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For WilliamFaulkner, destiny was a grim piper, forcing humanity to dance like puppets tothe tune of a broken instrument. Swarthmore English professor Philip Weinsteinsets out to find the melody linking the dour tone of the great writer’s fictionwith the dour facts of his life. BecomingFaulkner is a compact biographical analysis that benefits from brevity.Unencumbered by the responsibility for small details, Weinstein is able tofocus on what he sees as most salient. “The deepest logic in both Faulkner’slife and work is that disaster strikes…prior to any preparation for it,” hewrites. And for Faulkner, time and experience were insufficient teachers.
