Studies in English Volume 14 Selections from Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha, 1974 Article 13 1976 Vol. 14 (1976): Full issue Journal Editors Follow this and additional works at: https://egrove.olemiss.edu/ms_studies_eng Part of the American Literature Commons, and the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Editors, Journal (1976) "Vol. 14 (1976): Full issue," Studies in English: Vol. 14 , Article 13. Available at: https://egrove.olemiss.edu/ms_studies_eng/vol14/iss1/13 This Complete Issue is brought to you for free and open access by the English at eGrove. It has been accepted for inclusion in Studies in English by an authorized editor of eGrove. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Editors: Vol. 14 (1976): Full issue Studies in English The University of Mississippi Department of English Published by eGrove, 1976 1 Studies in English, Vol. 14 [1976], Art. 13 The University of Mississippi Studies in English Volume Fourteen University, Mississippi 1976 https://egrove.olemiss.edu/ms_studies_eng/vol14/iss1/13 2 Editors: Vol. 14 (1976): Full issue The University of Mississippi Studies in English EDITORS Evans Harrington Ann J. Abadie ASSOCIATE EDITOR John D. Crews The University of Mississippi Studies in English is published by the Department of English of the University of Mississippi, University, Mississippi 38677. Published by eGrove, 1976 3 Studies in English, Vol. 14 [1976], Art. 13 FAULKNER AND YOKNAPATAWPHA 1974 Selections https://egrove.olemiss.edu/ms_studies_eng/vol14/iss1/13 4 Editors: Vol. 14 (1976): Full issue Published by eGrove, 1976 5 Studies in English, Vol. 14 [1976], Art. 13 Contents Selections from Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha, 1974 Introduction........................................................................ 1 Evans Harrington History of Northern Mississippi...................................................... 5 David Sansing The Evolution of Yoknapatawpha ................................................ 23 Elizabeth Kerr William Faulkner Seminar................................................................................ 63 Joseph Blotner Dilsey and the Compsons ................................................................ 79 Malcolm Cowley Ike McCaslin and the Wilderness.................................................. 89 Malcolm Cowley The Sister Figure and “Little Sister Death” in the Fiction of William Faulkner................................ 99 Peggy Flynn Faulkner's Mississippi: Land into Legend Panel Discussion ................................................................. 119 William Faulkner's Mississippi Panel Discussion ................................................................. 135 The Riches of Yoknapatawpha Panel Discussion ................................................................. 141 https://egrove.olemiss.edu/ms_studies_eng/vol14/iss1/13 6 Editors: Vol. 14 (1976): Full issue Published by eGrove, 1976 7 Studies in English, Vol. 14 [1976], Art. 13 Selections from Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha, 1974 Introduction by Evans Harrington Even before William Faulkner’s death, visitors often came to his home town of Oxford to see firsthand the area which he had trans­ formed into Yoknapatawpha County and made world famous. In the years that followed his death, the stream of visitors grew increas- ingly larger. Members of the English department of the University of Mississippi—which had purchased Faulkner’s home, Rowan Oak—were beset by questioners about the man and his area. Visitors also frequented the Mississippi Collection of the University Library, which holds a complete collection of Faulkner secondary materials, Faulkner’s Nobel and many other prizes, and many photographs, paintings, and other memorabilia pertaining to William Faulkner and his brother John, a writer and painter in his own right. So constant were the visits and persistent the inquiries about Faulkner and his area that a number of individuals at the University came to be spending a large part of their time just advising and escorting Faulkner enthusiasts. Eventually it seemed advisable to attempt to meet the interest in Faulkner on an organized basis. Thus was conceived Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha, a week-long conference in Faulkner’s home town, consisting of lectures, films, slide presenta­ tions, panel discussions, guided tours, and a dramatization. The first such conference was held in August of 1974, and so great was the attendance that the whole program had to be repeated a second week. In 1975 another conference was held, and again the overflow of participants required that it be held over a second week. In August of 1976 a third conference will be held, and already (in July) the applications for attendance are approaching a record mark. So Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha has become, by virtue of the demand it seems to fill, an annual feature of the University of Mississippi’s cultural program; and that circumstance coincides very appropri­ ately with the University’s plans, vigorously encouraged by Chancel­ https://egrove.olemiss.edu/ms_studies_eng/vol14/iss1/13 8 Editors: Vol. 14 (1976): Full issue 2 Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha, 1974 lor Porter Fortune, to develop a cultural center commensurate in scope with Mississippi’s rich cultural heritage. As participants in the Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha conferences protest, however, the stimulating week goes by so fast, the lectures, panel discussions, and other activities occur and recede so rapidly, that it is hard to get a grasp on them. From the first day of the first conference, there has been a persistent demand that the proceed­ ings of each conference be published. This demand was not antici­ pated when the first conference was planned, so provisions for obtaining rights to speeches and for recording all activities were not made. Many of the speeches and panel discussions of that first (1974) program were made available to us, however, and we are happy to present them in this issue of Studies in English. The transactions of the second (1975) conference and of all succeeding conferences will be presented in a virtually complete form in subsequent issues of this journal. The items presented in the current issue are richly varied. David Sansing, a professor of history at the University of Mississippi, places Faulkner’s work in its historical context in “A History of Northeast Mississippi.” Professor Sansing is a specialist in Mississippi history, and his delineation of Faulkner’s milieu from a professional histo­ rian’s viewpoint is unique in Faulkner scholarship. Equally invalu­ able to students of Faulkner is Elizabeth Kerr’s meticulous study of “The Evolution of Yoknapatawpha.” Miss Kerr, professor emerita of English at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, is the author of Yoknapatawpha: Faulkner's “Little Postage Stamp of Native Soil,” and she undoubtedly knows more about Yoknapatawpha and as much about the work of Faulkner as anyone living. Joseph Blotner had other plans for the lectures that he delivered at the 1974 conference, but he did allow us to record and present here one of his seminar sessions which offers many valuable insights about Faulkner, the man and the artist—in particular one memorable comment about the youthful Faulkner’s emulation of T. S. Eliot. Malcolm Cowley’s two lectures, “Dilsey and the Compsons” and “Ike McCaslin and the Wilderness,” were delivered from notes and taped at the conference; and, as he amusingly observes in “Ike McCaslin and the Negroes,” the taping was faulty in one major instance. Mr. Cowley has generously edited our transcript of his lectures, however, and has even provided us a supplement for the Published by eGrove, 1976 9 Studies in English, Vol. 14 [1976], Art. 13 Evans Harrington 3 embarrassing gap in our tape. The great charm and wisdom of Mr. Cowley, which captivated audiences at the 1974 conference, comes through strongly here on the printed page. Peggy Flynn’s “The Sister Figure and ‘Little Sister Death’ in the Fiction of William Faulkner” will come as a surprise to those who attended Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha in 1974. Ms. Flynn, of Rock Hill, South Carolina, attended the conference and also took the course which is conducted in conjunction with the conference. She wrote her paper as a part of the course requirement, drawing on her own master’s thesis about Faulkner. It was such an arresting paper that we felt it should be published. The three panel discussions which we present here have been considerably edited, especially in one case. That is the discussion about the film William Faulkner's Mississippi. Two dominant partici­ pants in that panel, Jimmy Faulkner and Chooky Falkner, nephews of William, declined to have their comments included because it is their policy not to have their oral comments printed. The discussion which we offer here, therefore, is very brief, but we felt that the insights of Joseph Blotner, Elizabeth Kerr, William Lamb, and Gerald Walton were well worth preserving. The discussions about Faulkner's Mississippi: Land into Legend and “The Riches of Yoknapa­ tawpha” have been edited merely to eliminate stammerings and awkward breaks where a questioner’s wanderings from the subject caused a hiatus. As the apparently endless stream of visitors to Oxford makes clear, there is a great eagerness to know about William Faulkner and his mythical country. We believe that the selections presented here will significantly aid that knowing. https://egrove.olemiss.edu/ms_studies_eng/vol14/iss1/13 10 Editors: Vol. 14 (1976): Full issue Published by