Faulkner and the Native South

Contributions by Eric Gary Anderson, Melanie R. Anderson, Jodi A. Byrd, Gina Caison, Robbie Ethridge, Patricia Galloway, LeAnne Howe, John Wharton Lowe, Katherine M. B. Osburn, Melanie Benson Taylor, Annette Trefzer, and Jay Watson

From new insights into the Chickasaw sources and far-reaching implications of Faulkner's fictional place-name "Yoknapatawpha," to discussions that reveal the potential for indigenous land-, family-, and story-based methodologies to deepen understanding of Faulkner's fiction (including but not limited to the novels and stories he devoted explicitly to Native American topics), the eleven essays of this volume advance the critical analysis of Faulkner's Native South and the Native South's Faulkner. Critics push beyond assessments of the historical accuracy of his Native representations and the colonial hybridity of his Indian characters. Essayists turn instead to indigenous intellectual culture for new models, problems, and questions to bring to Faulkner studies. Along the way, readers are treated to illuminating comparisons between Faulkner's writings and the work of a number of Native American authors, filmmakers, tribal leaders, and historical figures.

Faulkner and the Native South brings together Native and non-Native scholars in a stimulating and often surprising critical dialogue about the indigenous wellsprings of Faulkner's creative energies and about Faulkner's own complicated presence in Native American literary history.

Jay Watson is Howry Professor of Faulkner Studies and professor of English at the University of Mississippi. His many publications include Fifty Years after Faulkner, Faulkner’s Geographies, Faulkner and Whiteness, and Conversations with Larry Brown, all published by University Press of Mississippi. Annette Trefzer is associate professor in the Department of English at the University of Mississippi. She is author of Disturbing Indians: The Archaeology of Southern Fiction. James G. Thomas, Jr. is associate director for publications at the Center for the Study of Southern Culture, is editor of multiple works on southern literature, and was managing editor of The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture.