The Good Writer

genius by genius: Faulkner at Rowan Oak, 1947, photographed by Henri Cartier-Bresson

One of the many stunning facts I learned in this absorbing interview with William Faulkner (1897-1962), whom I humbly consider to be one of the greatest writers ever (http://somanyinterestingthings.blogspot.com/2011/05/just-because-light-in-august.html), is that he wrote his classic The Sound and the Fury *five* times trying to get the story just right. This quest for perfection, he says, is a necessary part of the craft and the mark of the true writer. Speaking of himself and his contemporaries, he said, "All of us failed to match our dream of perfection. So I rate us on the basis of our splendid failure to do the impossible. In my opinion, if I could write all my work again, I am convinced that I would do it better, which is the healthiest condition for an artist." Anyone hoping for a career in writing would do well to learn from his observations. (I choose to forgive his misogynistic attitude, which shows up in a couple of places, as sadly typical of and a product of his times and to not let it diminish for me the value of his other comments): http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/4954/the-art-of-fiction-no-12-william-faulkner
   Of course, when you get more than one such strong personality and perfectionist in a room ~ or in the world ~ there's bound to be some competition. That was the case with Faulkner and another outsize American writer you may have heard of, Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961). Here, the author of Faulkner and Hemingway: Biography of a Literary Rivalry discusses their artistic, at times humorous, relationship (video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMMbj1JdXhI
   And in case anyone besides me was wondering exactly how to pronounce "Yoknapatawpha," here's the man himself breaking it down for us (audio): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uE_bxElDhrk