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The Role of Falkner in the Rise of Faulkner

W.C. Falkner, known as the Old Colonel, had a dashing career. To William Faulkner, the tales about his great-grandfather were the stuff of legend, and he transformed them into the character of Colonel John Sartoris.

AP
William Faulkner at his typewriter, August 12, 1954. AP
CARL ROLLYSON
CARL ROLLYSON

‘To the Ramparts of Infinity: Colonel W.C. Falkner and the Ripley Railroad’
By Jack D. Elliott Jr.
University Press of Mississippi, 408 pages

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CARL ROLLYSON
CARL ROLLYSON

Mr. Rollyson is the author of The Life of William Faulkner and The Last Days of Sylvia Plath. He has published fourteen biographies and has written about biography for The Wall Street Journal, The Washington, Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, The New Criterion, and other publications.

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