William Faulkner is the author of Absalom, Absalom!, a southern novel published in 1936. Faulkner devotes his writings to Absalom, Absalom! to follow the story of the ruthless Thomas Sutpen and his life as he battles the suspicions and doubts of small-town residents who were born and raised in Jefferson, Mississippi. A native Mississippian himself, Faulkner entered the world in September 1897 and left it in July 1962, at the age of sixty-four. He was the eldest of four brothers and the son of parents whose prominent families had been destroyed and plunged into poverty with the advent of the Civil War in America in the 1860s. Faulkner was christened William Cuthbert Falkner in honor of his great-grandfather, Colonel William Faulkner, who achieved relative literary success with his publication of The White Rose of Memphis in the 1880s. The setting of Absalom, Absalom! is set in the town of Jefferson in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi, where the story of the protagonist, Thomas Sutpen, is relayed to Quentin Compson through various characters who were directly involved in the events that unfolded, or were aware of friends or relatives with direct knowledge of the Sutpen family events. Sutpen's actions and motivations are explored and exposed through a literary technique known as stream-of-consciousness writing; Faulkner wastes no time introducing the characters and plot to allow the reader to immerse themselves in the woven fabric of Southern life recounted in the novel. Through the use of diverse points of view, fluid stream-of-consciousness narration, detailed asides, and immersion in the Southern approach to life and way of life, Faulkn... .... middle of paper..... .ild uneducated genius of the woods. " Overall, Faulkner masterfully blends several elements of literature with his own personal style, producing a novel simmering with the lives and histories of the characters. His circuitous storytelling technique, coupled with his conscious writing flow, produces a twisting and difficult plot, complete with complex and eccentric characters, all within the confines of a single novel. Works Cited Millgate, Michael. “The Making of William Faulkner.” Directed by William Faulkner Constable (1966). Rep. in Contemporary Literary Criticism Select. Detroit: Gale, 2008. Information Resource Center. Internet. February 21, 2012. Young, Thomas Daniel. “Absalom, Absalom!: Overview.” Reference guide to American literature. Ed. Jim Camp. 3rd ed. Detroit: St. James Press, 1994. Literary Resource Center. Internet. February 21. 2012.