Monster? Maybe; or, In Defense of Faulkner
When asked why so many great writers have come from Mississippi, Eudora Welty said, “Because Mississippians have so much explaining to do.” (Paraphrased) I am a Mississippian with all of the baggage that the fact entails. I have lived many places, but I have always been, first and foremost an American, and then a Mississippian. My parents are Mississippians, and my grandparents, and most of their parents. William Faulkner is arguably the most accomplished and well known of all Mississippians, much less of Mississippian writers. This despite having been labeled racist, misogynist, drunk, philanderer, etc. We know up front that at least two of those labels are true, and possibly more. Yes, I know it is hard to believe that Mississippi’s greatest historic and literary figure could be imperfect when so many of us these days are perfect, but there is even more. My grandfather was at Ole Miss at the same time William Faulkner attended. I cannot say that he “knew” Faulkner, but he appar...