#atozchallenge – William Faulkner Inspires Me

When I was a young girl, I was obsessed with reading. We had a small, modest town library and I would spend hours in there choosing just the right books to bring home and devour. It was during one of these searches that I came across a book whose title appealed to me: As I Lay Dying. I had never heard of the author, William Faulkner, but the title alone decided my fate. I was fascinated by how it was written. I’d already been introduced to Stream of Conscious writing from reading Virginia Woolf (though I had no idea it was called that at the age of 11), so I was thrilled that this book was also written in that style. I was intrigued by the multiple narrators and the story of Addie Bundren. Thus began my love affair with William Faulkner’s work. I devoured The Sound and the Fury in one day, reading it long into the night. Next came Absalom, Absalom! read in about two days. I discovered a book of his short stories and a book of poetry. I wanted to absorb everything he’d ever written. And for the most part, I have. There are still a few obscure books that I haven’t been able to locate, but I still search for them everywhere. His writing style has greatly influenced my own. I do not copy his, but I definitely notice the influence. The following are some of my favorite quotes by W. Faulkner:

And my most favorite of all quotes because of his mention of bones (yes, it is one of my obsessions!):

Interesting fact: Two of his works, A Fable (1954) and his last novel The Reivers (1962), won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

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Thank you for joining me for the A-to-Z Challenge. If you’d like to see who else is participating, check them out here.

Each day, I will be posting about People Who Inspire Me.