Today I whizzed in Wm. Faulkner's down-stairs bathroom (Rowan Oak pilgrimage pics) ..

[DemoTex]

I had a big literary day today in Oxford, Mississippi. Coffee at Square Books (and $150 in books), a stop at St. Peter's Cemetery, and finally .. after lo these many years .. Rowan Oak, Faulkner's estate.


"Square Books" in Oxford.


William and Estelle Faulkner's gravesite in St. Peter's Cemetery in Oxford.


The Faulkner's "Rowan Oak" estate in Oxford.

[shadowknows69]

1. You're such a nerd

:thumbsup: B-)

[DemoTex]

19. 10-4!

73s

[LadyoftheRabbits]

2. Wow, that takes me back

I grew up in Oxford, and spent plenty of time in that bookstore and on that square as a child. Thanks for posting these. :)

[DemoTex]

7. Oxford is a beautiful little town.

I spent six delightful hours there today. I hope to re-visit with Dr. D. in tow. She has some cohorts on faculty at the U of M.

I had to trek on west. I'm in Vicksburg now.

[Buzz Clik]

3. When I was little, I crapped my pants in Lincoln's childhood home.

I intend to do it again when I get older.

[villager]

4. So was the whiz a kind of "sound and the fury" thing? ;-)

n/t

[DemoTex]

6. There was a sound when the fury hit and I saw a light in August!

Absolom, sweet Absolom!

[villager]

8. hopefully, no mosquitoes around?

;-)

[DemoTex]

9. No mosquitoes. The spotted horses' swishing tails kept them away.

But I did hear of an issue of soldiers' pay. But I was at the mansion, not the town or the hamlet.

[KoKo]

5. Ahh...Faulkner...he's as old as Pre-GM Modified Oats...........

You live in a world that's gone that folks care about him.

But, good on you for going...:D

EDIT: BTW...I know he's gone to the "Great Beyond" ...just in case you think everyone around here is illiterate. :D

[DemoTex]

11. "He wrote and then he died .."

That was on a panel in the museum display at Rowan Oak. I'm not quite sure what that means, because Faulkner did a lot of other things besides writing and dieing. He trained horses, studied Civil War history with his friend Shelby Foote, and drank a hell of a lot of liquor, FWIW.

[KoKo]

14. He was definitely a "Great Influence" for those of us of a .......

certain generation. Thanks for posting what you did.

[QC]

10. Takes me back--did my Ph.D. at Ole Miss and spent many an hour

at Rowan Oak, Square Books, and the cemetery.

Thanks for this thread!

[DemoTex]

13. Oh, man! I'm jealous.

What's your Ph.D.? Lit?

[QC]

15. Am Lit, Southern specialty--that's why I went to Ole Miss.

It was a good place to be, back before condomania struck, when Oxford was still a small, friendly, and affordable place.

I'm glad you got to spend some time there!

[DemoTex]

20. Well, what can I say?

I screwed around with airplane driving post-Vietnam. You did what I should have done. Know what I mean, Vern?

[McCamy Taylor]

12. Q: Why does Quentin Compson hate the South?

A: Because it is ok to diddle your sister, but if a man with a part Black grandmother tries to marry a white women, that's a capital offense. And any sane person knows that just ain't right !

Funny how the play The Goat or Who Is Sylvia? by Albee inspires different reactions from audiences depending upon whether or not they are from the South.

P.S. It ain't country unless you can pee off the front porch.

[DemoTex]

17. "Absolom, Absolom!" is full of that, and might be WF's 2nd greatest work ..

Incest, misogyny, miscegenation, exogamy .. all at work in Faulkner's South two generations before Quinton Compson's leap to the fish. But it all comes together in The Sound and the Fury and some peripheral, derivative short stories.

Ever read the short story about the Compson children (Quinton, Caddy, and Jason) and the domestic servant Nancy and her man Jesus? It is a tour-de-force.

[Shardik]

16. As I Lay Dying/

The best six weeks of his life (for me).

I'm going to have to ride down there some day.

[DemoTex]

18. "My mother is a fish" .. Vardaman

A novel so good, so pure in form, it makes me weep.

[ladjf]

21. In the Summer of 1956, while I was a student at Ole Miss, my

brother and I had the pleasure of working with Mr. Faulkner on the restoration of his sail boat, "The Ringdove". The project lasted about two summer months. We did the work in the yard of "Rowan Oaks".

He was as soft spoken, courteous gentleman. During the many hours of work with him, I don't recall any conversation about literature or art. For the most part, we discussed the boat project. I do remember that on one occasion, my brother and I , who were jazz musicians, were discussing the fact that we had to run by our homes and "pick up our axes for a gig we were playing that night". He was curious to know what the terms "axe" and "gig" meant. We explained that "axe" meant musical instrument and that a "gig" was a dance or party job for which we provided the music. He immediately related the tie in between "gig" and the French dance form "Gigue". Subsequently, he remained interested in every jazz slang word that we used.

When the boat was ready, we towed it to Sardis Reservoir for the first test run. His daughter Jill, her husband Paul, Mr. Faulkner, my brother and I piled into Paul's jeep for the slow tow job to the lake. As we were launching the boat near the mouth of the Tobi tubby Creek, we met an old black man. As Mr. Faulkner was conversing with him, I heard the old man ask Faulkner, "Ain't you the one that wrote the book"? Personally, I've often wondered how he knew that bit of information.

Shortly after that Summer, Mr. Faulkner began spending time in Virginia. We rarely saw him in Oxford.
However, I do recall the last time I saw him. He was entering Grundy's Cafe and saw me across the street. He stopped and sort of shouted across the street, "how is your brother"?

[DemoTex]

22. A most excellent story, ladjf! Thanks for sharing.

As a jazz musician myself I can appreciate "axe" and "gig" too. And "chops" and "sideman" and "book" and "short" (for car) and "cats" and "wail" and "tight" and on an on ..

[ladjf]

23. Glad you enjoyed it. Faulkner actively encouraged us to tell him

every slang word in the "jazz vernacular". That was back in the 50's when such language was being used by all jazz musicians and some of the hippies. He would ask us our opinion about how such words as "axe" came into use.

There were many other observations I made during the boat repair period that I didn't include in my first post. I'll just give one of them now. Faulkner had a very small room right on the SouthWest corner of Rowan Oak that he used as a working bedroom and study. In the room, there was a small metal cot and a few other personal items such as books. But the most interesting thing was that he had written a ten point outline to "A Fable" in crayon on the white plaster wall.

I will also mention that we would not have been able to discern that that he was a famous writer by the conversations that took place. He was just a quiet, courteous man, interested in rebuilding his sailboat. For that short period, it seemed to us that the boat was his main interest.

[DemoTex]

24. Here is the wall in Faulkner's study .. I took this photo Sunday too.

The study is preserved just as you describe it! Including Faulkner's crayon outline of "The Fable." The reason he put the outline on the wall, I was told, was that the fan blew the poster-board sheets that he had gotten used to working with while working in Hollywood.