The Louis Daniel Brodsky Collection,
Center For Faulkner Studies
Southeast Missouri State University 

YOKNAPATWPHA COUNTY

Courtesy of Faulkner at Virginia (c) 2010
Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia 
Author Stephen Railton
 

Faulkner sets many of his stories in fictional Yoknapatawpha County.   Yoknapatawpha County is a microcosm of the human experience, with a collage of characters and impressions formed from Faulkner's "postage stamp of soil." 

How to imagine women  as equals with the right to say NO! 

Women played a central role in Faulkner's life and work.  How does Faulkner's relationship with women influence his female characters?   How does Faulkner's portrayal of women fare in a time of the #MeToo Movement?

How to imagine racial justice?

How could we imagine racial justice in Faulkner's time and now?  Would it be different because of the time? Or the same?

How to explain Faulkner's appeal to other cultures?

 Did Faulkner's postage stamp of soil provide a universally accessible view of the human condition?  Was it the bond of  fear and violence that ties our humanity?

 Faulkner "talks about the indomniable power of the human spirit.  And that's the person, I knew ..."

Gloria Burgess, Award Winning Poet