William Faulkner Audio Collection

William Faulkner [the—and] from—from Greece, from Olympus in it somewhere. It lasts just for a day or two, then it's gone, but every year in August that occurs in [our country], and that's all that title meant. It was just—to me a—a pleasant, evocative title because it—it reminded me of—of that time, of a luminosity older than our Christian civilization. Maybe the connection was with Lena Grove who had something of that pagan quality of—of being able to—to assume everything, the desire for—for that child. She was never ashamed of that child, whether it had any father or not. She was simply going to follow the conventional laws of the time in which she was and find its father. But as far as she was concerned, she didn't especially need the father for it, any more than the—than the women that—on whom Jupiter begot children were anxious for a home and a father. It was enough to have had the child. And that was all that meant, just that luminous, lambent quality of an older light than ours.

Unidentified participantIs ""Rose for Emily" all fiction?

William FaulknerYes, sir. Yes, sir, that's—that's all fiction, for the reason I said, too. If any time a writer writes anything that—that seems at all familiar to anybody anywhere, he gets a letter about it, and if they think he got enough money, he's sued, too, so he's awful careful [audience laughter] not to write anything he ever saw himself, or anybody ever told him.

Joseph BlotnerMr. Faulkner, we're all very grateful to you for coming this afternoon. I want to thank you so much.

William FaulknerThank you. [applause] [end of recording]