Showing posts with label Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha Conference. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha Conference. Show all posts
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Southern Writers, Southern Writing
The 15th Annual Southern Writers, Southern Writing Graduate Conference is set for July 16–18, 2009, at the University of Mississippi. Both critical and creative pieces will be accepted, dealing with all aspects of Southern culture. Submissions to the conference are not limited to literary studies—we are interested in all interdisciplinary approaches to Southern culture. Scott Romine, University of North Carolina–Greensboro, will give the plenary lecture. Students whose papers are accepted may register for the 36th annual Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha Conference at a reduced rate of $100 registration fee. Contact swswgradconference@gmail.com or visit www.outreach.olemiss.edu/events/faulkner for more information.
FAULKNER & YOKNAPATAWPHA “Faulkner and Mystery” July 19–23, 2009
For over half a century now, the literary version of what Faulkner called “the best of all talking” has been the hunting down of the mystery of his fiction. The sentences have been parsed, chronologies ordered, plots and character genealogies summarized and treed—yet what might be called the controlling vision, the sense of human meaning in the world that Faulkner articulates, is as elusive as ever. As more than one critic has put it, “we ain’t got the dog yet.”
A recent discovery in Faulkner studies is the extent to which this high modernist reached out to what might be considered unlikely sources for his material and his strategies for making use of it. One of the most prevalent is the popular detective fiction of his time, particularly of the “hard-boiled” variety, as well as the film version of the genre. Once we attend to the typical convolutions of detection, the theme of “mystery” in Faulkner’s fiction begins to swell disproportionately.
Indeed, is there a Faulkner novel that lacks it? Why exactly does Addie Bundren wish to be buried in Jefferson, her only stated memory of which is a single sardonic sentence spoken by her father? What is Joe Christmas’s racial identity, and is that the object of his quest? And, of course, why did Thomas Sutpen reject Charles Bon for his son-in-law, a fatal decision still being pondered in Jefferson 50 years later? These and similar questions have been with us so long that we sometimes forget that they are a common staple of Faulkner’s work, and that none of them is ever definitively resolved.
The 36th Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha Conference will explore for five days “mystery” in Faulkner. In addition to the scholars announced in the previous issue of the Southern Register—Hosam Aboul-Ela, University of Houston, Susan V. Donaldson, College of William and Mary, Richard Godden, University of California, Irvine, Michael Gorra, Smith College, Donald M. Kartiganer, University of Mississippi, Sean Mc- Cann, Wesleyan University, Noel Polk, Mississippi State University, and Philip Weinstein, Swarthmore College—there will be 12 panelists: Kelley Hayden, University of Nevada, Lisa Hinrichsen, University of Arkansas, Margaret Rayburn Kramar, University of Kansas, Sarah Mahurin Mutter, Yale University, John Padgett, Brevard College, Daniel Pecchenino, University of California, Santa Barbara, Conor Picken, Louisiana State University, Marta Puxan, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Esther Sanchez-Pardo, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Rachel Watson, University of Chicago, Rachel Walsh, Stony Brook University, and Randall Wilson, University of Tennessee, Knoxville. topics will be Michael Gorra on Faulkner’s plots about plots, narratives designed to explore a world of secrecy and desires; Sean McCann on the tension between Mystery (spiritual) and mysteries (epistemological), which in Sanctuary, Knight’s Gambit, and Intruder in the Dust becomes the tension between law and justice; a reading by Richard Godden of the mythologies of “Red Leaves” as they are manifested in red-heeled shoes, the body of Moketubbe, the snake called “Grandfather,” and the story’s odd title.
Other topics will be the trope of the detective-as-bachelor in The Town and The Mansion (Daniel Pecchenino), alcohol and prohibition in Sanctuary (Conor Picken), the forensic trail in “The Bear” and Intruder in the Dust (Rachel Watson), and repetition and the uncanny in Absalom, Absalom! and Go Down, Moses (Rachel Walsh). One of the benefits of approaching Faulkner’s work through the perspective of mystery is that it increases the range of critical speculation to cover not only the standard texts but some of those less often studied.
Adding to the discussion of mystery in Faulkner and in their own work will be a panel of three notable practitioners of crime fiction: Ace Atkins, Jere Hoar, and Daniel Woodrell. There will also be a showing of The Story of Temple Drake, a rarely seen film made two years after the sensational arrival of Faulkner’s Sanctuary on the literary scene.
Other program events will include sessions on “Teaching Faulkner,” conducted by James Carothers, University of Kansas, Charles Peek, Emeritus, University of Nebraska at Kearney, Terrell Tebbetts, Lyon College, and Theresa Towner, University of Texas at Dallas; a discussion of “Collecting Faulkner” by Seth Berner; and an exhibition of Faulkner books, manuscripts, photographs, and memorabilia at the John Davis Williams Library. There will also be guided daylong tours of north Mississippi, the Delta, and Memphis; a picnic served at Faulkner’s home, Rowan Oak; and “Faulkner on the Fringe”—an “open mike” evening at the Southside Gallery.
Discount rates for the conference are available for groups of five or more students. Inexpensive dormitory housing is available for all registrants. Contact Robert Fox at rfox@olemiss.edu for details. There are also a limited number of waivers of registration for graduate students. Contact Donald Kartiganer at dkartiga@olemiss.edu for details. Further information on the program, registration, course credit, accommodations, and travel can be found on the conference Web site: www.outreach.olemiss.edu/events/faulkner.
Donald Kartiganer
A recent discovery in Faulkner studies is the extent to which this high modernist reached out to what might be considered unlikely sources for his material and his strategies for making use of it. One of the most prevalent is the popular detective fiction of his time, particularly of the “hard-boiled” variety, as well as the film version of the genre. Once we attend to the typical convolutions of detection, the theme of “mystery” in Faulkner’s fiction begins to swell disproportionately.
Indeed, is there a Faulkner novel that lacks it? Why exactly does Addie Bundren wish to be buried in Jefferson, her only stated memory of which is a single sardonic sentence spoken by her father? What is Joe Christmas’s racial identity, and is that the object of his quest? And, of course, why did Thomas Sutpen reject Charles Bon for his son-in-law, a fatal decision still being pondered in Jefferson 50 years later? These and similar questions have been with us so long that we sometimes forget that they are a common staple of Faulkner’s work, and that none of them is ever definitively resolved.
The 36th Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha Conference will explore for five days “mystery” in Faulkner. In addition to the scholars announced in the previous issue of the Southern Register—Hosam Aboul-Ela, University of Houston, Susan V. Donaldson, College of William and Mary, Richard Godden, University of California, Irvine, Michael Gorra, Smith College, Donald M. Kartiganer, University of Mississippi, Sean Mc- Cann, Wesleyan University, Noel Polk, Mississippi State University, and Philip Weinstein, Swarthmore College—there will be 12 panelists: Kelley Hayden, University of Nevada, Lisa Hinrichsen, University of Arkansas, Margaret Rayburn Kramar, University of Kansas, Sarah Mahurin Mutter, Yale University, John Padgett, Brevard College, Daniel Pecchenino, University of California, Santa Barbara, Conor Picken, Louisiana State University, Marta Puxan, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Esther Sanchez-Pardo, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Rachel Watson, University of Chicago, Rachel Walsh, Stony Brook University, and Randall Wilson, University of Tennessee, Knoxville. topics will be Michael Gorra on Faulkner’s plots about plots, narratives designed to explore a world of secrecy and desires; Sean McCann on the tension between Mystery (spiritual) and mysteries (epistemological), which in Sanctuary, Knight’s Gambit, and Intruder in the Dust becomes the tension between law and justice; a reading by Richard Godden of the mythologies of “Red Leaves” as they are manifested in red-heeled shoes, the body of Moketubbe, the snake called “Grandfather,” and the story’s odd title.
Other topics will be the trope of the detective-as-bachelor in The Town and The Mansion (Daniel Pecchenino), alcohol and prohibition in Sanctuary (Conor Picken), the forensic trail in “The Bear” and Intruder in the Dust (Rachel Watson), and repetition and the uncanny in Absalom, Absalom! and Go Down, Moses (Rachel Walsh). One of the benefits of approaching Faulkner’s work through the perspective of mystery is that it increases the range of critical speculation to cover not only the standard texts but some of those less often studied.
Adding to the discussion of mystery in Faulkner and in their own work will be a panel of three notable practitioners of crime fiction: Ace Atkins, Jere Hoar, and Daniel Woodrell. There will also be a showing of The Story of Temple Drake, a rarely seen film made two years after the sensational arrival of Faulkner’s Sanctuary on the literary scene.
Other program events will include sessions on “Teaching Faulkner,” conducted by James Carothers, University of Kansas, Charles Peek, Emeritus, University of Nebraska at Kearney, Terrell Tebbetts, Lyon College, and Theresa Towner, University of Texas at Dallas; a discussion of “Collecting Faulkner” by Seth Berner; and an exhibition of Faulkner books, manuscripts, photographs, and memorabilia at the John Davis Williams Library. There will also be guided daylong tours of north Mississippi, the Delta, and Memphis; a picnic served at Faulkner’s home, Rowan Oak; and “Faulkner on the Fringe”—an “open mike” evening at the Southside Gallery.
Discount rates for the conference are available for groups of five or more students. Inexpensive dormitory housing is available for all registrants. Contact Robert Fox at rfox@olemiss.edu for details. There are also a limited number of waivers of registration for graduate students. Contact Donald Kartiganer at dkartiga@olemiss.edu for details. Further information on the program, registration, course credit, accommodations, and travel can be found on the conference Web site: www.outreach.olemiss.edu/events/faulkner.
Donald Kartiganer
Take One
Deborah Freeland, senior designer for Outreach and Continuing Studies at the University, recalls working as still photographer for the filming of Barn Burning, based on a Faulkner story. Her photographs will be exhibited during the 2009 Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha Conference.
The winter of 1979 brought the film crew of William Faulkner’s Barn Burning to Oxford. There is always excitement when a film crew arrives in town. Oxonians welcome the change from routine and roll out the red carpet. The usual talk over coffee shifts to “who” saw “what” star eating at “which” restaurant on the Square. Details are noted such as “She lives off carrot sticks!” and “Did he get the accent right?”
Barn Burning was one of the PBS popular American Short Stories series adapted for television. The support and interest of the citizens became an important part in the making of the movie. Several locals were cast as extras on the set or hired to work on the crew, perhaps most notably Jimmy Faulkner, who was cast in a key role as Major De Spain. There was certainly no problem with the accent.
At the time, I was a graduate student working in Archives and Special Collections at the University. I was fortunate to be with the crew for the burning barn scene. The perfect old barn had already been located in the nearby community of Paris. Careful planning was required. There could be no retakes. Though it was a night scene and freezing cold, everyone in town turned out to watch the action. The fire department was present to prevent the blaze from getting out of hand. My job was to stand in one place and shoot still images of the barn as it burned to the ground. In contrast to modern digital cameras, the camera I used had no auto focus and no auto light meter.
By nightfall all was ready. The barn was prepped and the camera crew was in place. Jimmy Faulkner mounted his horse and rode back and forth behind the crew anxiously awaiting his cue. The fire was lit, and the pyrotechnics scattered into the dark. As the barn began to glow, the cameras rolled, and De Spain (Jimmy) charged forward waving a Civil War–era pistol. There had been some concern that the fire would spook the horse, but Jimmy had complete control. De Spain was seen only briefly, but dramatically in silhouette against the light of the blaze. The rafters of the barn fell in, sending sparks into the night sky. The fire department rushed in to put out the remaining embers. Then it was over. I didn’t expect so much action to happen so fast. I had exposed the entire roll of film wondering if I had captured anything at all. The next day I developed the photographs in a makeshift student dark room—a windowless bathroom with a towel under the door to block the light. When I held the images up to the light, I smiled.
One of my photographs was chosen for the publicity for the film and is reproduced on the cover of the VHS tape. A selection of the Barn Burning photographs taken that night will be exhibited during the 2009 Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha Conference. The opening will be held in conjunction with “Faulkner on the Fringe”—an open-mike evening at the Southside Gallery. I hope Oxonians and conference attendees can recapture that exciting, fleeting moment in the photos 30 years later.
Deborah Freeland
The winter of 1979 brought the film crew of William Faulkner’s Barn Burning to Oxford. There is always excitement when a film crew arrives in town. Oxonians welcome the change from routine and roll out the red carpet. The usual talk over coffee shifts to “who” saw “what” star eating at “which” restaurant on the Square. Details are noted such as “She lives off carrot sticks!” and “Did he get the accent right?”
Barn Burning was one of the PBS popular American Short Stories series adapted for television. The support and interest of the citizens became an important part in the making of the movie. Several locals were cast as extras on the set or hired to work on the crew, perhaps most notably Jimmy Faulkner, who was cast in a key role as Major De Spain. There was certainly no problem with the accent.
At the time, I was a graduate student working in Archives and Special Collections at the University. I was fortunate to be with the crew for the burning barn scene. The perfect old barn had already been located in the nearby community of Paris. Careful planning was required. There could be no retakes. Though it was a night scene and freezing cold, everyone in town turned out to watch the action. The fire department was present to prevent the blaze from getting out of hand. My job was to stand in one place and shoot still images of the barn as it burned to the ground. In contrast to modern digital cameras, the camera I used had no auto focus and no auto light meter.
By nightfall all was ready. The barn was prepped and the camera crew was in place. Jimmy Faulkner mounted his horse and rode back and forth behind the crew anxiously awaiting his cue. The fire was lit, and the pyrotechnics scattered into the dark. As the barn began to glow, the cameras rolled, and De Spain (Jimmy) charged forward waving a Civil War–era pistol. There had been some concern that the fire would spook the horse, but Jimmy had complete control. De Spain was seen only briefly, but dramatically in silhouette against the light of the blaze. The rafters of the barn fell in, sending sparks into the night sky. The fire department rushed in to put out the remaining embers. Then it was over. I didn’t expect so much action to happen so fast. I had exposed the entire roll of film wondering if I had captured anything at all. The next day I developed the photographs in a makeshift student dark room—a windowless bathroom with a towel under the door to block the light. When I held the images up to the light, I smiled.
One of my photographs was chosen for the publicity for the film and is reproduced on the cover of the VHS tape. A selection of the Barn Burning photographs taken that night will be exhibited during the 2009 Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha Conference. The opening will be held in conjunction with “Faulkner on the Fringe”—an open-mike evening at the Southside Gallery. I hope Oxonians and conference attendees can recapture that exciting, fleeting moment in the photos 30 years later.
Deborah Freeland
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)