The universality of William Faulkner's vision was perhaps most formally recognized in 1950, when he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. But even beyond the basic human truths embodied in the people and terrain of Yoknapatawpha County, there is a special kinship between Faulkner's novels and stories of the defeated South and the culture of postwar Japan, itself reeling from the shock of surrender and reconstruction at the hands of a foreign army. Reflecting this kinship, Faulkner Studies in Japan brings together some of the finest critical essays on Faulkner published in Japan in recent years along with discussions by several of Japan's leading novelists of Faulkner's influence on their work. The collection includes essay on broad aspects of Faulkner's writing-the influence of T.S. Eliot on the fiction, the pervasive use of motion imagery-and on such individual works as Light in August and the story of "Was" from Go Down, Moses. The book also presents an overview of Faulkner scholarship in Japan by Kiyoyuki Ono and an Afterword by Carvel Collins that recalls Faulkner's visit to Japan in 1955. At the time of Faulkner's visit, Japanese scholarly interest in his works was already firmly established and in the succeeding years the fascination has, if anything, increased. Commemorating the thirtieth anniversary of Faulkner's four-week tour, Faulkner Studies in Japan explore the natural literary sympathy that the novelist himself recognized when he stated: "I believe that something very like [what happened in the American South] will happen here in Japan in the next few years--that out of your despair and disaster will come a group of Japanese writers whom all the world will want to listen to, who will speak not a Japanese truth but a universal truth.

William Faulkner remains one of the most important writers of the twentieth century, and Faulkner Studies offers up seemingly endless ways to engage anew questions and problems that continue to occupy literary studies into the twenty-first century, and beyond the compass of Faulkner himself. His corpus has proved particularly accommodating of a range of perspectives and methodologies that include Black studies, visual culture studies, world literatures, modernist studies, print culture studies, gender and sexuality studies, sound studies, the energy humanities, and much else. The fifteen essays collected in The New William Faulkner Studies charts these developments in Faulkner scholarship over the course of this new century and offers prospects for further interrogation of his oeuvre.

Faulkner scholarship is one of the largest critical enterprises currently at work. Because of its size and scope, accessing that scholarship has become difficult for scholars, students, and general readers alike. This reference includes chapters on individual approaches to Faulkner studies, including archetypal, historical, biographical, feminist, and psychological criticism, among others. Each chapter is written by an expert contributor and surveys the contributions of that approach to Faulkner scholarship. The volume concludes with a selected, general bibliography and glossary of critical terms. William Faulkner is one of the most widely read and studied American writers. His works have also generated a vast body of scholarship and elicited criticism from a wide range of approaches. Because of its size, scope, and diversity, accessing that scholarship has become difficult for scholars, students, and general readers alike. This reference comprehensively overviews the present state of Faulkner studies. The volume includes chapters written by expert contributors. Each chapter defines a particular critical approach and surveys the contributions of that approach to Faulkner studies. Some of the approaches covered are archetypal, biographical, feminist, historical, and psychological, among others. The book closes with a selected, general bibliography and glossary of critical terms.