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Ledgers of History: William Faulkner, an Almost Forgotten Friendship, and an Antebellum Plantation Diary
Emory University professor Sally Wolff has carried on a fifty-year tradition of leading students on expeditions to "Faulkner country" in and around Oxford, Mississippi. Not long ago, she decided to invite alumni on one of these field trips. One response to the invitation surprised "I can't go on the trip. But I knew William Faulkner." They were the words of Dr. Edgar Wiggin Francisco III, and in talking with Wolff he revealed that as a child in the 1930s and 1940s he did indeed know Faulkner quite well. His father and Faulkner maintained a close friendship for many years, going back to their shared childhood, but the fact of their friendship has been unrecognized because the two men saw much less of each other after the early years of their marriages. In Ledgers of History, Wolff recounts her conversations with Dr. Francisco -- known to Faulkner as "Little Eddie" -- and reveals startling sources of inspiration for Faulkner's most famous works.
Dr. Francisco grew up at McCarroll Place, his family's ancestral home in Holly Springs, Mississippi, thirty miles north of Oxford. In the conversations with Wolff, he recalls that as a boy he would sit and listen as his father and Faulkner sat on the gallery and talked about whatever came to mind. Francisco frequently told stories to Faulkner, many of them oft-repeated, about his family and community, which dated to antebellum times. Some of these stories, Wolff shows, found their way into Faulkner's fiction.
Faulkner also displayed an absorbing interest in a seven-volume diary kept by Dr. Francisco's great-great-grandfather Francis Terry Leak, who owned extensive plantation lands in northern Mississippi before the Civil War. Some parts of the diary recount incidents in Leak's life, but most of the diary concerns business transactions, including the buying and selling of slaves and the building of a plantation home. During his visits over the course of decades, Francisco recalls, Faulkner spent many hours poring over these volumes, often taking notes. Wolff has discovered that Faulkner apparently drew some of the most important material in several of his greatest works, including Absalom, Absalom! and Go Down, Moses, at least in part from the diary.
Through Dr. Francisco's vivid childhood recollections, Ledgers of History offers a compelling portrait of the future Nobel Laureate near the midpoint of his legendary career and also charts a significant discovery that will inevitably lead to revisions in historical and critical scholarship on Faulkner and his writings.
Dr. Francisco grew up at McCarroll Place, his family's ancestral home in Holly Springs, Mississippi, thirty miles north of Oxford. In the conversations with Wolff, he recalls that as a boy he would sit and listen as his father and Faulkner sat on the gallery and talked about whatever came to mind. Francisco frequently told stories to Faulkner, many of them oft-repeated, about his family and community, which dated to antebellum times. Some of these stories, Wolff shows, found their way into Faulkner's fiction.
Faulkner also displayed an absorbing interest in a seven-volume diary kept by Dr. Francisco's great-great-grandfather Francis Terry Leak, who owned extensive plantation lands in northern Mississippi before the Civil War. Some parts of the diary recount incidents in Leak's life, but most of the diary concerns business transactions, including the buying and selling of slaves and the building of a plantation home. During his visits over the course of decades, Francisco recalls, Faulkner spent many hours poring over these volumes, often taking notes. Wolff has discovered that Faulkner apparently drew some of the most important material in several of his greatest works, including Absalom, Absalom! and Go Down, Moses, at least in part from the diary.
Through Dr. Francisco's vivid childhood recollections, Ledgers of History offers a compelling portrait of the future Nobel Laureate near the midpoint of his legendary career and also charts a significant discovery that will inevitably lead to revisions in historical and critical scholarship on Faulkner and his writings.
- GenresHistory
240 pages, Hardcover
First published October 15, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 17, 2011
Sally Wolff is a professor of southern literature at Emory University. She is a Faulkner scholar and the author of several books on Faulkner and southern literature.
Wolff offers an annual trip to "Faulkner country" to Emory students. A few years ago Wolff also offered the trip opportunity not only to students but school alumni. She received a note from Dr. Edgar Francisco who said he could not go on the trip, but he knew William Faulkner.
Dr. Francisco is now in his eighties. However, as a child in Holly Springs, Mississippi, he met William Faulkner who was a long time friend of his father's. Wolff takes us through in depth interviews with Dr. Francisco of his memories of the man he knew as Will.
Francisco reports Faulkner's fascination with his father's stories of his ancestors, particularly the McCarroll and Leak families. McCarroll was a Scot who came to north Mississippi when it was still Chickasaw territory. Leak was a lawyer from North Carolina. Both were planters and slave holders. However, McCarroll saw that slavery must end. He developed a program of freeing slaves through a system of indenture. Leak strongly opposed the idea.
Francisco shares the plantation diaries of Leak with Sally Woolf. Faulkner was fascinated with them. He pored over them for hours at the time. Faulkner also took frequent notes of Ed Francisco's stories of the McCarroll side of the family. Both men saw slavery as a legacy that would haunt the south indefinitely.
It is not surprising that the Francisco family stories emerge as source material for a number of characters and stories in Faulkner's works. Francisco's father and Faulkner remained friends for over thirty years, but grew apart because Francisco's mother strongly disapproved of Faulkner, especially his influence on her husband's drinking and his use of profanity. Her father was a fire and brimstone Presbyterian minister. Faulkner didn't fit into her system of values. "Little Eddie's" repetition of Will's colorful language resulted in a number of mouth washes with soap.
Holly Springs provided Faulkner with a setting much closer to the time of the American Civil War. There are more antebellum homes there than in Natchez. Grant housed his wife in Holly Springs and no homes were burned in that town. Holly Springs and the Francisco family ancestors strongly influenced Faulkner's "The Unvanquished."
After a visit to Natchez, Dr. Francisco's mother established an annual pilgrimage of Holly Springs homes. Her romanticized view of southern plantation life led Faulkner to criticize the practice as preserving a version of history that never happened.
At times, Wolff's speculations of Faulkner's source materials are a stretch. The value of this book comes from Dr. Francisco's vivid memories of William Faulkner and the friendship shared by Faulkner and his father. Wolff's conversations with Francisco are a treat.
Wolff offers an annual trip to "Faulkner country" to Emory students. A few years ago Wolff also offered the trip opportunity not only to students but school alumni. She received a note from Dr. Edgar Francisco who said he could not go on the trip, but he knew William Faulkner.
Dr. Francisco is now in his eighties. However, as a child in Holly Springs, Mississippi, he met William Faulkner who was a long time friend of his father's. Wolff takes us through in depth interviews with Dr. Francisco of his memories of the man he knew as Will.
Francisco reports Faulkner's fascination with his father's stories of his ancestors, particularly the McCarroll and Leak families. McCarroll was a Scot who came to north Mississippi when it was still Chickasaw territory. Leak was a lawyer from North Carolina. Both were planters and slave holders. However, McCarroll saw that slavery must end. He developed a program of freeing slaves through a system of indenture. Leak strongly opposed the idea.
Francisco shares the plantation diaries of Leak with Sally Woolf. Faulkner was fascinated with them. He pored over them for hours at the time. Faulkner also took frequent notes of Ed Francisco's stories of the McCarroll side of the family. Both men saw slavery as a legacy that would haunt the south indefinitely.
It is not surprising that the Francisco family stories emerge as source material for a number of characters and stories in Faulkner's works. Francisco's father and Faulkner remained friends for over thirty years, but grew apart because Francisco's mother strongly disapproved of Faulkner, especially his influence on her husband's drinking and his use of profanity. Her father was a fire and brimstone Presbyterian minister. Faulkner didn't fit into her system of values. "Little Eddie's" repetition of Will's colorful language resulted in a number of mouth washes with soap.
Holly Springs provided Faulkner with a setting much closer to the time of the American Civil War. There are more antebellum homes there than in Natchez. Grant housed his wife in Holly Springs and no homes were burned in that town. Holly Springs and the Francisco family ancestors strongly influenced Faulkner's "The Unvanquished."
After a visit to Natchez, Dr. Francisco's mother established an annual pilgrimage of Holly Springs homes. Her romanticized view of southern plantation life led Faulkner to criticize the practice as preserving a version of history that never happened.
At times, Wolff's speculations of Faulkner's source materials are a stretch. The value of this book comes from Dr. Francisco's vivid memories of William Faulkner and the friendship shared by Faulkner and his father. Wolff's conversations with Francisco are a treat.
May 26, 2019
Fascinating. A regular attendee at my library presentations loaned this to me; he is enviably knowledgeable about authors' biographies. The information herein about Faulkner's friendship with Dr. Francisco and his concentrated reading and work with an antebellum plantation diary in the doctor's possession show Faulkner's use of the diaries for some of his works.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews