By the end of volume 1 of The Life of William Faulkner ("A filling, satisfying feast for Faulkner aficianados"- Kirkus), the young Faulkner had gone from an unpromising, self-mythologizing bohemian to the author of some of the most innovative and enduring literature of the century, including The Sound and the Fury and Light in August. The second and concluding volume of Carl Rollyson's ambitious biography finds Faulkner lamenting the many threats to his creative existence. Feeling, as an artist, he should be above worldly concerns and even morality, he has instead inherited only debts-a symptom of the South's faded fortunes-and numerous mouths to feed and funerals to fund. And so he turns to the classic temptation for financially struggling writers-Hollywood.

Preface1. Faulkner's Shadow: Pylon, 19352. Transcendental Homelessness: Absalom, Absalom!3. The Dividing Line: October 1936-February 19384. Grief: February 1938-January 19395. Up from Feudalism: The Hamlet, 1938-19406. Was: Go Down, Moses, 1940-19427. War: July 1940-June 19428. Soldiering On: July 1942-January 19439. Yoknapatawpha Comes to Hollywood: January-August 194310. Fables of Fascism: To Have and Have Not, August 1943-May 194411. Hollywoodism: May-December 194412. Hollywood and Horror, Home and Horses: December 1944-September 194513. "A Golden Book": The Portable Faulkner, September 1945-April 194614. Impasse: June 1946-December 194715. New Audiences: Intruder in the Dust, January 1948-October 194916. Coded Autobiography: Knight's Gambit, November 1948-November 194917. Acclaim and Fame and Love: 1950-195518. What Mad Pursuit: August 1949-March 195419. Two Lives/Two Faulkners: 1949-195120. In and Out of Phase: August 1951-January 195321. Steal Away: January-December 195322. Civilization and Its Discontents: December 1953-January 195523. Ambassador Faulkner: June 1954-January 195524. Past and Present: February-August 195525. East and West: August-October 195526. North and South: September 1955-Spring 195727. Going On: January 1956-May 195728. Writer-in-Residence: October 1956-January 195929. Full Circle: January-November 195930. Renascence: 1960-196231. End of Days: June-July 1962NotesBibliographyIllustration CreditsIndex