How Did Oprah Winfrey Inspire Faulkner?

Khalil Jones Eng 330 Dr.Trostel 2/13/2024.

Oprah Winfrey and Faulkner?

Oprah Winfrey, a prominent media mogul and influential cultural figure, is well-known for her very popular book club, which has brought attention to a wide range of literary books, works, and authors. While Oprah's book club has featured a diverse selection of books spanning various genres and themes, one interesting choice that she made was to center her book club around the works of William Faulkner, a renowned American author known for his complex and challenging narratives. And sought to be an old, arrogant racist author. Why Oprah, a black African American woman, was so fascinated by Faulkner's work? In the article “The Summer of Faulkner: Oprah’s Book Club, William

What brought him to this juncture, at which a twenty-first-century media giant and popular tastemaker could seemingly set out to recover a trio of his modernist masterpieces for a popular reading audience? Was Faulkner’s work even in need of recovery for a general readership?” I'm going to answer these questions: How did Faulkner get here? Faulkner was born in deep south Mississippi. This was the root of most of his writings, so in today's society the deep south origins are really not looked up to as high due to the deep racial tension and discrimination. Oprah Winfrey was born into poverty in rural Mississippi to a single teenage mother and later raised in inner-city Milwaukee. William Faulkner and Oprah Winfrey come from two extremely different backgrounds. Both individuals overcame obstacles to achieve success in their respective fields. Faulkner is well known to be a literary giant, and Oprah's influence on the media entertainment

Faulkner’s literary legacy and ongoing relevance is a big thing and culture, so I’m not surprised that Oprah would introduce his books to her. large audience of the ad. The thing that I don’t understand is how Oprah goes from introducing more modern day, and diverse authors, in her book club to a summer full of Faulkner, a known racist and anti-feminist author. Well all his text, you can just get the sense that he is anti-feminist and racist. I read As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner and throughout the book he displays his anti-feminist ways. For example, in the book the character Anse says “I wouldn’t take it if my own born daughter that has eaten my food for 17 years begrudging me of the $10 loan he took the money and went out”. Ants was the father of this passage. He is betrayed as a poor, lazy man, who is often criticized, for his lack of ambition displays a real selfish nature prioritizing himself and his needs and desires over his dead wife and his children. Another example in the book is, “it’s cash, and Jewel and Bardman and Dewey. LA processes, kind of hand, dog and proud too with his teeth and all, even if he wouldn’t look at us to meet Mrs. Burden”. During this scene, he introduced his new wife to all his kids, not even a day after they buried their mom and his