Synopses & Reviews
Review
"An accomplished novelist and biographer, Parini... provides a brisk, engrossing account of Faulkners life." The Oregonian
Review
"Parinis candid, personal, and extremely readable book is the place to send readers looking for an overview of [Faulkners] career." William H. Pritchard, Commonweal
Review
"Though Parini does tell Faulkner's story in a workmanlike way, there isn't all that much of a story to tell. Apart from his writing which in Faulkner's mind seems to have taken place in its own separate universe...he really didn't do much." Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post
Review
"No living literary biographer, and few dead ones, surpass Jay Parini's skill....[He] renders a formidable giant of letters accessible." Ron Powers, Pulitzer Prize-winning critic and biographer of Mark Twain
Synopsis
William Faulkner was a literary genius, and one of America's most important and influential writers. Drawing on previously unavailable sources -- including letters, memoirs, and interviews with Faulkner's daughter and lovers -- Jay Parini has crafted a biography that delves into the mystery of this gifted and troubled writer. His Faulkner is an extremely talented, obsessive artist plagued by alcoholism and a bad marriage who somehow transcends his limitations. Parini weaves the tragedies and triumphs of Faulkner's life in with his novels, serving up a biography that's as engaging as it is insightful.
Synopsis
"Nothing less than spellbinding . . . It's an eye-opener. Anecdotal without being tawdry, analytical without being academic, it captures the essence of Faulkner's life with the narrative drive of a novel." -- Houston Chronicle
"A splendid life of William Faulkner . . . Not only readable but downright enthralling." -- Seattle Times
William Faulkner was a literary genius, and one of America's most important and influential writers. Drawing on previously unavailable sources--including letters, memoirs, and interviews with Faulkner's daughter and lovers--Jay Parini has crafted a biography that delves into the mystery of this gifted and troubled writer. His Faulkner is an extremely talented, obsessive artist plagued by alcoholism and a bad marriage who somehow transcends his limitations. Parini weaves the tragedies and triumphs of Faulkner's life in with his novels, serving up a biography that's as engaging as it is insightful.
About the Author
Jay Parini was raised in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He attended Lafayette College and the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, from which he received a Ph.D. in 1975. He has taught at Dartmouth College, Oxford University, and Middlebury College, where he is currently Axinn Professor of English. Parini is a poet and novelist as well as a biographer. He has published six novels, four books of poetry, and critical and biographical studies of Theodore Roethke and Robert Frost. His selected essays, Some Necessary Angels, were published by Columbia University Press. He has edited numerous works, including The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature. He lives in Vermont with his wife, Devon Jersild, and their three sons.