The Epitome of Faulkner’s Criteria

Paige Twombly

Mr. Huminski

AP Language and Comp. - per. 6

August 30, 2012

The Epitome of Faulkner’s Criteria

        In William Faulkner’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech, he makes his criteria for literature quite clear: a good writer does much more than entertain. Entertaining, that seems easy enough, with a blank slate in front of every author and writer and poet.  But how one goes about entertaining forms the division between a piece truly applicable to Faulkner’s criteria and those that fall beneath. Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood certainly showcases Faulkner’s distinct and definite criteria.

        Faulkner’s criteria for good literature is clear and concise.  Number one: write for yourself, not for fame.  At the end of the day, a writer “will prevail...because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance”, not because he has reached notoriety.  Certainly In Cold Blood’s success accompanied an admirable reputation of Capote as a writer, but fame wasn’t the original intent, nor should it be for any writer. An author must write for themselves. Be selfish. A writer must learn about the “problems of the spirit”.  Make discoveries.  If a writer does not do so, they are lost and not truly writing for themselves, forever losing their ability to entertain. Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood success was the direct result of making those discoveries. To answer the what, who, where, why, how that was the Clutter family murder, Capote was a passenger of passion, not a follower of fame.

        Faulkner stresses relearning the trials and tribulus of the problems of the human heart “because only that is worth writing about”.  In order to do so, one must not write from the surface, but search from within. Capote learned and examined and analyzed and synthesized each victim and villain to a T.  He sympathizes and writes with pity and compassion as Faulkner wants a writer to do, providing several perspectives throughout the novel. Capote “writes not of the heart, but of the glands”, uncovering specifics details that are so minor, yet so impactful, further emphasizing the problems of the human heart.

        Faulkner “decline[s] to accept the end of man” because man “is immortal”, but his discontent for modern day tragedies is extremely prevalent.  As a result, the necessity of creating something new from human spirit is perfectly present. Recognized as the pioneer for crime novels, Capote’s In Cold Blood introduced immortal men to the uncharted waters of non-fiction. A wave of new perspective washed over writers, constructing an everlasting genre of literature.  Faulkner’s drought of acceptable modern day tragedies transforms into a monsoon when looking at the way Capote’s writing has fit like a glove in Faulkner’s criteria to entertain in contrasting ways.  Capote’s influence extracts Faulkner’s certainty that “young [men and women] writing today [have] forgotten the problems of the human heart...”
         It’s a writer’s “privilege to help man endure…by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past”, but it’s also a writer’s duty to inspire man. With works of literature, writers may inspire each other to prevail, playing into Faulkner’s belief that man is immortal.  The light of modern day tragedies Faulkner believes to be dimming is proudly lit again through Capote’s novel, for the rise of nonfiction derived from his piece, providing inspiration to many writers of his time.