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Abstract
Vihon John Sartorio onorgod as a major force in the Yolcnapataxjpha saga created by William Faulkner, scholars and students already familiar with the author personal history t;cro quick to point out that Sartoris was obviously derived 1 from Faulkner ’ s great-grandfather, William C. Falkner. Bio careers of the tuo men seemed identical. Both arrived in northeastern Mississippi as very young men. Both served in the Mexican War. Both wore successful lawyers in the antebellum South. Both entered the Civil War as regimental commanders. Both wore voted out of their commands. Both returned to Mississippi, raised second regiments and engaged the enemy at the head of partisan rangers. After the war, both wore important in tho reconstruction. Both were shot down and killed by an enraged political rival.
Moot of tho Faulkner critics have been content merely to acknowledge tho situation of this parallel with a brief outline such as was given in tho preceding paragraph. Robert Coughlin, in Tho Private World of William Faulkner, states simply that "William Faulkner o critics will have no difficulty in identifying Colonel Falkner as tho Colonel John Sartoris of Sartorio, Tho Unvaneruiohod. and various otlior novels and stories.” Ward Miner colls tho parallel ”a cccmonplaco of criticism" and then supports his comment with his om paraphrase of the usual circumstances.
Robert Cantwell, in his introduction to tho Signet edition of Sartoris, places considerable emphasis on the resemblance. In fact, he goes so far as to announce that "I believe the principle source of inspiration is in the inward tension sot up by tho attempt to reconcile tho historical figure of Colonel Falkner with tho fictional creation of Colonel Sartoris as an embodiment of the old’Southern virtues." Tho reconciliation, for Cantwell, seems to have been an easy one. He admits that "I felt uneasy at idle response when I inquired about Colonel Falknor." His uneasiness, It is revealed, dates back to an earlier experience, in 1938, in which Cantwell, while Interviewing Faulkner in Idle latter!s home, "encountered the sensation described in tho opening sentences of Sartoris, that ofekiving presence in tho room, summoned up by tho intensity of fooling that tho Colonel's life and death had aroused."
The remainder of Cantwel's essay Is concerned with tho legend of Colonel Falkner. Hover does ho make any important distinctions between Falknor and Sartoris. Ho concludes by saying that "tho victory of a Colonel Falknor or of Colonel Sartoris would not have been that of tho old South in tho its best qualities with something bettor."
