William Faulkner was born today in writing history, September 25. Celebrate the occasion by learning more about the writer’s life and contributions to the literary world. Aspiring writers should also use this opportunity as a writing exercise. Look for inspiration today in writing history.
Today in Writing: September 25: William Faulkner’s Birthday
William Faulkner was born on September 25, 1896. Faulkner is best known for The Sound and the Fury and As I Lay Dying. He is one of the most celebrated writers in American literature and is often considered the greatest writer of Southern literature. Despite his accolades, Faulkner’s writing career got off to a slow start. Learn more about the author’s life and find something to write about in this edition of Today in Writing.
Writing Prompts for Today In Writing: September 25
Take this opportunity to learn more about William Faulkner and his contributions to the literary world. Faulkner produced a variety of texts during his career, including novels, short stories, poems, and eventually movie scripts. He drew heavily from his own experiences living in the South and utilized them to produce masterful narratives. Find inspiration and learn more details about the author below.
William Faulkner Biography
William Cuthbert Faulkner was born in New Albany, Mississippi, on September 25, 1897. His father Murry moved the family to Oxford, Mississippi a few years later, taking a job of business manager at the University of Mississippi. William Faulkner would live the majority of his life in Oxford.
An Early Love of Stories
As a boy, Faulkner showed an interest in literature. His mother, Maud, and grandmother, Lelia Butler, were avid readers and instilled this love into William. Maud took pride in her children’s education and taught them to read before enrolling them in school.
In addition to works of literature, William Faulkner was also regaled with stories from the South. The history of the Faulkner family, the impact of the Civil War, and the issue of slavery were common topics in which Faulkner heard and became well versed. His great-grandfather and namesake, William Clark Falkner, had become a legendary figure in the Faulkner household. These stories and experiences would become central themes in William Faulkner’s writing.
A Struggle to Finish School
William Faulkner excelled through the first half of his public schooling. However, later in his education, Faulkner began to lose interest in school. While he was still passionate about writing poetry and the history of Mississippi, his other studies dropped off. He would repeat the eleventh and twelfth grades but would ultimately never graduate high school.
A Friend and Mentor
When he was 17, Faulkner met Phil Stone, a southern gentleman with degrees from Yale and the University of Mississippi, and an appreciation of literature. Stone was one of the first individuals to encourage William Faulkner’s writing abilities. Phil would also introduce Faulkner to new writers, like James Joyce, who would play a heavy influence in his future writing.
Faulkner would provide Stone with some of his writing in hopes of getting published. These sambles of his writing were rejected. William Faulkner traveled to Yale with Stone in the Spring of 1918. However, with World War I raging in Europe, Faulkner decided to enlist.
A Brief Stint as a Pilot
Faulkner intended to enlist in the British Army. However, he ended up joining the Canadian Royal Air Force. He left for Toronto to receive training, but the war would end before he would see action. Despite this, Faulkner returned to Oxford in 1918 and told fake war stories, even faking an injury.
Another Try at Education
Upon his return to Mississippi, Faulkner took another try at completing his formal education. Enrolling in the University of Mississippi, where his father still worked, he tried to graduate. However, after enrolling in 1919, William Faulkner struggled to attend class.
He ended up dropping out in November 2020. Despite the educational failure, William Faulkner did manage to start publishing short stories and poems in campus publications. The aspiring writer continued to hone his writing through prose and poetry as he pursued a career in writing.
A Career as a Writer
In 1925, Faulkner would spend time in New Orleans. He continued to write poetry and prose, many of which were beginning to see publication. During this time, William Faulkner met Sherwood Anderson, another writer. Anderson supported Faulkner and encouraged him to write novels. Under his guidance, William Faulkner published his first novel, Solider’s Pay, in 1926. His second novel, Mosquitoes, was issued a year later.
However, despite his initial success, William Faulkner would still face rejection from publishers. In 1927, Faulkner completed the manuscript for his third novel, Flags in the Dust. He believed that his writing significantly improved from his first two novels. Its rejection by his publisher deflated the rising author. Flags in the Dust would be heavily edited by his agent and eventually published in 1929 as Sartoris.
William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury
Faulkner began writing his fourth novel, The Sound and the Fury, in the fall of 1928. Growing out of a series of short stories, he wrote in an experimental style. William Faulkner was unconcerned with the thoughts of his publishers and wrote for himself. He published his book in 1929. The Sound and the Fury earned William Faulkner the 1949 Nobel Prize in Literature.
A Life of Writing
Throughout the 1930s, Faulkner continued to write. Due to the onset of the Great Depression, he struggled to maintain an income that would support his new family. William Faulkner married Estelle Oldham in 1929. Oldham brought two children from her previous marriage, and the couple welcomed a daughter, Jill, in 1933.
Faulkner wrote short stories and poems to supplement his income. In 1932, he moved to California to work as a screenwriter. While he hated the job, it provided enough financial stability to support his family. Faulkner would work in the industry until 1954, writing for over 50 films.
At the outbreak of World War II, Faulkner attempted to enlist in the United States Air Force. He was rejected and took up work in civil defense. However, William Faulkner claimed the war was not good for writing. His output of novels did drop off during this time. He worked on A Fable‘s manuscript during this time, but it would not be published until 1954.
An End of an Era
Faulkner continued to write and received recognition for his works throughout the rest of the 1940s and 50s. On June 17, 1962, he fell from his horse and developed thrombosis. The following month, on July 6, 1962, William Faulkner died of a heart attack at 64. He is buried alongside his family in St. Peter’s Cemetary in Oxford, Mississippi.
Notable William Faulkner Novels
Soldiers’ Pay (1926)
Mosquitoes (1927)
Sartoris (1929)
The Sound and the Fury (1929)
As I Lay Dying (1930)
Sanctuary (1931)
Light in August (1932)
Pylon (1935)
Absalom, Absalom! (1936)
The Unvanquished (1938)
The Wild Palms (1939)
The Hamlet (1940)
Go Down, Moses (1942)
Intruder in the Dust (1948)
Requiem for a Nun (1951)
A Fable (1954)
The Town (1957)
The Mansion (1959)
The Reivers (1962)
Today in Writing: September 25 – 15 William Faulkner Quotes
William Faulkner is one of the most celebrated authors in American literature. His style was experimental and very distinct. Faulkner paid particular attention to the cadence of his words and is known for his complex sentences.
This style has left a mark in literature and has been imitated by writers since. William Faulkner was a proponent of stream-of-consciousness writing, a narrative process that attempts to recreate thought processes. It would play a heavy influence on Jack Kerouac’s spontaneous prose freewriting style.
15 Quotes From William Faulkner
1. You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore.
2. Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Do not bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.
3. In writing, you must kill all your darlings.
4. Perhaps they were right putting love into books. Perhaps it could not live anywhere else.
5. Don’t be ‘a writer’. Be writing.
6. If a story is in you, it has to come out.
7. The past is never dead. It’s not even past.
8. Given the choice between the experience of pain and nothing, I would choose pain.
9. Dreams have only one owner at a time. That’s why dreamers are lonely.
10. Clocks slay time… time is dead as long as it is being clicked off by little wheels; only when the clock stops does time come to life.
11. A writer must teach himself that the basest of all things is to be afraid.
12. A writer needs three things, experience, observation, and imagination, any two of which, at times any one of which, can supply the lack of the others.
13. Most men are a little better than their circumstances give them a chance to be.
14. The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.
15. A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station…
Today in Writing: September 25 – Daily Writing Exercise
Now that you have done some reading, it is time to write. Aspiring writers should look to the stories from William Faulkner’s life for their own inspiration. Check through the quotes to spark an idea or read some of Faulkner’s writing to learn from one of the most celebrated writers in American Literature.
Find a topic from Today in Writing: September 25 and freewrite for 10 minutes. William Faulkner was a dedicated writer who faced rejection even after publishing his first novels. Despite the setback, he continued to persevere and hone his writing abilities. His effort has made Faulkner a legendary figure in the literary world.
Don’t let any opportunity to write go to waste. Aspiring writers: Practice your writing today! Celebrate Today in Writing History September 25.
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