Audio Clips
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 Photograph by Ralph Thompson © Rector and Visitors, University of Virginia |
During the 1957 and 1958 Spring semesters, William Faulkner was the Writer-in-Residence at the University of Virginia. During that time he appeared at thirty-six different public events, reading from his work and answering over 1400 questions from students, faculty and others. Thanks to two members of the Department of English, Frederick Gwynn and Joseph Blotner, most of those sessions were recorded, and preserved on tape in the University of Virginia Special Collections Library. Over 28 hours of the recordings have been digitized, and are available online in the Faulkner at Virginia audio archive . The mp3 clips available below have been taken from that archive, and are playable on most devices. Is "Death Drag" autobiographical? (13 March 1957; 0:43) Jock's decision at the end? (11 March 1957; 1:08) |
Is "Death Drag" autobiographical? (13 March 1957; 0:43)
William Faulkner: Yes, sir.
Unidentified participant: Is your short story "Death Drag" based on an actual event or experience in your life?
William Faulkner: Not too much. They were—I did a little, what they call barnstorming in the early days after the War, when aeroplanes were not too usual, and people would pay a hundred dollars to be taken for a short ride in one, but I don't remember anything that was specifically like this. This was, again, a human being in conflict with his environment and his time. This man who hated flying, but that was what he had to do, simply because he wanted to make a little money.
Jock's decision at the end? (11 March 1957; 1:08)
William Faulkner: Yes, sir.
Unidentified participant: Sir, why is it in "Death Drag," Jock left Captain—despite Captain Warren's plea to stay there or to accept the raincoat or to accept any sort of job. Was there anything besides pride that made him leave, [fly off in] that old crate?
William Faulkner: Yes, it was—well, pride was about what it was. The—it's, of course—It is probably true of all—all flying people, but I do know that—that the flying people out of that war, most of them would've been better off if they had died on the eleventh of November, that few of them were any good to—to try to take up the burden of peace, and this—this man was—was lost and doomed. Of course, Warren was different. He had managed to cope with—with 1919, but this other man would never cope with 1919. He was hopeless. He was doomed.