Faulkner or Falkner

William Falkner.  That is the name he was bequeathed by his father.  It is not the name, or at least the spelling, with which we are accustomed.

William Cuthbert Falkner was born on September 25, 1897 to Murry Cuthbert Falkner and his wife Maud Butler.  He was the first of four sons.

But he became William Faulkner in 1918 when he enlisted in the RAF in Canada.  Why he added the "u" is a mystery.  There is an unconfirmed story that when Faulkner's first book was printed, the title page included the "u".  Faulkner was asked whether he wanted it corrected and his reply was, "Either way suits me."

This is interesting, because Faulkner's use of names with his characters is definitely not an "either way suits me" sort of exercise.  The names characters are given and respond to illustrate the complicated web of their culture.

Lucas Beauchamp, the black grandson of the white slave holder from Go Down Moses is a case in point.  He refuses to call any white man by a hierarchical title, going to great lengths of circumlocution to avoid titles.  In the end, he only refers to the head of the plantation as "mister" to keep his wife from divorcing him.

His name was actually recorded as Lucius, but through his own will changed it.  He seems to have recognized that one of the first ways that slaves were re-oriented was to strip them of their cultural identity by giving them a new name.  It is a long held practice dating back at least as far as the bible story Daniel.  By forcing the person to give up their name, they are reminded of their subservience and their relative position in the dominant culture.  Lucas would not bow to the accepted conventions.

Also in Go Down Moses, there is a bear that achieves nearly mystical significance.  As a part of this, he receives the name "Old Ben."  The dog that ultimately is able to run him down also is given a name (Lion) even though every other dog in the pack and in the story is merely a hound or a fyce.

The point seems to be that names are important and sacred things that define who we are.  I think it probably meant a great deal to Faulkner to add the "u" because it made him a person with no progenitor.  He was an individual and changing his surname meant that he had freed himself from the bounds of the cultural web of the South.  In the end it allowed him to write more honestly about the world he knew so well, because he could both be of it and not a part of it at the same time.  Who would have thought "u" could mean so much.