Famed Southern author William Faulkner died 47 years ago, but new details about his work are still being unearthed.
John Lowe, University English professor and president of the Society for the Study of Southern Literature, is writing a book on Faulkner, and he is basing some of his research on a Mississippi plantation ledger recently discovered to be the inspiration for parts of Faulkner’s work, including the novel “Go Down, Moses.”
The ledger was written by the great-grandfather of a lifelong friend of Faulkner’s. It contains details and records of slave ownership appearing in “Go Down, Moses,” which suggests Faulkner drew inspiration from the ledger, Lowe said.
“[The ledger shows] what seems to be something [Faulkner] made up — the history of that plantation family in ‘Go Down, Moses’ — really has a basis in facts,” Lowe said.
Its contents will be published by LSU Press in June in a book by Sally Wolff-King, a professor from Emory University who discovered the ledger’s significance.
Lowe said the description of slave ownership in the ledger probably struck Faulkner on a personal level because of a discovery he made about his own great-grandfather.
“[Faulkner] discovered that in his own family his revered great-grandfather, Colonel William Falkner, had a long-running affair with a black woman, and they had children and descendants,” Lowe said.
Faulkner probably reacted in a “very visceral, personal way” when he uncovered his great-grandfather had put pressure on a black woman to have sex with him — a situation Lowe called one of the worst parts of slavery.
Lowe said the ledger and diary had been studied before, but no one knew Faulkner had used it in his writing.
“Historians have consulted them, but they didn’t know Faulkner consulted them,” he said.
The discovery of the plantation ledger and its influence on Faulkner is causing Lowe to revise the book he has just written, “Faulkner’s Fraternal Fury: Sibling Rivalry, Racial Kinship and Democracy.”
The book, to be published by LSU Press, was already complete, but Lowe will revise it during the next few months to include the new information that came with the ledger’s discovery.
Apart from the revised portion, the book deals with Faulkner’s turbulent relationship with his brothers, both of whom were alcoholics, like Faulkner.
“It’s about how Faulkner didn’t get along with his brothers and that shaped the direction of his writing,” Lowe said. “He knew it was a problem, and so he found a way to make great art out of it.”
Discoveries like the ledger and the scholarly work with it have a transformative effect on the study of literature, said Anna Nardo, chair of the English department.
“There are often archival materials that languish in libraries or archives or even in people’s attics or basements that make us rethink certain assumptions we’ve had about an author,” Nardo said.
The discovery of the ledger and the publishing of new books like Lowe’s can recreate interest in authors who have been stagnant research topics in recent years, Nardo said.
“Years ago, there were more American dissertations written on Faulkner than Shakespeare,” Nardo said. “He was a very popular subject for literary study, then his stock fell a little bit because there was a lot of concern about his representation of race.”
But new research and scholarly discussion will follow the new information about Faulkner, Nardo said.
Lowe expects his book to be released sometime in 2011.
Faulkner’s work will continue to be relevant because his writing touches on themes society is still dealing with today, Lowe said.
“We continue to read his books because we’re not in a post-racial age, as people say,” Lowe said. “We’re still dealing with persecution.”
Contact Ryan Buxton at [email protected]