What a great video. I'll share my Faulkner story here with you all, please. I was paid the compliment by a literature teacher in a Yankee college (that I attended), she said, "you talk like Faulkner writes." I went to the library that week and read my first Faulkner novel. The Mansion. And I couldn't put it down. About halfway through the book I realized that it was not intended to be a compliment. I'm still grateful for her unintentionally kind words, and for introducing me to my life-long favorite author. This was in 2009, by the time I was in HS in the 2000s Faulkner wasn't required reading in my school.
He was definitely talented and honed his craft to an extent which had never been reached before, but he exists in a pantheon of great American writers where there is no achievement for being considered the greatest. The honor for great writers is in the fellowship, not the pedestal.
Golly, William Faulkner looked like a writer should look, specifically a southern writer. He had it all---the gentle drawl, the handsome countenance, the wonderful, long-stemmed pipe, the appealing hat, humble demeanor(though not always, perhaps) unflagging reverence for his region, etc. Oh, talent, too. Golly, he could write, including not a few modern masterpieces!
I don’t say the best American writer because I don’t like the title “The Best”, it’s too dull and in my mind just diminishes the very formidable accomplishments every other writer completed. But William Faulkner is my favorite, I love him and his work dearly.
Around 1999 there was a bit of discussion regarding who was the greatest American writer of the 20th century. The two names most frequently mentioned were William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway. Though their lives virtually overlapped (Faulkner 1897-1962, Hemingway 1899-1961), their styles were polar opposites - Hemingway’s sentences short and telegraphic, Faulkner’s oceanic, sometimes going on for pages (and not run-ons!). I’ve found that people who like Hemingway tend not to like Faulkner and people who like Faulkner tend not to like Hemingway. (I know there are probably many who like or dislike both, but I’m speaking from my own experience.) I tend to prefer Faulkner. Hemingway? I’d never deny his greatness, but his prose doesn’t thrill me the way Faulkner’s does.
I once read a comment that nailed it for me “you don’t understand Faulkner, you experience Faulkner”. You may not understand everything you read but once you get emerged in them, you feel them.
Lewd, basic poetry vs. literary genius. Faulkner is far better than Whitman. Melville wrote one book that will survive the annals of history. Faulker is indeed the greatest American writer. Steinbeck is second. Styron is third.
@@fitzwilliamdarcy5263 You’ve read “Song of Myself,” “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry,” “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed,” his elegy on the death of Abraham Lincoln? I doubt it. Nothing lewd or basic about those. They are sublime.
Poems and fallacy riddled eulogies don’t begin to compare to the tour de force that was (is) the Faulkner novel. Pennies in a fountain versus pure gold. Enjoy your poetry.
He is undoubtedly one of the greatest American writers. Whether u rank him first or 10th becomes personal preference. But one of the greatest our nation has ever produced.
What a great video. I'll share my Faulkner story here with you all, please. I was paid the compliment by a literature teacher in a Yankee college (that I attended), she said, "you talk like Faulkner writes." I went to the library that week and read my first Faulkner novel. The Mansion. And I couldn't put it down. About halfway through the book I realized that it was not intended to be a compliment. I'm still grateful for her unintentionally kind words, and for introducing me to my life-long favorite author.
This was in 2009, by the time I was in HS in the 2000s Faulkner wasn't required reading in my school.
Great story! What a wonderful way to be introduced to Faulkner.😊
"The victorious life is the life that endures." Thanks for the peaceful wisdom, Dr. Wilson.
Thank you - very good!
He was definitely talented and honed his craft to an extent which had never been reached before, but he exists in a pantheon of great American writers where there is no achievement for being considered the greatest. The honor for great writers is in the fellowship, not the pedestal.
That's a fun porch to sit on with friends, even with a potential fed in the bushes.
Funny and funnier if you’re privy to some inside joke.
Well done video! Dr. Wilson's presentation was so engaging that I was sad the video ended so soon.
Golly, William Faulkner looked like a writer should look, specifically a southern writer. He had it all---the gentle drawl, the handsome countenance, the wonderful, long-stemmed pipe, the appealing hat, humble demeanor(though not always, perhaps) unflagging reverence for his region, etc. Oh, talent, too. Golly, he could write, including not a few modern masterpieces!
I don’t say the best American writer because I don’t like the title “The Best”, it’s too dull and in my mind just diminishes the very formidable accomplishments every other writer completed. But William Faulkner is my favorite, I love him and his work dearly.
I have to read 2 William Faulkner's novel books are The Sound & The Fury, Light in August, but The Sound & The Fury is the hardest book to read
Thanks!
Thanks!
👍 Dr.tyrone of Chester PA
Around 1999 there was a bit of discussion regarding who was the greatest American writer of the 20th century. The two names most frequently mentioned were William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway. Though their lives virtually overlapped (Faulkner 1897-1962, Hemingway 1899-1961), their styles were polar opposites - Hemingway’s sentences short and telegraphic, Faulkner’s oceanic, sometimes going on for pages (and not run-ons!). I’ve found that people who like Hemingway tend not to like Faulkner and people who like Faulkner tend not to like Hemingway. (I know there are probably many who like or dislike both, but I’m speaking from my own experience.) I tend to prefer Faulkner. Hemingway? I’d never deny his greatness, but his prose doesn’t thrill me the way Faulkner’s does.
Dziękujemy.
Thanks!
The background music is too loud for the narrators voice.
That's too bad; though, I could follow along just fine.
Cool
Faulkner. Morrison. Pynchon. Ordered chronologically.
The latter part, you can get a glimpse of Faulkner's Greenfield Farm
👍
Ive never met anyone who understood faulkner,
I once read a comment that nailed it for me “you don’t understand Faulkner, you experience Faulkner”. You may not understand everything you read but once you get emerged in them, you feel them.
Trying reading Finnegans Wake by James Joyce
Comment
DIFFICULT TO HEAR THE VOICE WITH THE OVER BEARING LOUD GUITAR MUSIC THAT IS SUPPOSED TO BE IN THE BACKGROUND
Faulkner is not hard if you read him in a southern accent.
Not the greatest. Not the second greatest. Nor the third or fourth.
No, Walt Whitman is the greatest American writer. Our greatest novelist is Herman Melville.
Lewd, basic poetry vs. literary genius. Faulkner is far better than Whitman. Melville wrote one book that will survive the annals of history. Faulker is indeed the greatest American writer. Steinbeck is second. Styron is third.
@@fitzwilliamdarcy5263
You’ve read “Song of Myself,” “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry,” “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed,” his elegy on the death of Abraham Lincoln? I doubt it. Nothing lewd or basic about those. They are sublime.
Poems and fallacy riddled eulogies don’t begin to compare to the tour de force that was (is) the Faulkner novel. Pennies in a fountain versus pure gold. Enjoy your poetry.
@@fitzwilliamdarcy5263 Sounds like something a Snopes would say.
"Greatest American Writer"? The only possible excuse for saying so is that Henry James did become a British citizen...
He is undoubtedly one of the greatest American writers. Whether u rank him first or 10th becomes personal preference. But one of the greatest our nation has ever produced.
Henry James. Bleh.
Graham, it's OK to compliment you favorite, but the tacky comment is uncool.
Henry James could have learned a lot from William Faulkner.
Henry James is Mediocre...Melville,Faulkner, Hemingway... the Trinity of American Novel Tradition