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The Top 10 Facts About William Faulkner

William Cuthbert Faulkner was an American writer known for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County.

He is widely considered one of the best writers of Southern literature. He is one of the most celebrated American writers.

William Faulkner was born in New Albany, Mississippi, in the United States of America on September 25, 1897. He got named after his paternal great-grandfather, William Clark Falkner, who was shot dead in the town square of Ripley, Mississippi.

Soon after his first birthday, his family moved to Ripley, Mississippi, where his father, Murry Cuthbert Falkner, worked as a treasurer. Murray had a wife called Maud Butler. He had three brothers.

Here is a look at the top 10 facts about William Faulkner.

1. William Faulkner got inspired by his great-grandfather

William Clark Falkner Photo By Unknown author –

William Faulkner is said to have been inspired to become a writer by his great-grandfather. His great-grandfather, Colonel William Falkner, was the most notable influence on the work of his great-grandson.

Colonel William Falkner was a lawyer, politician, and author in addition to being a soldier. He wrote poems, novels, travelogues, and at least one play. One of his most famous works was a novel entitled: The White Rose of Memphis. The novel is about a murder mystery set on board a steamboat that had a similar name.

It is reported while William Faulkner was a child, he uttered, “I want to be a writer like my great-granddaddy.”

The Nobel-Prize winning novelist held tightly to his grandfather’s legacy, writing about him during his earliest novel sets. 

2. William Faulkner was mentored by Philip Stone

Philip Stone Photo By Stanley Kubrick –

Philip Stone, an English actor well known for portraying different film characters, mentored William Faulkner. “I know William Falkner”, shows how he was not only a mentor but also a friend and fellow Oxonian.

Stone wrote in the 16th issue of the Oxford Eagle about his lifelong friendship with the now-famous William Faulkner. It came on November 10, 1950, under the title “I know William Faulkner,” when the Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded to William Faulkner.

Phil Stone is important because of his relationship with William Faulkner. He encouraged him to pursue literature. He is also considered the novelist’s first mentor.

3. He changed his surname from Falkner to Faulkner

In 1918, William changed his surname from Falkner to Faulkner when a typist made a mistake on his first book’s title page. Faulkner wrote his first novel at age 25.

To make his name sound British, Faulkner added the “u” in “Falkner”. This was all a plot to join the Royal Air Force in Canada during World War I. He was too short to enrol in the United States Army, coming in at 5’5″, so instead, he joined the British Army reservist unit in Toronto.

4. Faulkner based his fictional Yoknapatawpha County on real-life Yoknapatawpha County in the majority of his novels and short stories

William is known to write many critically acclaimed short stories, plays, screenplays, essays, and novels. The majority of his novels and short stories are set in Yoknapatawpha County, a fictional place nearly identical to Lafayette County, which includes Oxford, Mississippi.

Flags in the Dust (1927) is the first novel the author wrote in his fictional Yoknapatawpha County. His famous 1929 novel, The Sound and the Fury, is based on this fictitious country. Light in August (1932) is the next novel that tells the story of the Yoknapatawpha County outcasts.

The Great Yoknapatawpha cycle is considered a classic of 20th-century American literature.

5. William dropped out of school

William attended the University of Mississippi Faulkner while working as a postmaster to help himself. He dropped out after three semesters after attending the university from 1919 to 1920. This happened shortly after he got fired for reading at the postmaster job.

While at school, William received a D in English despite being a successful writer. He skipped a lot of classes. Later in his years, he wrote: “What an amazing gift I had: uneducated in every formal sense, without even very literate, let alone literary, companions, yet to have made the things I made.”

6. He suggested using coloured ink while publishing The Sound and the Fury (1929)

The Sound and the Fury is a novel that employs several narrative styles, including stream-of-consciousness.

William suggested using coloured ink to differentiate periods in Benjy’s section instead of indicating a shift in time with italics. Such did not techniques exist at that time, as stated by his publisher.

7. One year later, William Faulkner received the Nobel Prize one year after being awarded

William Cuthbert Faulkner Photo By Van Vechten Collection –

Faulkner was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1949 and did not receive it until 1950. The Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to William for his powerful and artistically unique contribution to the modern American novel.

The Nobel committee caused the delay when they were unable to decide in time who of all the notable candidates, including Ernest Hemingway, Albert Camus, and John Steinbeck, among others, met the criteria as outlined in the will of Alfred Nobel.

8. Faulkner declined a dinner invitation from the First Lady

When Jacqueline Kennedy was the First Lady, President John F. Kennedy had some Nobel Prize winners for dinner at the White House.

Faulkner did not make the trip because he was in Richmond and claimed that the White House was too far from where he lived. “That’s a long way to go just to eat.” It was approximately sixty miles from each other.

9. William dated his future wife while in his teens

While still a teenager, Estelle Oldham and William Faulkner dated. The two dated for two months and twenty days.

Despite marrying another man, their marriage ended after ten years. Two months after Estelle’s divorce was final, the two got married in the year of 1929. The two have spent more than 33 years married.

10. He died of a heart attack in 1962 at the age of 64

William Faulkner Marker Photo By Own work –

A month before his death, William Faulkner suffered a serious injury in a fall from his horse, which led to the formation of a blood clot inside a blood vessel, thrombosis. He suffered a fatal heart attack on July 6, 1962, aged 64. 

He was buried in his family plot at St. Peter’s Cemetery in Oxford. A mystery surrounds the grave alongside where they buried him that only contains the initials of a family friend, marked E.T.