Reader’s Corner: Faulkner and the Trumps

On June 27, 2020June 26, 2020 By chrisbarsantiIn BooksLeave a comment

Late next month, Simon & Schuster will publish Too Much and Never Enough, the inside story of the creation of Donald Trump from a close source: his niece Mary.

Unlike her uncle, Mary seemed to enjoy school, earning several degrees in psychology. While attending Tufts University, she studied William Faulkner, whose novels became a favorite. She appeared to be drawn in particular to his stories of the Compsons in novels like The Sound and the Fury and Absalom, Absalom! According to the Washington Post:

The Compsons bore some similarities to her own family: Like Donald Trump’s mother, the Compsons immigrated to the United States from Scotland, and the family was riven by dysfunction. At the time, Donald Trump was running his Atlantic City casinos, which went into bankruptcy, and preparing to divorce his first wife, Ivana, and marry Marla Maples…

She may still see a connection. Last year, she created a company named Compson Enterprises. In order to maintain secrecy, her byline for her bombshell book was originally listed as Mary Compson.

Writer’s Desk: Be Ruthless

On February 19, 2017February 15, 2017 By chrisbarsantiIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

When William Faulkner was interviewed by The Paris Review in 1956, he was asked whether writers need to be “completely ruthless.”

The sage of the South replied in the affirmative, with vigor:

The writer’s only responsibility is to his art. He will be completely ruthless if he is a good one. He has a dream. It anguishes him so much he must get rid of it. He has no peace until then. Everything goes by the board: honor, pride, decency, security, happiness, all, to get the book written. If a writer has to rob his mother, he will not hesitate; the ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’ is worth any number of old ladies.

He may not be right about the literary importance of “Ode on a Grecian Urn,” but the point is, nevertheless, an uncomfortable truth.

Writer’s Desk: Whiskey at Night

On October 11, 2015October 9, 2015 By chrisbarsantiIn Books, WritingLeave a comment

You see, I usually write at night. I always keep my whiskey within reach.

—William Faulkner

I always take Scotch whiskey at night as a preventive of toothache. I have never had the toothache; and what is more, I never intend to have it.

—Mark Twain

Reader’s Corner: When Faulkner Reviewed Hemingway

On July 13, 2014July 9, 2014 By chrisbarsantiIn BooksLeave a comment

faulkner1 — William Faulkner, 1954 (Library of Congress)

Ernest Hemingway had no problem with expounding on his talent, courage, or general manliness. To nobody’s surprise, this didn’t arise from a well of confidence but rather one of rabid insecurity. Just see his rivalry with F. Scott Fitzgerald, and all those petty little put-downs in A Moveable Feast.

Papa Hemingway also scrapped (albeit in a mildly literary way) with the other big prize-winning author of his time, William Faulkner. They respected each other, but found time to lob critiques back and forth.

When the literary magazine Shenandoah prevailed upon Faulkner to review The Old Man and the Sea, he found room to list Hemingway’s faults but, interestingly, in the context of praising the novel. Here’s an excerpt of that review from Open Culture (emphasis added):

Time may show it to be the best single piece of any of us, I mean his and my contemporaries. This time, he discovered God, a Creator. Until now, his men and women had made themselves, shaped themselves out of their own clay; their victories and defeats were at the hands of each other, just to prove to themselves or one another how tough they could be. But this time, he wrote about pity: about something somewhere that made them all: the old man who had to catch the fish and then lose it, the fish that had to be caught and then lost, the sharks which had to rob the old man of his fish; made them all and loved them all and pitied them all. It’s all right. Praise God that whatever made and loves and pities Hemingway and me kept him from touching it any further.

Makes you want to go back and hunt down all the glories of the novel which too many English teachers have managed to hide.

Department of Cocktails: The Faulkner Recipe

On February 25, 2014May 16, 2014 By chrisbarsantiIn BooksLeave a comment

William Faulkner said a lot about drinking; which makes sense, given how much he wrote while drinking. As he once noted:

You see, I usually write at night. I always keep my whiskey within reach; so many ideas that I can’t remember in the morning pop into my head.

For all those wanting to know what the man’s favorite tipple was, it’s simple: Whiskey. Any kind. And here’s his preferred way of taking it (your basic mint julep, simple):

whiskey
1 tsp sugar
ice
mint
served in a metal cup

(h/t The Migrant Book Club)

Readers’ Corner: Francomania

On September 25, 2013September 20, 2013 By chrisbarsantiIn BooksLeave a comment

A modest proposal from Minh Lee over at Bookriot which deserves at least some consideration: Let’s put James Franco on all book covers. See his Franco-fied version of The Picture of Dorian Gray above and other classics (the best of which must be Lolita) here.

The idea came from the waves of dismay that arose from many literate corners on the release of the movie tie-in cover for Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying. Franco directed and wrote the film adaptation coming out later this year. Any concerns about the book design, though, are overshadowed by the fact that the film is co-starring his buddy Danny “Eastbound and Down” McBride. Perhaps the film uncovers Faulkner’s funny side?

Judging by the trailer, probably not:

Chris Barsanti

Tag: William Faulkner