Biography of William Faulkner :: Writer Biographies Essays

Biography of William Faulkner William Faulkner was a rich redeemr who became very famous during his lifetime but who shied away from the position as much as possible. He is remembered as both a gentlemanly southern eccentric and an arrogant, snobbish alcoholic. But perhaps the take up way to describe Faulkner is to describe his heritage, for, like so many of his literary characters, Faulkner was profoundly affected by his family.Faulkners great grandfather, Colonel William Falkner (Faulkner added the u to his name), was born in 1825 and moved to Mississippi at the age of 14. He was a lawyer, writer, politician, soldier, and groundbreaker who was obscure in several murder trials - including two in which he was accused - and was a best-selling novelist. During the Civil War he recruited a (Confederate) regiment and was elected its colonel, but his arrogance caused his troop to demote him and he left to recruit another regiment. After the war he became involved in the railroad voc ation and made a lot of notes he bought a plantation and began to write books, one of which became a best-seller. He ran for Mississippi state legislature in 1889, but his opponent flavour and killed him before the election.Faulkners grandfather was the colonels oldest son, John Wesley Thompson Falkner. He inherited his fathers railroad band and became an Assistant U.S. Attorney. He later became the president of the First National hope of Oxford, Mississippi.Faulkners father was Murray Falkner, who moved from job to job before becoming the business manager of the University of Mississippi, where he and his family lived for the rest of his life. William Faulkner was born on September 25, 1897 and began to write poetry as a teenager. During World War I, he coupled the Canadian Royal Flying Corps he was too short to join the U.S. Air Force but never fought the day he graduated from the Flying Corps the Armistice was signed. The only war distress he received was the result of ge tting drunk and partying too solid on Armistice Day, wherein he injured his leg.After the war, Faulkner came back to Oxford, enrolled as a special student at the University of Mississippi and began to write for the aim papers and magazines, quickly earning a reputation as an eccentric. His strange routines, swank dressing habits, and inability to hold down a job pull in him the nickname Count Nocount.