"As I have said, Faulkner cannot be read; he can only be reread." So states Mr. Parini in the conclusion of this work and the statement might also be self-referential. I exaggerate but not by much. This is not light reading, but a scholarly approach to Nobel Prize-winning author Faulkner. It contains photos, endnotes and a hefty bibliography.
In reference to another blogcritic's review, I must state that Parini acknowledges his debt to author Joseph Blotner's biography of Faulkner in the preface and notes he repeatedly turned to Blotner's work. As to Parini's knowledge of the South, the book is about Faulkner the author not a region of the U.S., though I feel Parini makes very clear the relationship between Faulkner and his beloved Oxford, Mississippi and environs.
I believe the strength of this book lies precisely in Parini's attempt to probe the psyche of Faulkner, whose well of inspiration would basically go dry in 1942, twenty years before his death. Parini has presented a very complex individual, a hopeless alcoholic unlucky in love, yet a disciplined worker when it came to his craft.
Having no idea of Faulkner's financial struggles, I was amazed to read how he was so dependent on others' largesse. Publishing in those days was a whole different ballgame with no million-dollar advances. Faulkner often supplemented his meager publishing income with work in Hollywood as a scriptwriter.
Author Parini seems well qualified to write about Faulkner, being a professor of English at Middlebury College in Vermont, and a former teacher at Dartmouth and Oxford University. Mr. Parini also edited the massive (2400 pages) Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature.
One Matchless Time is a very definitive biography which will be regarded in the future as a classic work on the subject of William Faulkner. I might even reread it.
Article comments
1 - wally bangs
Good review, Neal, I'm glad you also got a copy of the book. It's really much better than the reviews I read before writing mine.
2 - Eric Berlin
Neal - I'm always fascinated to learn about the private lives of writers. Nice job on this review.