William Faulkner was born September 25, 1897 in New Albany, Mississippi. When he was just a boy William and his family moved to Oxford, Mississippi. William's Hometown of Oxford became the center and inspiration of many of his works of fiction. In his novels Oxford appears as Jefferson in Yoknapatawpha County. Faulkner's works recreate more then one hundred years of life in Oxford, or Jefferson. In his works of fiction Faulkner goes into detail about the relationships between rich and poor, good and evil, as well as slaves and free men (Compton's P 48). Along with his novels this essay will discuss Faulkner as a man and the contributions that he made to American literature. Also being discussed will be how various critics evaluated the works of Faulkner and the time period in which he lived and wrote.
             William Faulkner wrote many novels between 1926 when his first novel soldiers pay was published and 1961 when he completed his final novel The Reivers. However his best work lies between the years of 1929 and 1942. In this thirteen year period Faulkner accomplished more then most authors could hope to accomplish in their entire lives. The time periods in which his greatest works were written is know as the Modernist period of American literature. The Modernist period marks a sort of transition from the naturalistic period to the modern or contemporary period in American literature. This period is said to have "fallen between the two wars" meaning world wars one and two. Then end of the great depression in 1939 was the end of the modernist period in American literature and Faulkner wrote about the social and political problems of that hard time of transition in American history. One of the novels concerned with these problems was titled A light in August where a mulatto man struggles to find acceptance in the white and black communities. Much like the transitional time period in which he lived and wrote Faulkne...