MSM 510 Shelby Foote - Foote on Faulkner, Fact from Fiction

In 1938, two aspiring young writers, Greenville native Shelby Foote and his best friend Walker Percy, drove to Oxford in search of legendary author William Faulkner.  Percy refused to get out of the car, but Foote walked up to the front door of Rowan Oak, knocked and introduced himself.  Thus began a friendship that would last until Faulkner’s death in 1962.

In this episode, Foote describes Oxford’s native son as a gracious and interesting host and yet a deeply unhappy man who struggled with drinking and depression. Someone who was a deep thinker and yet preferred the company of the common man over the intellectual – a hunting story over a critical analysis of his work.  

Foote concludes by sharing what, in his opinion, makes Faulkner such an exceptional writer and relates a humorous story about one of his famous binges.