Recurring Events

Listed here are the significant episodes in the Yoknapatawpha saga that Faulkner recounts in more than one text.
Use Events SEARCH (http://faulkner.iath.virginia.edu/family/events/) and the KEYWORDS below to see the event records.
                                                                                                                                            ABOUT RECURRING EVENTS

    Virginia Du Pre arrives at Sartoris
DATE: 1866-1869
SUMMARY: After her plantation home in Carolina is destroyed, Aunt Jenny travels alone to her brother's plantation in Yoknapatawpha.
TEXTS: Flags in the Dust (10); "There Was a Queen" (732); The Unvanquished (235)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>Jenny arrives

    Sartoris loses command of regiment
DATE: 1862
SUMMARY: At the end of the first year of the Civil War, the men in Sartoris' regiment vote him out of command.
TEXTS: Flags in the Dust (20); "Retreat"|The Unvanquished (21|52, 221); Absalom, Absalom! (100)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>Sartoris deposed

    Colonel Sartoris escapes Union cavalry
DATE: 1862-1863
SUMMARY: When a Yankee cavalry troop arrives at Sartoris to capture the Colonel, he finds a way to escape.
TEXTS: Flags in the Dust (20); "Retreat"|The Unvanquished (33|72)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>Sartoris escapes Yankees

    Sartoris builds railroad
DATE: 1866-1877
SUMMARY: After the Civil War John Sartoris (with one or two partners) builds the railroad that runs through Yoknapatawpha.
TEXTS: Flags in the Dust (22); The Unvanquished (221, 225); Requiem for a Nun (187); The Reivers (72)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>Sartoris builds railroad

    Colonel Sartoris' death
DATE: 1876
SUMMARY: Redlaw (later called Redmond) kills John Sartoris to avenge an electoral defeat.
TEXTS: Flags in the Dust (23, 396); The Unvanquished (218) ; Requiem for a Nun (187)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>Colonel Sartoris killed

    Burying the Sartoris silver
DATE: 1862-1863
SUMMARY: During the Civil War the Sartoris silver is buried to keep the Union troops from taking it.
TEXTS: Flags in the Dust (37); "Ambuscade" (6); "Retreat" (19); The Unvanquished (18); "My Grandmother Millard" (667)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>Burying Sartoris silver

    Young Bayard avenges Johnny's death
DATE: 1918
SUMMARY: After his twin brother is shot down over France, Bayard hunts down and destroys the German pilot who killed him.
TEXTS: Flags in the Dust (42); "Ad Astra" (414)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>Bayard avenges Johnny

    Johnny Sartoris shot down
DATE: 1918
SUMMARY: Johnny is killed flying during the Great War - as World War I was called at the time.
TEXTS: Flags in the Dust (43, 257); "Ad Astra" (414); "All the Dead Pilots" (521); "There Was a Queen" (735); The Town (123); The Mansion (210)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>Johnny Sartoris shot down

    Narcissa and the anonymous Letters
DATE: 1919
SUMMARY: Narcissa tells Aunt Jenny about the anonymous love letters she has been receiving.
TEXTS: Flags in the Dust (62); "There Was a Queen" (735)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>Narcissa's Anonymous Letters

    Colonel Sartoris captures Yankees
DATE: 1862-1863
SUMMARY: Accidentally coming upon a troop of Yankees, Sartoris captures them single-handedly.
TEXTS: Flags in the Dust (230); The Unvanquished (66)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>Sartoris captures Yankees

    Colonel Sartoris kills two carpetbaggers
DATE: 1865-1874
SUMMARY: When two Reconstruction agents try to help newly emancipated Negroes vote in a Yoknapatawpha election, Sartoris intimidates the former slaves at gunpoint and shoots the two white men.
TEXTS|PAGE NUMBER: Flags in the Dust (242); Light in August (53, 248); "Skirmish at Sartoris|The Unvanquished (70-71|207, 219, 222)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>Negro voting

    Byron Snopes robs the Sartoris bank
DATE: 1914-1919
SUMMARY: Disappointed in love, Bryon robs the bank and flees Yoknapatawpha.
TEXTS: Flags in the Dust (277); "There Was a Queen" (739)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>Byron robs bank

    Old Bayard's death
DATE: 1919
SUMMARY: Colonel John Sartoris' son dies in a car being driven by his great-grandson, another Bayard.
TEXTS: Flags in the Dust (326); "There Was a Queen" (736); Requiem for a Nun (190); The Town (123,149); The Mansion (150, 210)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>Old Bayard's death

    Young Bayard's death
DATE: 1920
SUMMARY: After fleeing Yoknapatawpha, Bayard dies in Ohio while testing an experimental airplane.
TEXTS: Flags in the Dust (389); "There Was a Queen" (736); The Town (125); The Mansion (210)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>Young Bayard's death

    Benjy's name changed
DATE: 1900
SUMMARY: Mrs. Compson changes her youngest son's name from Maury to Benjamin.
TEXTS: The Sound and the Fury (29, 61, 69, 88); "Appendix: Compson" (340)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>Benjy's name changed

    Caddy marries Herbert Head
DATE: 1910
SUMMARY: Secretly pregnant, Caddy marries a man from Indiana.
TEXTS: The Sound and the Fury (38, 77); "Appendix: Compson" (330, 332)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>Caddy's wedding

    Benjy with Burgess girl
DATE: 1910-1913
SUMMARY: Missing his sister Caddy, and finding the gate unlocked, Benjy Compson walks up to a schoolgirl "trying to say."
TEXTS: The Sound and the Fury (52, 253); "Appendix: Compson" (339)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>Benjy accosts schoolgirl

    Miss Quentin runs away
DATE: 1928
SUMMARY: Jason's niece leaves home, taking with her the money he has been hoarding.
TEXTS: The Sound and the Fury (73); "Appendix: Compson" (330, 335, 338, 341, 342)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>Miss Quentin runs away

    Quentin commits suicide
DATE: 1910
SUMMARY: At the end of his freshman year at Harvard, Quentin kills himself by drowning in the river.
TEXTS: The Sound and the Fury (174, 196); "Appendix: Compson" (330, 331)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>

    General Compson in Civil War
DATE: 1862-1865
SUMMARY: Several differing accounts of Compson's war record.
TEXTS: The Sound and the Fury (176); Absalom, Absalom! (217); "Appendix: Compson" (329); The Reivers (20)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>General Compson's military record

    End of Caddy's marriage
DATE: 1910-1911
SUMMARY: After Caddy gives birth to her illegitimate daughter Quentin, Herbert Head throws her out.
TEXTS: The Sound and the Fury (196-198); "Appendix: Compson" (332); The Mansion (354)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>Caddy's marriage fails

    The Battle of Jefferson
DATE: 1863-1864
SUMMARY: While there is no combat inside the town itself, during the Civil War Union troops occupy Jefferson and burn the courthouse and surrounding square.
TEXTS: "A Rose for Emily" (119); "Vendee"|The Unvanquished (115|184); "Appendix: Compson" (329); Intruder in the Dust (49); Requiem for a Nun (37, 182); The Town (321)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>Battle of Jefferson

    Auction of Texas ponies
DATE: 1899-1926
SUMMARY: The men of Frenchman's Bend purchase the spotted horses that come from Texas with Flem Snopes.
TEXTS: As I Lay Dying (112); "Spotted Horses" (168); "Centaur in Brass" (150); The Hamlet (308); The Town (35); The Mansion (137)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>Texas horses auctioned

    Ikkemotubbe becomes "Doom"
DATE: 1794-1804
SUMMARY: The displaced Frenchman De Vitry gives his ambitious friend Ikkemotubbe the nickname "Doom."
TEXTS: "Red Leaves" (317); "A Justice" (348); "The Old People" (202); Go Down, Moses (157); "Appendix: Compson" (325); "A Courtship" (362)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>Ikkemotubbe becomes "Doom"

    Doom becomes chief
DATE: 1795-1817
SUMMARY: Born outside the patriarchal line of descent, Doom (Ikkemotubbe) schemes and murders to usurp the place of chief.
TEXTS: "Red Leaves" (318); "A Justice" (349); "The Old People"|Go Down, Moses (202|158); "A Courtship" (363)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>Doom becomes chief

    Old Frenchman's arrival
DATE: 1790-1838
SUMMARY: Louis Grenier, from whom Frenchman's Bend gets its name, arrives in Yoknapatawpha and builds a huge slave plantation.
TEXTS: Sanctuary (110); "Lizards in Jamshyd's Courtyard" (136); "Hand upon the Waters" (70); The Hamlet (4); Intruder in the Dust (73); "A Name for the City" (202); Requiem for a Nun (6); The Town (338); The Reivers (7)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>Old Frenchman's arrival

    Temple leaves train
DATE: 1929-1931
SUMMARY: Temple's ordeal begins when she jumps down from the chartered train at a country station to join Gowan.
TEXTS: Sanctuary (36); Requiem for a Nun (100)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>Temple leaves train

    Gowan and Temple drive to Old Frenchman's place
DATE: 1929-1931
SUMMARY: Looking for more alcohol, Gowan and Temple drive Gowan's car to Goodwin's.
TEXTS: Sanctuary (37); Requiem for a Nun (108)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>Driving to Goodwin's

    Temple Drake at Old Frenchman's place
DATE: 1929-1931
SUMMARY: Temple's ordeal at Goodwin's occupies 10 chapters in Sanctuary. In Requiem she rehearses it in a few hundred words.
TEXTS: Sanctuary (41-104, 215-220); Requiem for a Nun (108)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>Temple at Goodwin's

    Looking upon evil
DATE: 1929-1931
SUMMARY: "There's a corruption about even looking upon evil" - in Sanctuary Horace Benbow says this; in Requiem for a Nun Temple says Gavin Stevens said it.
TEXTS: Sanctuary (129); Requiem for a Nun (102)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>Looking upon evil

    Temple at Reba's
DATE: 1929-1931
SUMMARY: Popeye takes Temple to Reba's bordello in Memphis; her life there is described in detail in Sanctuary and summed up, with variations, in Requiem.
TEXTS: Sanctuary (142-159, 208-221, 224-230); Requiem for a Nun (111-114)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>Temple at Reba's

    Temple testifying
DATE: 1929-1931
SUMMARY: After perjuring herself at Goodwin's trial, Temple is escorted away by her father and brothers.
TEXTS: Sanctuary (283-290); Requiem for a Nun (121)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>Temple testifying

    Popeye's arrest and execution
DATE: 1929-1931
SUMMARY: Popeye is arrested, tried and hanged in Alabama for a murder he did not commit.
TEXTS: Sanctuary (302, 309-316); Requiem for a Nun (114)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>Popeye's execution

    Nancy confronts white man
DATE: 1909-1930
SUMMARY: Nancy publically confronts the man who owes her money for sex; he knocks her down and kicks her.
TEXTS: "That Evening Sun (291); Requiem for a Nun (96)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>Nancy confronts white man

    Flem and Eula marry
DATE: 1898-1925
SUMMARY: Because Eula Varner is pregnant, her father marries her to Flem Snopes.
TEXTS: "Spotted Horses" (166); "Centaur in Brass" (149); The Hamlet (162); The Town (6); The Mansion (4, 140)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>Flem and Eula marry

    Cotton|Mink Snopes kills Houston
DATE: 1898-1929
SUMMARY: The Frenchman's Bend landowner Zack or Jack Houston is ambused and killed.
TEXTS: "The Hound" (152); The Hamlet (240); The Town (83); The Mansion (5)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>Houston murdered

    Wash Jones kills Sutpen
DATE: 1869-1872
SUMMARY: Wash Jones kills Thomas Sutpen at the fishing shack.
TEXTS: "Wash" (545); Absalom, Absalom! (231)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>Wash kills Sutpen

    Wash Jones charges posses
DATE: 1869-1872
SUMMARY: After killing his grandaughter and her baby, Wash commits suicide attacking the posse that comes to arrest him.
TEXTS: "Wash" (550); Absalom, Absalom! (233)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>Wash charges posse

    John Sartoris raises Yoknapatawpha regiment
DATE: 1861
SUMMARY: At the start of the Civil War, Sartoris organizes men from Yoknapatawpha into a Confederate regiment and leads them to Virginia to fight there.
TEXTS: "Retreat"|The Unvanquished (21|51); Absalom, Absalom! (63); Requiem for a Nun (36)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>Sartoris raises regiment

    Boon shoots Negro
DATE: 1878-1905
SUMMARY: Boon shoots at a Negro on the Square; in one text he hits him, in another he misses, in the third he misses the man but wounds a Negro girl.
TEXTS: "Lion" (189); Go Down, Moses (217); The Reivers (13)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>Boon shoots Negro

    Henry Sutpen kills Charles Bon
DATE: 1865
SUMMARY: Near the end of the Civil War, Henry shoots Bon at the gate at Sutpen's Hundred.
TEXTS: Absalom, Absalom! (6, 79, 105, 139); The Unvanquished (222)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>Henry kills Bon

    Sutpen arrives in Yoknapatawpha
DATE: 1826-1833
SUMMARY: Thomas Sutpen arrives with the people he has enslaved.
TEXTS: Absalom, Absalom! (4, 24); Requiem for a Nun (30)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>Sutpen's arrival

    Sutpen refuses to join night riders
DATE: 1866-1870
SUMMARY: When other white men ask Sutpen to join them in violently resisting Reconstruction, Sutpen refuses.
TEXTS: Absalom, Absalom! (130); The Unvanquished (222)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>Sutpen rejects KKK

    Sutpen recaptures the French architect
DATE: 1826-1834
SUMMARY: When the architect whom Sutpen is forcing to design his mansion and grounds runs away, Sutpen and other white men use slaves and dogs to hunt him down.
TEXTS: Absalom, Absalom! (207); Requiem for a Nun (32, 176)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>Architect captured

    Ringo whips Ab Snopes
DATE: 1864
SUMMARY: Ringo, Buck and Bayard capture and whip Ab in revenge for his role in Rosa Millard's murder.
TEXTS: "Vendee"|The Unvanquished (109|175); The Hamlet (32)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>Ringo whips Ab

    Buck and Buddy's experiment
DATE: 1837-1860
SUMMARY: After their father's death, Buck and Buddy McCaslin decide to 'reconstruct' their relationship with the slaves on their plantation.
TEXTS: The Unvanquished (46); Go Down, Moses (8, 248)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>Buck and Buddy's experiment

    Young woman scratches name on windowpane
DATE: 1863-1864
SUMMARY: A young woman - in Oxford (once) or Jefferson (twice); unnamed, or named Celia Cook, or Cecilia Farmer - uses a diamond ring to scratch her name on a windowpane.
TEXTS: The Unvanquished (15); Intruder in the Dust (49); Requiem for a Nun(182)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>Etching name on window

    Ab Snopes pushes his way into De Spain's mansion
DATE: 1894-1895
SUMMARY: With manure on his boot, Ab pushes past the Negro servant standing in the front door and wipes his foot on an expensive rug inside.
TEXTS: "Barn Burning" (11); The Hamlet (16)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>Ab Snopes at De Spain's house

    Ab Snopes' war wound
DATE: 1863-1865
SUMMARY: Trying to steal horses from his own side during the Civil War, Ab was shot - by either Colonel Sartoris or a Confederate quartermaster - or perhaps hanged. Accounts differ.
TEXTS: "Barn Burning" (5); The Hamlet (18, 32); The Town (5, 43)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>Ab's war wound

    Eula's suitors ambush McCarron
DATE: 1898-1907
SUMMARY: Hoping to chase Hoake McCarron out of the county, the Frenchman's Bend men who have been courting Eula ambush him; together he and Eula drive them off, and afterwards Linda Snopes is conceived.
TEXTS: The Hamlet (153); The Town (105); The Mansion (135)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>McCarron ambushed

    Rider in jail
DATE: 1940
SUMMARY: In his grief after his wife dies, Rider kills a white man and is arrested.
TEXTS: "Pantaloon in Black"|Go Down, Moses (252-255|147-152); ; Requiem for a Nun (156)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>Rider in jail

    De Spain creates the hunting camp
DATE: 1870-1920
SUMMARY: Major de Spain converts Sutpen's fishing camp into a hunting camp.
TEXTS: "Delta Autumn" (273); Go Down, Moses (181, 333); The Town (45); The Reivers (18)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>De Spain creates camp

    Indian removal
DATE: 1825-1850
SUMMARY: After being forced to sign a treaty with the federal government, the Indians in Yoknapatawpha depart for land west of the Mississippi.
TEXTS: Go Down, Moses (245); "Appendix: Compson" (325, 326); "A Name for the City" (200); Requiem for a Nun (7, 169, 173); The Town (11)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>Indian removal

    First white settlers arrive
DATE: 1790-1835
SUMMARY: The first of the white men who settled in Yoknapatawpha and "built Jefferson" begin arriving; this group changes somewhat between texts, but includes Alexander Holston, Doctor Habersham and his son, Louis Grenier, and (once) a Stevens and Vladimir Kyrilytch Ratcliffe III (an ancestor of V.K. Suratt|Ratliff).
TEXTS: "Hand upon the Waters" (70); Intruder in the Dust (73); "A Name for the City" (202); Requiem for a Nun (6); The Town (338); The Mansion (421); The Reivers (7)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>First settlers arrive

    Confederate monument unveiled
DATE: 1900-1905
SUMMARY: The monument to the Confederate soldiers in dedicated in Court Square.
TEXTS: Requiem for a Nun (188); The Town (118)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>Confederate monument unveiled

    First automobile in Jefferson
DATE: 1900-1910
SUMMARY: The earliest car in Jefferson appears in the Square.
TEXTS: Requiem for a Nun (190); The Town (12); The Mansion (37); The Reivers (26)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>Jefferson's first car

    Eula's medallion unveiled
DATE: 1927
SUMMARY: The medallion of Eula's face that Gavin Stevens and Linda Kohl imported from Italy is affixed to her monument in the cemetery.
TEXTS: The Town (371); The Mansion (165)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>Eula's medallion unveiled

    Byron's children torture a Snopes
DATE: 1927-1929
SUMMARY: The children that Byron ships to Yoknapatawpha torment Clarence (The Town) or Doris (The Mansion Snopes.
TEXTS: The Town (388); The Mansion (327)
KEYWORD: Aesthetics>Recurring Episodes>Byron Snopes' children

     
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