“The Saddest Words: Wiliam Faulkner’s Civil War” by Michael Gorra

If there is one writer who cast the largest shadow upon southern U.S. literature in the 20^th century, it’s William Faulkner. He also cast one of the largest shadows over all American literature in the 20^th century. At my university, few escaped the required courses in American literature without reading the short stories “Barn Burning” and/or “The Bear.” I’d read “Barn Burning in high school, but, taking English rather than American literature in college, I didn’t read Faulkner until years later. It was Flannery O’Connor who led me to Faulkner, and then I read nearly everything he wrote. 

Michael Gorra has studied and taught Faulkner, Faulkner’s works, and literature for more than 40 years. The Mary Augusta Jordan Professor of English Language and Literature at Smith College, he’s also served as editor of the Norton Critical Editions of Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying and The Sound and the Fury. The man knows his Faulkner.

To continue reading, please see my post today at Dancing Priest.