Dean Faulkner Wells is William Faulkner’s niece; her father died flying his brother William’s in the 1930s, just months before Dean Wells was born. She was raised in large part in William’s mother’s house (where she lives, now, on South Lamar in Oxford) and in and out of Rowan Oak.
In March, she will be publishing a memoir of family history, Every Day by the Sun. There are some surprises, including new biographical information she has turned up. I just finished it (as book four in my book-a-week New Year’s resolution) and recommend it to anyone interested in Faulkner or Mississippi literature. I’ll be writing more about it as the publication date nears.
Interestingly, the USM Library just had an item about William Faulkner’s first book, “The Marble Faun” and attempts to determine exactly how many of these books remain:
http://www.lib.usm.edu/spcol/exhibitions/item_of_the_month/iotm_jan_11
I recall that the late Howard Duvall had an original copy of The Marble Faun. I suppose his daughters have it now or maybe he left it to the University.
Looking forward to Dean’s book. Should be a good read.
WS
Howard Duvall had quite a collection of Faulkner books. I’ve wondered what happened to them.
Plexix: That copy of The Marble Faun at USM belonged to none other than Theo Bilbo!
NMC: Yes, I saw that. Who knew ole Bilbo was a man of letters??
I wonder how much that copy would be worth? It has quite a provenance.
Bilbo as man of letters: He published a book, Take Your Choice: Segregation or Mongrelization! in the late 40s. It was ghost-written by a person on his staff: Evelyn Gandy!
Oxford Town has a history of ignoring local writers (and lots of other local cultural news) when a new work is released… surely they will summon up the professionalism to mention this book.