Bookmarked: Faulkner at Virginia

“The past is never dead. It’s not even past,” William Faulkner wrote in Requiem for a Nun. The author’s two terms as writer-in-residence in 1957 and 1958 have taken on new life with the recently launched website “Faulkner at Virginia: An Audio Archive.”

In collaboration with the UVA Library, English professor Stephen Railton built the website around 28 hours of recorded readings and UVA class sessions. Visitors to the site can listen to the digitized tape recordings and read transcriptions, browse the photo gallery and peruse student essays and Cavalier Daily articles written during Faulkner’s residency.

Technology “can help us appreciate the timeless achievements of our literary past,” says Railton. “While many worry about whether electronic media will replace the experience of reading great books, I’m interested in finding out how those media can enhance that experience.”

Did you interact with Faulkner while he was at UVA? If so, Railton wants to hear your story. E-mail him at sfr@virginia.edu.