"Faulkner and the Natural World" is the designated topic for the University of Mississippi's 23rd annual Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha Conference, scheduled for July 28-August 2, 1996. Among the visiting scholars who will be addressing the conference for the first time are Lawrence Buell, of Harvard University, author of Literary Transcendentalism: Style and Vision in the American Renaissance (1973), New England Literary Culture from Revolution through Renaissance (1986), and The Environmental Imagination: Thoreau, Nature Writing, and the Formation of American Culture (1995); Myra Jehlen, of Rutgers University, author of Class and Character in Faulkner's South and American Incarnation; and Diane Roberts, of the University of Alabama, author of Faulkner and Southern Womanhood (1994) and The Myth of Aunt Jemima: Representations of Race and Religion (1994). Returning speakers will include Jay Watson, of the University of Mississippi, author of Forensic Fictions: The Lawyer Figure in Faulkner (1993).

In addition to lectures by these and other literary scholars the conference will include discussions by Faulkner friends and family, sessions on Teaching Faulkner, and dramatic presentations of his work. Also scheduled are slide presentations, films, tours of Oxford and the surrounding area, exhibitions, an autograph party at Square Books, and other events, including the announcement of winners of the 7th Faux Faulkner Contest.

For more information about the 1996 Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha Conference, write Ann Abadie at the Center or call 601-232-5993.