William Faulkner
Program Video Clip List
|
| Clip # |
Start Time |
End Time |
Description |
| 1 |
0:21.6 |
1:49.2 |
Excerpt of Faulkner reading from his Nobel Prize acceptance speech; he discusses the themes a writer should focus on; connection made to Cold War; program introduction |
| 2 |
1:58.5 |
3:39.5 |
Description of Mississippi and its economy in 1930 |
| 3 |
04:14.5 |
05:43.7 |
The Sound and the Fury and its meaning to Faulkner, "a failure"; the book came from the image of one of the characters, Caddie, climbing a tree told from different perspectives; greeted with respect but confusion by the public |
| 4 |
06:22.5 |
08:12.3 |
Location of Oxford, Mississippi; relationship to University of Mississippi, "Ole Miss"; descriptions of landmarks; Faulkner's presence there today |
| 5 |
08:21.3 |
08:55.5 |
Who was William Faulkner? Place in American literature, the "greatest" of the 20th century |
| 6 |
08:55.60 |
10:37.8 |
Brief Faulkner timeline; born in 1898 then moved to Oxford to stay in 1902; importance of Oxford in his work; experimenter in modernism, but subject was the South
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| 7 |
10:37.8 |
11:38.1 |
Faulkner's admiration of the South; recognized its flaws; Quentin Compson, character in Absalom, Absalom!, who cried "I don't hate it; I don't hate it" (referring to the South.) |
| 8 |
11:59.3 |
13:45.1 |
Some quotes from Faulkner about the South; appropriateness of the saying that writing is "oratory out of solitude"; Faulkner was in but not of the South; emphasis on privacy |
| 9 |
14:08.6 |
17:10.4 |
Quote about "demons"; He was driven to write; he was at times rude and remote; story about not saying "hello" to a passing woman; woman's mother called Faulkner's mother, Maude; his mother said he was probably writing (in his head) so not to be offended
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| 10 |
17:10.4 |
18:34.4 |
Similarities with James Joyce; however, unlike Joyce, Faulkner never left the place he was writing about |
| 11 |
18:34.4 |
19:04.1 |
Yoknapatawpha pronounciation and origin |
| 12 |
19:04.1 |
20:57.5 |
Writer Shelby Foote (who lives nearby) on how the locals viewed Faulkner; he was a "corn cob" man |
| 13 |
20:57.5 |
22:32.6 |
More on the locals view of Faulkner; he wrote some uncomplimentary things about the South; Faulkner took a moderate stance during civil rights movement; calculated to get into trouble with both sides; his family thought his position was too liberal
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| 14 |
22:55.0 |
24:48.8 |
Benjy, who is an idiot; any family connection to mental illness? Connection to 3rd grade teacher; Benjy's function in the novel: cannot bear change; did not like Caddy's changes; becomes an image of a certain Southern stand: change is bad |
| 15 |
25:00.0 |
27:16.2 |
He evolved some characters: Surath becomes Ratliff; Ratliff as an image of the new South; sewing maching salesman, not a planter; but mixed view of the new South |
| 16 |
27:16.3 |
30:18.0 |
Not political in the 30's, when other writers were concerned with the depression and political solutions; Faulkner's emphasis on character, not context |
| 17 |
32:11.6 |
33:08.5 |
How Rowan Oak got its name; it's actually an ashe tree; cedars line the driveway |
| 18 |
33:16.2 |
34:45.9 |
Count "no account"; Faulkner led a "neer do well's" life after dropping out of school at 16; played roles, one as a bohemian poet, the other as the English dandy |
| 19 |
34:53.2 |
25:35.7 |
Loved horses; built stables in 1957 |
| 20 |
35:50.3 |
37:38.9 |
The character named after a MS politician; is he slow? Probably 8 or 9 years old; lost his mother; trying to deal with it by deciding his mother is a fish |
| 21 |
37:38.9 |
39:28.4 |
Source of title of The Sound and the Fury; recording of Faulkner discussing Caddy |
| 22 |
39:33.3 |
40:07.1 |
Faulkner's voice-lyrical north Mississippi voice |
| 23 |
40:19.0 |
41:45.7 |
Derivation of the name Popeye; Sancutary and any connection to views about rape at the time |
| 24 |
41:45.8 |
42:53.1 |
Faulkner's physical appearance: he was short (5'6"); always walked straight; good shape in appearance |
| 25 |
42:53.1 |
43:22.7 |
Changing spellings of the last name; first his grandfather did it |
| 26 |
43:44.0 |
44:16.0 |
Impressions and beginning of tour of house; good place to work |
| 27 |
44:32.0 |
46:15.1 |
Another view on the South in the 1930's; particular circumstances for blacks in the South at this time
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| 28 |
46:15.2 |
47:32.1 |
Mammy Callie, who took care of Faulkner and his brothers and then later Faulkner's daughter; domestic nanny; enjoyed telling the boys stories with lessons |
| 29 |
47:38.0 |
48:36.8 |
Gabriel Garcia Marquez said Faulkner wrote about Mississippi and Oxford as "islands" |
| 30 |
49:26.0 |
51:10.0 |
Caller from Alabama commenting on the loss of the southern way of writing; Is there a southern writer today? |
| 31 |
51:19.1 |
53:07.0 |
What Faulkner learned from the high moderinsts-narratives that delayed gratification for the reader; combined with his understanding of the oral tradition-patterns of speech, stories; began his career as a poet
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| 32 |
53:07.0 |
55:25.7 |
Faulkner's conflicted feelings about equality of blacks; hopes for political equality
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| 33 |
56:01.1 |
57:13.0 |
Portrait of Faulkner's great-grandfather, a colonel in the Confederate Army
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| 34 |
58:01.1 |
1:00:24 |
Impact of the book The Portable Faulkner; regenerated interest and reading of Faulkner; quote from Faulkner describing how cities the South were becoming replicas of those in the midwest |
| 35 |
1:00:24 |
1:00:58 |
Relationship with body servant, Ned; relationships with black men |
| 36 |
1:00:58 |
01:02:37 |
How to begin reading Faulkner; start with The Sound and the Fury, first major novel |
| 37 |
01:02:37 |
01:03:40 |
Portrait of Faulkner by his mother; she was shy, a disciplinarian and frugal |
| 38 |
01:03:48 |
01:04:58 |
Influence of Faulkner's style on modern writers |
| 39 |
01:04:58 |
01:05:45 |
Extent that he is taught in high schools |
| 40 |
01:05:45 |
01:08:12 |
Representation of women; life for women in the South in the 1930's
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| 41 |
01:08:12 |
01:09:31 |
Tour of Rowan Oak's "office," room with chapters written on the walls |
| 42 |
01:09:59 |
01:12:42 |
Teaching Faulkner: read slowly; a "vertical" writer; moves you a fraction of an inch and then drops you into more detail; reading from description of golf game |
| 43 |
01:13:36 |
01:15:01 |
Role after winning the Nobel Prize, speaking on behalf of the U.S. |
| 44 |
1:17:30 |
01:18:41 |
Use of humor |
| 45 |
1:18:42 |
01:20:04 |
Tour of the Dining Room; he was fond of children; people in his social circle |
| 46 |
01:20:15 |
01:21:20 |
Faulkner's list of phone numbers on the wall in the Pantry; phone on which he heard about winning the Nobel Prize |
| 47 |
01:21:20 |
01:22:33 |
Another excerpt from Nobel Prize speech; "man will not merely endure, but prevail;" writer's privilege is to lift man up, help him endure |
| 48 |
01:24:30 |
01:26:33 |
Relationship with alcohol; he got drunk when he wanted to |
| 49 |
01:28:00 |
01:29:44 |
Relationship with Joan Williams, an aspiring writer; not faithfull to his wife, Estelle; evidence of several romantic/sexual affairs |
| 50 |
1:29:55 |
01:30:59 |
Faulkner in Hollywood; worked with Howard Hawkes as a script "doctor" and wrote screenplays; credits for The Big Sleep and To Have and Have Not (a Hemingway text) |
| 51 |
01:30:59 |
01:32:29 |
Time away from Mississippi; trip to Europe in 1925; felt he had to pay his dues; go to the café where James Joyce frequented; did not interact with other expatriates |
| 52 |
01:33:25 |
01:34:21 |
His brother Jack wrote fiction; others around him in Oxford were literary |
| 53 |
01:35:05 |
01:36:33 |
The side portico and views of a brick wall Faulkner erected for privacy; story of how the title for A Light in August came about |
| 54 |
01:36:02 |
01:37:06 |
More on A Light in August |
| 55 |
01:37:55 |
01:40:52 |
Relevance of Faulkner today; universal themes: how to deal with change, to bring the past into the present
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| 56 |
1:40:55 |
1:44:27 |
Shelby Foote on Faulkner's faults: his propensity for "pretending"; story of his service in World War I; made up stories about flying a plane upside-down in a hangar; gave himself a war record |
| 57 |
1:44:27 |
1:46:23 |
The impact of the heat and the humidity on writers in the South |
| 58 |
01:46:57 |
01:48:47 |
He parried with people who asked him about his work and symbolism |
| 59 |
1:48:47 |
1:51:33 |
Faulkner's death and grave site; some questions about the story of a heart attack after a fall; epitaph, "Beloved, go with God"; he was not religious |
| 60 |
1:51:34 |
1:52:54 |
Time at University of Virginia as a writer in residence; he knew how to ride, got involved in the hunt clubs |
| 61 |
1:54:02 |
1:54:24 |
Postage stamp quote |
| 62 |
1:54:56 |
1:55:58 |
WWI story, Turnabout |
| 63 |
1:55:59 |
2:00:03 |
Population statistics and farm ownership; tenancy farming |
| 64 |
2:01:11 |
2:04:40 |
Entirety of his Nobel Prize acceptance speech |
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