July 2012

2012 Faulkner & Yoknapatawpha Conference: “Fifty Years After Faulkner”

Novelist honored half century after his death

The 39th annual Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha Conference at the University of Mississippi concluded July 11 after five days of lectures and panel presentations by the largest number of speakers in the conference’s history. The annual conference was timed this year to come immediately after that town of Oxford’s commemoration of Faulkner 50 years after his death July 6, 1962, in Byhalia, Miss. On Friday, July 6, Oxford marked the occasion with a marathon reading of his final novel, The Reivers, at Rowan Oak, and a screening of the film that evening at the Lyric Theater, just off the town square. The commemoration also featured keynote addresses on the courthouse square by Faulkner scholar Phillip Weinstein and writer Randall Kenan.

The conference formally began Saturday, July 7, with guided tours of Oxford and north Mississippi. On Sunday afternoon, a reception was held at the University Museum to highlight John Turner Shorb’s exhibition on Absalom, Absalom!; also featured in the museum’s exhibits are 19 paintings by Estelle Oldham Faulkner. More than 50 scholars and writers from around the world delivered papers and presentations on a diverse array of topics pertaining to Faulkner, including his place in the literary canon, a reassessment of The Reivers fifty years after its publication, and Faulkner in other realms such as the visual and performing arts, cinema, popular culture, and digital media. Tthe conference also featured a sessions on teaching Faulkner, a buffet supper, a picnic on the grounds at Rowan Oak, and “Faulkner on the Fringe,” an open-mike presentation at South Side Gallery on the Oxford Square.

Faulkner & Yoknapatawpha is the oldest literary conference in the nation devoted to a single author. As in years past, it was attended by both scholars and teachers of Faulkner with academic interests, and by general readers of Faulkner who come primarily to learn more about the man, his books, and the place in which he lived and wrote. Like earlier conferences, this year’s proceedings will be published by the University Press of Mississippi.

For more information about the Faulkner & Yoknapatawpha Conference at the University of Mississippi, visit the official conference Web site: www.outreach.olemiss.edu/events/faulkner.

Faulkner Society, E-mail discussion list information

The William Faulkner Society sponsors several scholarly presentations at the annual American Literature Conference in May and the Modern Language Association Conference in December. The society also sponsors other professional and financial incentives for scholars and graduate students. For more information, visit the society's website, faulknersociety.com.

Both scholars and non-scholars are invited to join the Faulkner Discussion Listserv by sending the message “subscribe faulkner” to md@listserv.olemiss.edu. For more information about the list, send the message “info faulkner” to the same address.

Faulkner dissertation on ‘War and History’ available

My doctoral dissertation, War and History in the Fiction of William Faulkner, is available for download or purchase online from Proquest.com. Click here to read the abstract and a free 24-page preview or to purchase a print or electronic version.

Questions about Faulkner's literary estate should be directed to Lee Caplin

If you have any questions regarding the licensing of Faulkner’s work for stage, screen, or any other commercial endeavor, you should contact Lee Caplin, the exclusive representative of the Faulkner literary estate. Caplin's website at www.pictureentertainment.com includes numerous ways in which to get in touch.