Creating Faulkner's Reputation: The Politics of Modern Literary Criticism

In the 1920s, William Faulkner was an unread and unappreciated author. All his books were out of print. Yet by 1950, he was revered by critics and winner of the Nobel Prize. Author Lawrence H. Schwartz traces how the development of New Criticism, a re-evaluation of his work (the difficulty of his style and depraved subject matter, once considered a negative, were now praised), and the publication of The Portable Faulkner combined to make him the most respected writer of the twentieth century. In the first half of the book, Schwartz explores Faulkner, his writing, and his reputation, while the second half discusses the politics of the new criticism and the intellectual stand of the critics in the 1940s. Readers interested in Faulkner’s literary career will find this book invaluable.

Lawrence H. Schwartz was a professor of English at Montclair State University in Montclair, New Jersey, for forty-seven years, serving as chair, freshman writing coordinator, and chair of the Basic Skills Committee, among other activities.