961. The unidentified women are on the grounds of the courthouse at the center of the Square. faulkner.iath.virginia.edu/media/resource…

PHOTO OF THE MONTH: This view of the Square was taken in 1949 by someone in the crew that came to Oxford to film INTRUDER IN THE DUST. The "Keep to right" sign wasn't there in 1928, when Luster is driving Benjy at the end of THE SOUND AND THE FURY. faulkner.iath.virginia.edu/media/resource…

ON THIS DAY, Jan. 31, 1940, Caroline Barr Clark died in Oxford. Born into slavery, she was "Mammy Callie" in the Falkner family that William grew up in and later in his own Faulkner family. He gave the eulogy at her funeral, and dedicated GO DOWN, MOSES (1942) to her.

As Noel Polk was the first to note, even as Faulkner typed the ms of THE SOUND AND THE FURY, he was trying out different punctuation schemes to represent Benjy's thinking, as you can see by comparing these samples. The 3rd one is how the novel has it. faulkner.drupal.shanti.virginia.edu/node/8565?canv…

PHOTO OF THE MONTH: There's no month or day attached to this 1961 Martin J. Dain photo of Courthouse Square in Oxford, but it looks dark and wintry enough for the end of December - in Mississippi, at least. faulkner.iath.virginia.edu/media/resource…

ON CHRISTMAS EVE 1860: Henry Sutpen renounces his patrimony to leave home with Charles Bon. ~1895: a baby left outside a Memphis orphanage is christened Joe Christmas. 1919: Bayard Sartoris spends his last night in Yoknapatawpha in a Negro family's barn. faulkner.iath.virginia.edu/family/events//

In "That Evening Sun," Nancy is terrified that Jesus might come back - her violent boyfriend Jesus, that is. At UVA Faulkner explained why he named the Negro "Jesus." (When H.L. Mencken published the story, he changed the name to "Jubah.") #wfaudio01_2.12" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">faulkner.lib.virginia.edu/display/wfaudi…

In "Two Soldiers," news of the attack on Pearl Harbor on this day in 1941 reaches Frenchman's Bend via the radio, and launches the story. Though in "Knight's Gambit" the conflicts are social and familial, Faulkner sets it on December 4, 5 and 6, 1941. faulkner.iath.virginia.edu/family/events/

The manuscript of "Red Leaves" may be the first time "Yoknapatawpha" occurs in Faulkner's work, though it's spelled "Yo-ko-no-pa-taw-fa" and is an Indian's name. As you can see, he crossed it out - perhaps because he decided to save it for something else. faulkner.drupal.shanti.virginia.edu/node/9467?canv…

"Red Leaves" (published in THE SATURDAY EVENING POST on October 25, 1930) is not only Faulkner's first fiction about the Native Americans in Yoknapatawpha, but also his first representation of slavery - though the slave-owners are Indians. faulkner.drupal.shanti.virginia.edu/node/16321?can…

One text that features December in DY's keywords is THE SOUND AND THE FURY. In a taped session at UVA in 1958 Faulkner was asked about the doomed people in the novel. His answer includes the only time in over 28 hours of recordings that we hear him laugh. #wfaudio26_2.19" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">faulkner.lib.virginia.edu/display/wfaudi…

December is one of the busiest months in Faulkner's fiction according to DY's Events' keywords: Nine works (including LIGHT IN AUGUST and ABSALOM, ABSALOM!) have at least one event with this keyword, matching June and surpassed only by July, which has 10. faulkner.iath.virginia.edu/family/events/

PHOTO OF THE MONTH: The 1949 adaptation of INTRUDER IN THE DUST was filmed in and around Oxford. This photo looks west down Jackson Ave. At left is the location of Gavin Stevens' law office, and the spire of St. Peter's Episcopal Church can also be seen. faulkner.iath.virginia.edu/media/resource…

Although several scholars have tried, it is impossible to create a definitive Snopes family tree. Faulkner himself tried while writing THE TOWN, but his unfinished efforts ended up on the back of a page in the typescript of the novel. faulkner.iath.virginia.edu/media/resource…