Life and Art

Ole Miss Union Ballroom

Over the past decade and a half there has been a notable increase in the criticism and scholarship on the subject of Faulkner and women, much of it originating at the conference. Much of it has been written by women, sometimes from surprisingly divergent points of view and differing approaches. Moving back and forth between Faulkner’s life and his work, we can infer a good deal about some of his models for his fictional women and some of his attitudes toward women. Faulkner drew as extensively as any modern author upon his immediate family and his extended family for material, especially upon the women. Some of them have made interesting comments about their distinguished relative in this area. Drawing upon the many women he knew in his life-time- -upon observation, imagination, and experience, as he put it--he created a wide range of female characters, many of whom may be subsumed under various types such as the admirable little girl, the virginal young woman, the voluptuous young woman, the mature temptress, the matron, and the venerable matriarch. Studying Faulkner’s work, one can observe his use of these types and sometimes identify the models for numbers of them, from the beginning of his career to the end.