Born: September 25, 1897

Dead: July 6, 1962

High of His Life: Most of Faulkner’s life was spent writing great works of Southern fiction, drinking heavily, and cavorting around with women who were not his wife. That doesn’t sound like a high point to you? His works. such as “The Sound and the Fury”, “As I Lay Dying”, and “A Fable”, are among the finest in their genre being put on the same pedestal as Mark Twain, Harper Lee, and Tennessee Williams. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1949 and the Pulitzer Prize in 1962. Not a bad trophy case, I’d say.

Low of His Life: Faulkner is often remembered today as a great writer with an even greater drinking problem. He’s also the bane of many school children’s existence, being forced to read about an unpronounceable made up place called Yoknapatawpha County. He’s also known as “the guy who stole that line from Shakespeare.” Though I don’t think the majority of Faulkner’s life was sound and fury signifiying nother.

Who Sees Him as a Hero: Writers, college literary students, high school nerds, aspiring Southern gentlemen.