Dr. Carl Rollyson will speak to the Pontotoc County Historical Society on Monday, July 18, at 6:00pm at the Pontotoc Community House on North Main Street. He will discuss the life of William Faulkner and present new materials that he discovered while researching his two-volume biography of Faulkner. He will focus on events that occurred in the North Mississippi area and how they impacted his life and his work. Dr. Rollyson will sign copies of his books after his presentation.
During Dr. Rollyson’s Pontotoc visit, Jack Elliott, author of a new biography of W. C. Falkner, William’s great grandfather, will conduct a tour of William Faulkner sites in and around the City of Pontotoc. Most residents are unaware of the Faulkner events that took place in this area, but they are fascinating and significant. Before William was born, his father, Murry, was shot twice in a drugstore in Pontotoc and probably should not have survived. The story behind the shooting is amazing and involves one of the most prominent Pontotoc families of the era. The location of the drugstore is known and is on the Town Square. Also, the boarding house where Murry lived is still partially extant. At the time, Murray was serving as the conductor of the railroad founded by his grandfather, William’s literary great grandfather, W. C. Falkner. Additionally, Faulkner’s youngest brother, Dean, was killed in an airplane crash in Pontotoc County. Faulkner had given the plane to Dean and agonized over his death. Faulkner visited the crash site, identified the body, and later drove Maud, his mother, to the funeral parlor (located in the back of a furniture store) in Pontotoc where she insisted on seeing the body. The sites of the crash, the building where the body was taken, along with others will be included in the tour.
Dr. Rollyson will visit New Albany on Tuesday and plans to speak and sign books there. On Thursday he will sign books at Square Books during the closing event of the Yoknapatawpha Conference. On Friday he is planning to speak and perhaps sign books at Ripley. During the week, when he’s not at Pontotoc, New Albany, or Ripley, he will be attending the Yoknapatawpha Conference in Oxford.
