Flags in the Dust (50 page)

“Do you think,” Miss Jenny repeated, “that because his name is Benbow, he’ll be any less a Sartoris and a scoundrel and a fool?”

Narcissa played on as though she were not listening. Then she turned her head and without stopping her hands, she smiled at Miss Jenny quietly, a little dreamily, with serene fond detachment. Beyond Miss Jenny’s trim fading head the maroon curtains hung motionless; beyond the window evening was a windless lilac dream, foster-dam of quietude and peace.

In the autumn of 1926 Faulkner began writing
Flags in the Dust
, the first of his novels to be set in what he later called “my own little postage stamp of native soil,” and in October 1927 he submitted a typescript to Boni & Liveright. This typescript, dated “Oxford, Miss / 29 September 1927,” is a composite of several different typings of portions of the novel, done on more than one typewriter and by at least two different typists. Numerous pages bear two or more page numbers; many pages contain revised versions of passages crossed out on previous pages; and there are numerous revisions made by Faulkner in ink throughout the typescript. The novel was rejected by Horace Liveright, who described it in a letter to Faulkner as “diffuse and non-integral with neither very much plot development nor character development.… The story really doesn’t get anywhere and has a thousand loose ends.” After making further revisions, Faulkner sent
Flags in the Dust
to his friend and agent Ben Wasson, who later said that he showed the novel to eleven publishers before Harcourt, Brace accepted it in September 1928 on the condition that it be shortened to about 110,000 words. Faulkner agreed and traveled to New York, where he worked on
The Sound and the Fury
while Wasson did most, if not all, of the cutting; much of the deleted
material was excised from episodes involving Horace and Narcissa Benbow.

Sartoris
was published by Harcourt, Brace on January 21, 1929 (the new title was chosen by Harcourt). Neither the typescript Faulkner sent to Wasson in 1928, nor any of the typescripts or proofs used by Harcourt in the publication of
Sartoris
, are known to survive. In 1973 Random House published an edition of
Flags in the Dust
edited by Douglas Day, who used the typescript dated “29 September 1927” as his text, although he made some editorial alterations and interpolated into his text one passage from
Sartoris
that does not appear in the typescript and which seems clearly to have been written by Faulkner. The result is a conflated text that aims to be as close as possible to the typescript that Faulkner sent to Wasson in 1928.

By preserving Faulkner’s spelling, punctuation, and wording, even when inconsistent or irregular, the Polk text strives to be as faithful to Faulkner’s usage as surviving evidence permits.

The following notes were prepared by Joseph Blotner and are reprinted with permission from
Novels 1942–1954
(1994) in the edition of Faulkner’s collected works published by The Library of America. Numbers refer to page and line of the present volume (the line count includes chapter headings). No note is made for material included in the eleventh edition of
Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary
. For more detailed notes, references to other studies, and further biographical background, see: Joseph Blotner,
Faulkner, A Biography
, 2 vols. (New York: Random House, 1974); Joseph Blotner,
Faulkner, A Biography, One-Volume Edition
(New York: Random House, 1984);
Selected Letters of William Faulkner
(New York: Random House, 1977), edited by Joseph Blotner; Calvin S. Brown,
A Glossary of Faulkner’s South (New
Haven: Yale University Press, 1976); and George Hayhoe, “A Critical and Textual Study of William Faulkner’s
Flags in the Dust”
(Ann Arbor: University Microfilms International, 1979).

1
  Fort Moultrie fell]  The fort, one of a series guarding Charleston harbor, was evacuated on the night of December 26, 1860, by its federal garrison, which then moved to Fort Sumter.

2
  shaled]  Fell.

3
  net]  Hunting pattern.

4
  Ak. W.]  Armstrong-Whitworth F.K.8, a two-seat British biplane bomber and reconnaissance aircraft.

5
  Camel]  Sopwith Camel, a single-seat British biplane fighter aircraft.

6
  Fokkers]  German single-seat fighter aircraft, including the DR.I triplane and D.VII biplane.

7
  Richthofen’s]  Captain Manfred von Richthofen (1892—1918), the top German fighter ace of World War I, was credited with 80 aerial victories before his death in combat.

8
  dog-robber]  Orderly.

9
  Senator Vardaman]  James K. Vardaman (1861–1930), a Democrat, served in the Mississippi house of representatives, 1890–96; as governor, 1904–8; and in the U.S. Senate, 1913–19, where he warned that the conscription of African-Americans during World War I would threaten white supremacy.

10
  S.O.S.]  Service of Supply.

11
  quoilin’]  Quarreling.

12
  Liberty Loan]  U.S. government bonds sold to finance World War I.

13
  triangle]  Signifying non-combatant status.

14
  o.d.]  Olive drab.

15
  peanut parcher]  Movable appliance for roasting peanuts.

16
  Arlens and Sabatinis]  Popular novelists Michael Arlen (1895–1956), author of
The Green Hat
, and Rafael Sabatini (1875–1950), author of
Scaramouche
and
Captain Blood
.

17
  Ahenobarbus]  A powerful Roman family whose members included the Emperor Nero.

18
  Van Dorn]  Earl Van Dorn (1820–1863) was a Confederate general from June 1861 to May 1863, when he was killed by a jealous husband in Tennessee.

19
  peanut parcher]  See note 14.

20
  toll]  Bribe or entice.

21
  sulled]  Acted sullen.

22
  Raphael Semmes]  Semmes (1809–1877), a Confederate naval officer, commanded the commerce raider
Alabama
from 1862 to 1864.

23
  A.P.M.’s]  Assistant Provost Marshal.

W
illiam Cuthbert Faulkner was born in 1897 in New Albany, Mississippi, the first of four sons of Murry and Maud Butler Falkner (he later added the “u” to the family name himself). In 1904 the family moved to the university town of Oxford, Mississippi, where Faulkner was to spend most of his life. He was named for his greatgrandfather “The Old Colonel,” a Civil War veteran who built a railroad, wrote a bestselling romantic novel called
The White Rose of Memphis
, became a Mississippi state legislator, and was eventually killed in what may or may not have been a duel with a disgruntled business partner. Faulkner identified with this robust and energetic ancestor and often said that he inherited the “ink stain” from him.

Never fond of school, Faulkner left at the end of football season his senior year of high school, and began working at his grandfather’s bank. In 1918, after his plans to marry his sweetheart Estelle Oldham were squashed by their families, he tried to enlist as a pilot in the U.S. Army but was rejected because he did not meet the height and weight requirements. He went to Canada, where he pretended to be an Englishman and joined the RAF training program there. Although he did not complete his training until after the war ended and never saw combat, he returned to his hometown in uniform, boasting of war wounds. He briefly attended the University of Mississippi, where he began to publish his poetry.

After spending a short time living in New York, he again returned to Oxford, where he worked at the university post office. His first book, a collection of poetry,
The Marble Faun
, was published at Faulkner’s own expense in 1924. The writer Sherwood Anderson, whom he met in New Orleans in 1925, encouraged him to try writing fiction, and his first novel,
Soldier’s Pay
, was published in 1926. It was followed by
Mosquitoes
. His next novel, which he titled
Flags in the Dust
, was rejected by his publisher and twelve others to whom he submitted it. It was eventually published in drastically edited form as
Sartoris
(the original version was not issued until after his death). Meanwhile, he was writing
The Sound and the Fury
, which, after being rejected by one publisher, came out in 1929 and
received many ecstatic reviews, although it sold poorly. Yet again, a new novel,
Sanctuary
, was initially rejected by his publisher, this time as “too shocking.” While working on the night shift at a power plant, Faulkner wrote what he was determined would be his masterpiece,
As I Lay Dying
. He finished it in about seven weeks, and it was published in 1930, again to generally good reviews and mediocre sales.

In 1929 Faulkner had finally married his childhood sweetheart, Estelle, after her divorce from her first husband. They had a premature daughter, Alabama, who died ten days after birth in 1931; a second daughter, Jill, was born in 1933.

With the eventual publication of his most sensational and violent (as well as, up until then, most successful) novel,
Sanctuary
(1931), Faulkner was invited to write scripts for MGM and Warner Brothers, where he was responsible for much of the dialogue in the film versions of Hemingway’s
To Have and Have Not
and Chandler’s
The Big Sleep
, and many other films. He continued to write novels and published many stories in popular magazines.
Light in August
(1932) was his first attempt to address the racial issues of the South, an effort continued in
Absalom, Absalom!
(1936), and
Go Down, Moses
(1942). By 1946, most of Faulkner’s novels were out of print in the United States (although they remained well-regarded in Europe), and he was seen as a minor, regional writer. But then the influential editor and critic Malcolm Cowley, who had earlier championed Hemingway and Fitzgerald and others of their generation, put together
The Portable Faulkner
, and once again Faulkner’s genius was recognized, this time for good. He received the 1949 Nobel Prize for Literature as well as many other awards and accolades, including the National Book Award and the Gold Medal from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and France’s Legion of Honor.

In addition to several collections of short fiction, his other novels include
Pylon
(1935),
The Unvanquished
(1938),
The Wild Palms
(1939),
The Hamlet
(1940),
Intruder in the Dust
(1948),
A Fable
(1954),
The Town
(1957),
The Mansion
(1959), and
The Reivers
(1962).

William Faulkner died of a heart attack on July 6, 1962, in Oxford, Mississippi, where he is buried.