A ROSE FOR EMILY

A Critique
Prepared by Humphrey Jul B. Sarno
HUMSS XI St. Teresa of Calcutta

I. About the Author

William Faulkner (1897–1962), originally named William Cuthbert Faulkner, original
surname Falkner, was a Mississippi-born novelist, screenwriter, poet, and short story writer.
He is considered as one of the most important figures of 20 th century American literature;
winner of the 1949 Nobel Prize in Literature and twice in Pulitzer Prize in Fiction (1955,
1963). His works reflect the culture, society, and history of the United States during his time.
Faulkner was born in New Albany, Mississippi, to Murry Cuthbert Falkner and Maud
Butler. The Falkner’s later moved to the town of Oxford where his father later became a
business manager at the University of Mississippi. His family has a background in the
military and literature as his great-grandfather, Colonel William Clark Falkner, who valiantly
fought during the American Civil War (1961-1965), was also a writer and authored the novel
The White Rose of Memphis; soldier, and author - the same fate William will take in his
upcoming years. He dropped his high school studies in the year 1915, worked as a
bookkeeper, and went into an “undirected reading” first, by isolation, then later, under the
guidance of a family friend named Phil Stone who constantly provided him with current
books and magazines – here, his literary spirit was roused.
As a young man dreaming of glory and adventure, he joined the British Royal Air
Force (RAF) as a cadet pilot under training in Canada in July 1918.