When he was writer in residence at UVA, Faulkner answered a number of questions about THE UNVANQUISHED, including this one asking if Hollywood ever came calling to make it into a movie. (Spoiler alert: His answer involves ANOTHER famous Civil War movie.) faulkner.drupal.shanti.virginia.edu/node/10404?can…

McCaslins don't appear in the fictions until 1934, but over the course of 22 texts they eventually become the largest of all Faulkner's families, with over 60 members - almost half of whom are non-white. DY's genealogies allow you to trace this story. faulkner.iath.virginia.edu/family/tree.ph…

The third Vardaman section in AS I LAY DYING is perhaps the most famous chapter in American literature. This is how "My mother is a fish" looks as page 33 of the manuscript. faulkner.drupal.shanti.virginia.edu/node/8495?canv…

PHOTO OF THE MONTH: Walker Evans made this photograph of an abandoned plantation house outside Vicksburg, Mississippi, in 1936 - the same year that ABSALOM, ABSALOM! was published. Happy Halloween! 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…

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…

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/

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. faulkner.lib.virginia.edu/display/wfaudi…

"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…

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…

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/

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.") faulkner.lib.virginia.edu/display/wfaudi…

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//

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…

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…

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.

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…