William Faulkner Chronology

1897

 

Born Sept. 25 in New Albany, Mississippi

1899

Brother Murry C. (Jack) Falkner, Jr. born

1901

Brother John Wesley Thompson (Johncy) Falkner, III born

1902

Family moves to Oxford, Sept. 22

1905

Enters first grade, Oxford Graded School

1906

Skips to third grade

Grandmother Sallie Muurry Falkner dies

1907

Grandmother Lelia Dean Swift Butler dies

Brother Dean Swift Falkner born

1908

Possibly witnesses the lynching of a black man, Nelse Patton, on the square in Oxford

1909

Works in father's livery stable

1911

Enters eighth grade; signs of increasing truancy

1914

Takes poetry to lawyer Phil Stone, beginning a long friendship with Stone

Enters eleventh and final grade of Oxford High School, but drops out in December

1915

Returns to school to play football, and breaks his nose; quits school for good that fall

Goes bear-hunting at "General"James Stone's camp

1916

Works briefly at grandfather's First National Bank as a clerk

Starts hanging out on University of Mississippi campus, and writes verse influenced by Swinburne and Housman

1917

Begins supplying drawings for yearbook Ole Miss

1918

Estelle Oldham engaged to Cornell Franklin, whom she marries on April 18

Tries to enlist in U.S. Army; he is turned down

Joins Phil Stone in New Haven, Conn., in April; begins working as a ledger clerk for Winchester Repeating Arms Co.

Accepted by the Canadian Royal Air Force as cadet; reports to Recruits' Depot, Toronto, on July 9 and enters active service the next day

Posted to Cadet Wing in Long Branch on July 26, then to School of Military Aeronautics, Toronto, on Sept. 20

Discharged from RAF in December and returns to Oxford

1919

Poem "L'Apres-Midi d'un Faune" appears in The New Republic

Enters the University of Mississipi in September as a special student; begins publishing poems in The Mississippian and the Oxford Eagle

1920

Wins $10 poetry prize offered by Prof. Calvin S. Brown

Joins the Marionnettes, university drama club, in September

Commission arrives as honorable 2nd Lt., RAF, in November

Hand-letters six copies of The Marionnettes, a verse play

1921

Presents a gift volume of poems, Vision in Spring to Estelle Franklin

Accepts Stark Young's invitation to visit in New York, where he is hired as a bookstore clerk by Elizabeth Prall

Accepts a job as postmaster at the University of Mississippi post office

1922

Grandfather J. W. T. Falkner, Jr. dies

Becomes scoutmaster of a Boy Scout troop in Oxford

Poem "Portrait" published in The Double-Dealer (New Orleans)

1924

Four Seas Co. agrees to publish The Marble Faun, sent by Phil Stone, for $400; the book published on Dec. 15

Compiles gift booklet, Mississippi Poems, for Myrtle Ramey

Removed as scoutmaster because of drinking

Resigns from post office because of charges brought by postal inspector

Visits Elizabeth Prall in New Orleans and meets her husband, author Sherwood Anderson

1925

Leaves Oxford for New Orleans, intending to sail for Europe

Begins to contribute to New Orleans Times-Picayune in February

Sails for Europe from New Orleans on July 7 with William Spratling; arrives in Genoa, Italy, on Aug. 2 and travels through Italy and Switzerland, eventually settling in Paris until he returns home in December

1926

Moves in with Spratling in New Orleans during the winter

Dates Mayday, a hand-lettered tale he wrote for Helen Baird, Jan. 27

Soldiers' Pay published Feb. 25

Vacations at Pascagoula, Miss., during the summer

Dates a hand-lettered gift book of poems, Helen: A Courtship for Helen Baird in June

Returns to Oxford, then to New Orleans, in September

Collaborates with Spratling in December on Sherwood Anderson & Other Famous Creoles

1927

Mosquitoes published April 30

1928

Sartoris accepted by Harcourt, Brace

1929

Sartoris published Jan. 31

Estelle Franklin divorced; marries her in College Hill, Miss., on June 20; they honeymoon in Pascagoula until late summer

Takes job at university power plant in early fall

The Sound and the Fury published Oct. 7

1930

Begins publishing stories in national magazines in April

Purchases house and land, naming it Rowan Oak

As I Lay Dying published Oct. 6

1931

Daughter Alabama born Jan. 11; she dies nine days layer

Sanctuary published Feb. 9

These 13 published Sept. 21

1932

Arrives in Culver City, Calif., as MGM contract writer on May 7

Father Murry Falkner dies Aug. 7

Light in August published Oct. 6

1933

Begins flying lessons Feb. 2

A Green Bough published April 20

Daughter Jill born June 24

1934

Doctor Martino and Other Stories published April 16

Leaves for three-week assignment at Universal Studios on July 1

1935

Incorporates Okatoba Fishing and Hunting Club with two others Jan. 30

Pylon published March 25

Brother Dean killed in plane crash Nov. 10

Leaves for five-week assignment at Twentieth Century-Fox on Dec. 10, where he meets Meta Dougherty Carpenter and begins intimate relationship that would last intermittently for fifteen years

1936

Absalom, Absalom! published Oct. 26

1937

Leaves on three-and-a-half-week trip to New York in mid-October, where he suffers a severe back burn during a drinking spree

1938

The Unvanquished published Feb.15, and screen rights are sold to MGM

Purchases land in northeastern Lafayette County and names it Greenfield Farm

1939

Elected to National Institute of Arts and Letters in January

The Wild Palms published Jan. 19

1940

Mammy Caroline (Callie) Barr dies on Jan. 31, and Faulkner delivers eulogy

The Hamlet published April 1

1941

Organizes county aircraft warning system in late June

1942

Go Down, Moses published May 11

Begins five-month segment of a long-term Warner Brothers contract on July 26

1946

Viking Press publishes The Portable Faulkner, edited by Malcolm Cowley

1947

Meets a series of six classes at Ole Miss in April

1948

Screen rights to Intruder in the Dust sold to MGM on July 11

Intruder in the Dust published Sept. 27

Elected to American Academy of Arts and Letters on Nov. 23

1949

In February, helps with preparations for filming of Intruder in the Dust in Oxford

Meets Joan Williams in August

Knight's Gambit published Nov. 27

1950

Receives American Academy's Howells Medal for Fiction in May

Collected Stories published Aug. 2

Notified on Nov. 8 he has won the Nobel Prize for Literature; he and Jill depart for Stockholm, Sweden on Dec. 8

1951

Goes to Hollywood in February for five weeks scriptwriting for Howard Hawks

Notes on a Horsethief published Feb. 10

Receives National Book Award for Fiction in March for Collected Stories

Leaves April 12 for three-week trip to France and England

In July, goes to New York to work for one week on stage version of Requiem for a Nun

With Estelle, drives Jill on Sept. 12 to Wellesley, Mass., to enter Pine Manor Junior College

Requiem for a Nun published Sept. 27

Receives Legion of Honor in New Orleans on Oct. 26

1952

Addresses Delta Council in Cleveland, Mississippi, on May 15

Goes on one-month trip to France, England, and Norway on May 16

Leaves Oxford in mid-November to work on A Fable in Princeton and New York

1953

Returns to New York on Oct. 31; alternates between there and Oxford until October

Leaves for Paris on Nov. 30 to begin work on Land of the Pharaohs for Howard Hawks, then on to Stresa and St. Moritz

Meets Jean Stein on Dec. 24

1954

Visits England, France, and Switzerland in January, then arrives in Rome on Jan. 19

Visits Paris for three days in February before joining Hawks on location near Cairo; returns to Oxford in late April

A Fable published Aug. 2

In August, goes to São Paulo, Brazil, for six-day stay at International Writers Conference

Jill marries Paul D. Summers, Jr. on Aug. 21

Between September and February, alternates between Oxford and New York

1955

Accepts National Book Award for Fiction on Jan. 25 for A Fable

Speaks in mid-April at the University of Oregon and Montana State University

A Fable wins the Pulitzer Prize in May

Leaves July 29 for Japan on a State Department trip; also visits Manila, the Philippines, and Italy in August, France in September, and Iceland in October before returning to New York in mid-October

Big Woods published Oct. 14

1956

From February to September, alternates between Oxford and New York, with visits to Charlottesville, Virginia

Grandson Paul D. Summers III born April 15

Goes to Washington on Sept. 11 for four days as chairman of Writers' Group, People- to-People Program

 

1957

Goes to New York in February for People-to-People Program

Goes to University of Virginia Feb. 15 for second semester as writer-in-residence

Arrives in Athens on March 18 on two-week mission for State Department, accepts Silver Medal of Greek Academy

The Town published May 1

1958

Returns to Charlottesville on Jan. 30 for another semester as writer-in-residence

Arrives in Princeton on March 1 to spend two weeks at University for Council on Humanities

Beginning in mid-March, alternates between Oxford and Charlottesville for the remainder of his life

Grandson William Cuthbert Falkner Summers born Dec. 2

1959

American debut of Requiem for a Nun on Broadway

Fractures right collarbone on March 14 in fall from horse in Charlottesville

Purchases house at 917 Rugby Road in Charlottesville

Goes to Denver on Sept. 29 for four-day UNESCO conference

The Mansion published Nov. 13

1960

Accepts appoints to the University of Virginia faculty on Aug. 25

Mother Maud Butler Falkner dies Oct. 16

Invited to wear the colors of the Farmington, Va.., Hunt Club

Wills manuscripts on Dec. 28 to the William Faulkner Foundation

1961

Arrives in Venezuela on April 2 on two-week State Department trip

Grandson A. Burks Summers born May 30

1962

Injured in fall from horse on Jan. 3 in Charlottesville

Goes on two-day visit on April 19 to U.S. Military Academy at West Point

Accepts Gold Medal for Fiction of the National Institute of Arts and Letters on May 24 in New York

The Reivers published June 4

Injured June 17 in fall from horse in Oxford

Enters hospital in Byhalia, Mississippi, on July 5

Dies of heart attack on July 6 at 1:30 a.m. He is buried in St. Peter's Cemetery in Oxford on July 7

 

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