After all, what are birthdays?" asks the chronically mournful Eyore: "Here today, gone tomorrow." Perhaps. But in the case of William Faulkner, the 100th was here for a very long time. It began as far back as July 27, with the annual Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha Conference, "Faulkner at 100: Retrospect and Prospect"--the largest in the 24-year history of the conference--and will continue at least into December, with a gathering of scholars from Russia and the United States for a week-long program during the annual meeting of the Russian Association of American Culture Studies in Moscow.

In between these two events centennial celebrations have taken place in universities and libraries throughout the world. In Oxford, the writer's home and partially displaced core of much of his great fiction, the honoring of Faulkner featured a series of exhibitionsÑthe photographs of Martin J. Dain, the paintings of Maud Butler Falkner, photographs from the Cofield Collection, a selection of materials from the John Davis Williams Library Department of Archives and Special Collections--as well as lectures and panel discussions by Martha Cofield, Tom Rankin, J. M. Faulkner, Donald Kartiganer, Evans Harrington, Kathryn McKee, and Jay Watson. Also, the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council and Oxford High School sponsored a performance of "Oh, Mr. Faulkner, Do You Write?" by John Maxwell. Maxwell also performed in the nearby town of New Albany, Faulkner's birthplace, where residents organized a weekend of celebratory events that included an address by Faulkner scholar Robert W. Hamblin and a performance of a musical version of As I Lay Dying.

Oxford's celebration on September 25 centered around the dedication of a statue of Faulkner by Mississippi sculptor William Beckwith in Courthouse Square. Author Willie Morris was master of ceremonies for a program that included comments by noted novelist and Civil War historian Shelby Foote and a keynote address by the Honorable John Brademas, president emeritus of New York University and former member of Congress.

Later in the day, a program at the University began with Senator Grey Tollison's presentation of the gubernatorial proclamation of William Faulkner Week in Mississippi and a tribute to Faulkner by the Right Reverend Duncan M. Gray Jr., Bishop Emeritus, Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi, and former rector of St. Peter's Church in Oxford. Also presenting testimonials were Donald M. Kartiganer, Howry Professor of Faulkner Studies at the University; Richard Howorth, proprietor of Square Books in Oxford; and author Larry Brown. "I'm particularly proud to be known as a Mississippi writer," Brown said, "and I'm probably happier than anything about having the great good luck to be born in the town that Mr. Faulkner called home. As sad as it is to think about him not being here . . . today, it's wonderful to know that what he did with his life will always live on in the bookshelves of the world." The program ended with Faulkner readings selected and introduced by Evans Harrington, founding director of the Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha Conference. Afterwards, Faulkner's birthday cake--decorated with Faulkner's map of Yoknapatawpha County--was served in the Student Union, and Richard Howorth invited birthday celebrants for a champagne toast at Square Books.

Faulkner once wrote: "The aim of every artist is to arrest motion, which is life, by artificial means and hold it fixed so that a hundred years later, when a stranger looks at it, it moves again since it is life... This is the artist's way of scribbling 'Kilroy was here' on the wall of the final irrevocable oblivion through which he must someday pass." How long Faulkner's art will continue to "move" in a stranger's eye, no one can tell. For now, though, his "Kilroy" seems indelibly inscribed on the wall, acknowledged around the world. Happy 100th, Mr. Faulkner, and many more.

Donald M. Kartiganer