Ledgers of History: William Faulkner, an Almost Forgotten Friendship, and an Antebellum Plantation Diary: Memories of Dr. Edgar Wiggin Fra [Hardcover]

a fascinating text that (i believe) brought me much closer to what was driving faulkner to create absalom absalom and the sound and the fury than a wide variety of previous critical texts i've read. there are various points where the establishment that faulkner used names, etc., can seem a bit tedious, and some bits of oral history will vary in their interest. stick around for the end, though: suddenly everything comes alive again.

i read the kindle edition, which worked well.

For Faulkner fans, this book will shed new light on William Faulkner and on some of his novels. Sally Wolff of Emory University in Atlanta interviewed Edgar Wiggins Francisco III (born 1930), who now lives in a distant suburb of Atlanta. But he grew up in Holly Springs, Mississippi. As a young boy he was known as Little Eddie. His father's friend William Faulkner (1897- 1962) often visited his father, Edgar Wiggin Francisco, Jr. (1897-1966). Will Faulkner usually asked Little Eddie's father to tell him again certain stories that the two men had themselves heard when they themselves were young boys from Amelia Leak McCarroll, who was Little Eddie's great-grandmother, and her sister Sallie McCarroll.

So we have four story-tellers telling stories of their family: (1-2) Amelia Leak McCarroll and Sallie McCarroll tell stories to the boys Edgar Wiggin Francisco, Jr., and William Faulkner; (3) Edgar Wiggin Francisco, Jr., tells stories to his adult friend William Faulkner and his son, Little Eddie; and (4) Edgar Wiggin Francisco III (aka Little Eddie) tells stories to Sally Wolff, who records them and then transcribes them.

In 1833, John Ramsey McCarroll settled in Holly Spring, Mississippi, and established the family homestead there. Amelia and Sallie were his daughters.

In 1866, Amelia married Walter John Leak, the son of the wealthy plantation owner Francis Terry Leak (1803-1863). Amelia lost a son. But her daughter became Little Eddie's grandmother.

After the Civil War, Amelia moved back to the McCarroll homestead in Holly Springs, carrying with her the multi-volume ledgers that her father-in-law and later her husband had kept about their plantation business.

Years ago, the family donated the Leak ledgers to the University of North Carolina, so that scholars could study them to learn about plantation life in the Old South. However, in return for the donation, the family was given a typescript of the contents of the ledgers, which Edgar Wiggin Francisco III has in his possession.

As we've noted, when he was a young boy, he listened to his father tell Will Faulkner stories. Oftentimes, Will Faulkner then asked to read a certain volume of Leak's ledgers (the original hand-written ledgers, that is, not the later typescript). On those occasions, Little Eddie and his father usually left the room and left Will Faulkner alone to pour over the ledgers. However, Little Eddie often heard Will Faulkner carrying on animated conversation aloud with the long-dead Francis Terry Leak.

From those ledgers, Faulkner acquired detailed information about plantation life.

And Faulkner also acquired a real-life example who helped him create the character Thomas Sutpen in his novel ABSALOM, ABSALOM!

The transcriptions of Edgar Wiggin Francisco III's conversations about his memories begin on page 65 and end on page 179, followed by discussion notes, works cited and consulted, and the index. On pages 1-64, Sally Wolf discusses how various points in the conversations can help us better understand Faulkner's novels and particular characters. Between pages 64 and 65, there are several unnumbered pages of photographs of people, places, and things that help us concretize certain aspects of the transcribed conversations.

In Edgar Wiggin Francisco's conversations about his boyhood memories of his father's friend Will Faulkner, Faulkner emerges more vividly than he does in the various biographies that have been written about him.

This was a gift to my son who is a very big Faulkner fan. He is really enjoying this.
It arrived as promised in new condition.
Very pleased!

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