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One of the major
distinctions recent literary study has made
has to do with the tricky concept of “culture.”
As Anne Goodwyn Jones summarized it at a
Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha Conference several
years ago, “culture” can refer to “a way
of life, with all its practices and meanings,”
or it may have a much narrower scope, referring
to “a socially privileged relation to knowledge
and especially to the arts.” To belong to
a particular culture and to be a “cultured”
person are very different things, the first
constituting a description, the second an
evaluation. Increasingly, literary scholars
are interested in exploring the first of
these possibilities, analyzing the significance
of the system of expression inherent to
any particular habit or style of living,
according to the national and regional,
class, race, and gender groups to which
we belong.
The subject of the 31st annual Faulkner
and Yoknapatawpha Conference—“Faulkner and
Material Culture”—will explore Faulkner’s
life and work in terms of that aspect of
culture that perhaps we take most for granted:
the materiality of the conditions of his
characters: their homes, their dress, their
transportation, their work, their sport,
their food and drink. In our great familiarity
with all these social factors, we often
forget how each of them constitutes choices,
attitudes, and values, that they are the
core of character and that they exert a
great influence on their seemingly conscious
and deliberate acts and creations.
Among some of the topics at the conference
will be the significance of the lumber industry
and furniture in Light in August; the Old
Agrarian culture; barn burning as a form
of rural rebellion in the Great Depression;
the small town in Faulkner’s life and fiction;
the materiality of letters; smoking, eating,
and wine drinking. Once we begin to focus
on the materiality of Faulkner’s complex
Yoknapatawpha world of multiple classes,
races, and gender roles, we realize how
much there is still to be learned in reading
him. For this materiality is more than just
the trappings of realist fiction; it is
one of the ways in which characters and
social groups create and express themselves,
adding further dimension to what they represent
and mean.
Appearing at the conference for the first
time are Charles S. Aiken, University of
Tennessee; Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, Emory
University; Kathryn R. Henninger, Louisiana
State University, Baton Rouge; T .J. Jackson
Lears, Rutgers University; Miles Orvell,
Temple University; and D. Matthew Ramsey,
Denison University. Returning to the Faulkner
Conference are Kevin Railey, Buffalo State
College; Jay Watson, University of Mississippi;
and Patricia Yaeger, University of Michigan.
In addition to these speakers, there will
also be nine panelists: Ted Atkinson, Jeffrey
Carroll, Brannon Costello, Barbara Ensrud,
Brandon Kempner, Eileen O’Brien, Jennifer
Middlesworth, Sharon Paradiso, and Caleb
Smith.
The conference will begin on Sunday, July
25, with a reception at the University Museums
and a special presentation that will outline
the Museums’ plan for a new Faulkner wing.
The opening lectures of the conference will
take place immediately after in the Ford
Center for the Performing Arts, followed
by a buffet supper at historic Memory House.
A Sunday evening program, also at the Ford
Center, will feature a return engagement
of the singer/songwriter group Reckon Crew,
who will perform a musical adaptation of
Faulkner’s novel As I Lay Dying. Also on
Sunday evening will be the announcement
of the winner of the 15th Faux Faulkner
Contest. Other events will include discussions
by Faulkner friends and family, sessions
on “Teaching Faulkner,” “Faulkner on the
Fringe”–an “open-mike” evening at the Southside
Gallery, guided daylong tours of North Mississippi,
a picnic served at Faulkner’s home, and
a closing party at the home of Dr. and Mrs.
Beckett Howorth.
For more information about the conference,
contact the Office of Outreach and Continuing
Education, Post Office Box 879, The University
of Mississippi, University, MS 38677-0879;
telephone 662-915-7283; e-mail: fyconf@olemiss.edu.
For information on the conference program,
course credit, and all other inquiries,
contact the Department of English, Box 1848,
The University of Mississippi, University,
MS 38677-1848; telephone 662-915-7439; e-
mail:fyconf@olemiss.edu.
For online registration, visit us on the
Web at http://www.outreach.olemiss.edu/events/faulkner/.
For information about participating in the
conference through Elderhostel, call 877-426-8056
and refer to the program number 5760, or
contact Carolyn Vance Smith by telephone
(866-296- 6522) or e-mail: carolyn.smith@colin.edu.
Also, check out the Web site www.elderhostel.org.
For information about participating in the
conference through Interhostel at Ole Miss,
contact the Office of Professional Development
and Noncredit Education, E. F. Yerby Conference
Center, Post Office Box 879, The University
of Mississippi, University, MS 38677-0879;
call 662-915-7036; or visit our Web site
(www.outreach.olemiss.edu).
Donald M.
Kartiganer
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