William Faulkner — Profile, Rankings & Fame Trend

Summary

Updated 2026-06-21

He invented a county that doesn't exist and filled it with enough damaged families, time-warped narratives, and moral reckoning to win the Nobel Prize. Faulkner turned rural Mississippi into the most scrutinized patch of fictional earth in American letters.

Biography

About

Born in New Albany, Mississippi in 1897 and raised in Oxford, Faulkner joined the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War I but never saw combat. He dropped out of the University of Mississippi after three semesters, drifted to New Orleans, and published his first novel Soldiers' Pay in 1925. Back in Oxford, he created Yoknapatawpha County — a stand-in for Lafayette County — and set Sartoris there in 1927. The next stretch brought The Sound and the Fury in 1929, then As I Lay Dying, Light in August, and Absalom, Absalom! He also wrote screenplays for Howard Hawks, including To Have and Have…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from William Faulkner

William Faulkner

said20 Jan 1962

Why that's a hundred miles away. That's a long way to go just to eat.

— On declining invitation to White House dinner honoring Nobel laureates, as quoted in Life magazine (January 20, 1962)

William Faulkner

said14 Jul 1961

There is something about jumping a horse over a fence, something that makes you feel good. Perhaps it's the risk, the gamble. In any event it's a thing I need.

— As quoted in Elliot Chaze, "Visit to Two-Finger Typist", LIFE magazine (July 14, 1961)

William Faulkner

said3 Oct 1959

Mr. Khrushchev says that Communism, the police state, will bury the free ones.

— Speech to the UNESCO Commission, as quoted in The New York Times (October 3, 1959)

William Faulkner

said28 May 1951

Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion, against injustice and lying and greed.

— Speech to his daughter’s high school graduating class (May 28, 1951)

William Faulkner

said9 May 1942

Be scared. You can't help that. But don't be afraid. Ain't nothing in the woods going to hurt you unless you corner it, or it smells that you are afraid.

— "The Bear" in The Saturday Evening Post (May 9, 1942)

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