Faulkner’s Contradictory Roles as Father and Artist in the Film, William Faulkner: a Life on Paper :: Movie Film Essays

Faulkners Contradictory Roles as Father and artificer in the Film, William Faulkner a Life on Paper After showing the film William Faulkner a Life on Paper it would be diffused to attempt a pseudo-psychoanalytic interpretation of Faulkners relationship with his daughter and the former(a) women in his life, but I think that would do a ill turn to him. The film focused on the contradiction between Faulkners individual(prenominal) life, especially his relationships with women, and his professional life as a writer. The artistic feeling that caused him to drink to excess and behave erratically does not fit ballpark expectations of a good amaze. I think, however, that the interviews with his daughter, Jill Summers, and the other women who grew up with him as a father figure (at least one grand-daughter and one niece) indicate how that ostensible contradiction was an essential part of the man whom they loved. I would like to account two comments made by men who had known Faulkner in Oxford, Mississippi. One, a blacksmith, said that one day Faulkner suddenly left in the pith of a conversation with him. Faulkners only explanation later was that when I think of something, Ive got to go. The other, a former friend of Faulkners speculated that he didnt think anyone knew who Bill really was, he was so dismalhe was different from anybody else, seemed like. The first comment indicates Faulkners unpredictability, possibly a humorous idiosyncrasy, but certainly not what is expected of a father. The atomic number 42 comment is intricately tied to the first. Because Faulkners behavior was unpredictable, often indicating that he was entirely self-absorbed in his own ideas and work, others found him to be distant. Those closest to Faulknerhis daughter, Jill, Phil Stone, and even Joan Williamsdo not offer a portrayal of him that objects to his beingness erratic and distant. Probably the most poignant moment with Jill Summers is when she tells the story of ask her fat her not to drink before her birthday. His response was to remind her that Shakespeares daughter was never remembered by anyone. Although Summers relates the other facts of her fathers short-comings with picayune display of emotion, her face appeared pained after this story. Yet she said earliest in the film that she was absolutely sure that her father loved her very much. Maybe the problem is partly in what we expect a father to be. The film raises the problem of whether someone can function as both(prenominal) a great