How much of Faulkner’s personal life did he incorporate into his fiction?
A great deal. Much of Faulkner’s own family history makes its way into the fiction, just as places and events in his fiction seem patterned on real-life places and events in Oxford. The characters of Col. John Sartoris and Thomas Sutpen, for example, are based in part on Faulkner’s great-grandfather and namesake, William Clark Falkner. Like Sutpen, William Clark Falkner ran away from home at the age of fourteen with the intent of making his fortune. Like Sartoris, Falkner was a colonel in the Civil War until his troops voted to remove him; he returned to Mississippi, raised a local regiment, and continued fighting. After the war, he started a railroad just as Sartoris did, and like Sartoris was gunned down by his former business partner. The Sartoris Bank has its roots in the First National Bank of Oxford, which was instituted by Faulkner grandfather, J.W.T. Falkner. In addition to his family history, Faulkner also relied heavily upon the history, traditions, and landscape of his regio
