ABSTRACT
The famous remark made to Macaulay-'Young man, the more I consider the less can I conceive where you picked up that style'-might with advantage have been saved for Mr. William Faulkner. For if one thing is more outstanding than another about Mr. Faulkner-some readers find it so outstanding, indeed, that they never get beyond itit is the uncompromising and almost hypnotic zeal with which he insists upon having a style, and, especially of late, the very peculiar style which he insists upon having. Perhaps to that one should add that he insists when he remembers-he can write straightforwardly enough when he wants to; he does so often in the best ofhis short stories (and they are brilliant), often enough, too, in the novels. But that style is what he really wants to get back to; and get back to it he invariably does.
