I took a ton of photos on my trip to Oxford/Rowan Oak this past summer but I wanted to share how crazy it felt to walk into this part of the local bookstore.
I grabbed Flags in the Dust, The Wild Palms and Michael Gorra’s The Saddest Words from the biography/NF shelf.
Here is a higher quality picture of one of the maps on display at Rowan Oak.
Thinking about a trip to Oxford, mostly to see all the literary sites. The Faulkner stuff, which is the main reason for the visit, is pretty well publicized. But what else is worth seeing, particularly from a Southern literature perspective?
I’ve finished Better Call Saul twice and I caught a parallel between Werner Ziegler and the French architect from Absalom, Absalom! Two masterpieces, one literary and one televisual.
Werner Ziegler’s story resembles the French architect’s from Absalom, Absalom! Here is why: Ziegler was hired to build Gus’s underground laboratory, and the French architect was forced to build Sutpen’s Hundred. They’re both foreigners. The Better Call Saul universe is Albuquerque, and Faulkner’s story is set in Yoknapatawpha. They both tried to escape and got caught — at least the first time.
What if Ziegler had succeeded in escaping? He couldn't, because the French architect had failed too.
Do you think Gilligan might have been inspired by Faulkner here? Both are gothic stories in the end.