If we want literature to improve our lives, often we must read–and teach–works that unsettle.
Tag Archives: William Faulkner
We Need Disturbing Lit If We Are to Grow
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Bluest Eye, C.S. Lewis, cancel culture, Cat's Eye, censorship, Clansman, Friedrich Engels, Karl Marx, Light in August, Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Lottery, Margaret Atwood, Ruth Franklin, Shirley Jackson, Thomas Dixon, Toni Morrison Comments closed
Pretending that Slavery Wasn’t a Big Deal
Unlike Faulkner, the Southern Agrarians claimed that African Americans weren’t an integral part of Southern culture.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Alan Tate, Andrew Lytle, Ares, Civil War, John Crowe Ransom, Michael Gorra, racism, Southern Agrarians, Toni Morrison Comments closed
Faulkner Understood How Racism Works
Faulkner helps me understand my past growing up in the racist south. Sadly, he’s still relevant.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Absalom Absalom!, Light in August, Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, racism Comments closed
Faulkner: Racist in Life, Not in Fiction
In life, Faulkner was a racist. In his fiction, he deconstructed racism brilliantly.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Dry September, lynching, Michael Gorra, racism, Saddest Words, segregation Comments closed
Faulkner’s Sanctuary, Trump’s Charges
Reading Sanctuary while awaiting a Trump indictment is a good counterweight to facile optimism. In Faulkner’s world, the courts can’t save us.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Cormac McCarthy, Donald Trump, Flannery O'Connor, Justice, Sanctuary, Toni Morrison, Trump indictments Comments closed
Lit that Features the N-Word: What to Do
Now to teach White literature that employs the n-word? Balance with Black literature.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Absalom Absalom!, Beloved, Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain, n-word, racism, Song of Solomon, To Kill a Mockingbird, Toni Morrison Comments closed
Faulkner on Racism: Sadly, Still Relevant
Faulkner’s “Absalom, Absalom!” understands White America’s race hatred in a deep way that is still revelant.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Absalom Absalom!, Diversity, gothic fiction, miscegenation, racism Comments closed
Proust on Why the Poor Support the Rich
Why do White working-class GOP supporters support programs helping the rich? Proust and Faulkner have possible answers.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Absalom Absalom!, In Search of Lost Time, Marcel Proust, poverty programs, Swann's Way, White working class resentment Comments closed
