There is no shortage of biographical material covering the life of William Faulkner available, as recent years have yielded multiple volumes (M. Thomas Inge, William Faulkner (2006); Philip Weinstein, Becoming Faulkner (2010); Robert W. Hamblin, Myself and the World: A Biography of William Faulkner (2016)). Though many of these works are thoroughly researched and well written, these slim volumes’ intended appeal is to a general readership, rather than students or teachers of literature. In comparison, Joseph Blotner's seminal Faulkner: A Biography (1974), the standard scholarly reference for delving into the minutiae of William Faulkner's life, is a lengthy tome, weighing in at two thousand pages in its original two-volume edition and the revised, single-volume, edition surpassing seven hundred. The sheer size of Blotner's biography, and several others (Frederick Karl, William Faulkner: American Writer (1989); Joel Williamson, William Faulkner and Southern History (1993); Richard Gray, The Life of William Faulkner: A Critical Biography (1994)), necessitates the use of select excerpts for successful inclusion in most classrooms. Curnutt's William Faulkner bridges the gap between the works aimed at casual readers and those intended for students/scholars, providing a comprehensive volume of biographical criticism that is concise enough for manageable use, in its entirety, in a classroom environment.

In part of Reaktion Books’ Critical Lives, which the publisher created to provide “lively and informative introductions to important cultural figures,” Curnutt aims to lead readers toward an understanding of “how the man created the myth” rather than attempting to unveil “the ‘man behind the myth’” (12). To accomplish this, Curnutt arranges his chapters to highlight the contradictions that exist between the facts and fictions of Faulkner's life. Illustrating this approach, the second chapter introduces the reader to one of young William Falkner's first fictional creations as it takes shape: William Faulkner, wounded World War I pilot. Curnutt's account presents the factual events of the period and contrasts them with the invented stories of aerial heroism that Faulkner relished recounting upon his return to Oxford, MS. Curnutt also points out that in his memoir, The Falkners of Mississippi (1967), Faulkner's brother, Murry Charles (known as Jack) – a Marine wounded at the Battle of the Argonne Forest – “states clearly that Bill never saw combat,” yet includes a long story that Faulkner liked to tell of a plane crash he survived in France (40). As Curnutt surmises, “nobody, it appears, expected the truth from William Faulkner” (40). Curnutt uses this formula throughout the biography to highlight the interconnectedness of Faulkner's life and fictions.

This approach also results in Curnutt paying extensive attention to the reciprocal relationships between Faulkner's Hollywood screenwriting and literary efforts. The seventh chapter, “Aiming for the ‘Magnum O’ (1946–1954),” does the best job of highlighting the tensions that existed in this relationship. During this period, Faulkner published the widely popular novel Intruder in the Dust (1948). The popularity of the book helped to recast Faulkner as an expert on southern race relations and resulted in its adaptation to a well-received film in 1949. Later, we also see Faulkner, finally, complete A Fable (1954), the inspiration for which had come a decade prior, during a Hollywood stint, with the unrealized De Gaulle Story film project. Though Faulkner felt A Fable represented some of his best work (the “Magnum O” in question), the novel received mixed reviews, despite winning a National Book Award. Woven amongst these successes and failures, the reader also sees the turbulence that Faulkner's affairs and binge drinking wrought on his life and career, both in Hollywood and at home.

Curnutt only makes one assertion which appears questionable. In his “Afterword: ‘To Think of Myself as a Printed Object’,” Curnutt returns to Faulkner's rocky relationship with Hollywood, stating that the 1933 film adaptation of Sanctuary, The Story of Temple Drake, “is often cited as one impetus for the Motion Picture Producers and Directors of America's decision to implement the … Hays Code” (189). While the film was certainly controversial, it had already passed several state censoring boards without cuts and Joseph Breen had established himself as the film censor for the MPPDA before The Story of Temple Drake was released. Though not a large issue, it does seem to highlight how, even now, the apocrypha continues to dominate parts of Faulkner's legacy.

As a whole, Curnutt's William Faulkner provides a well-researched, approachable account of the often convoluted tensions between Faulkner's life and work. It strikes the right balance between brevity and detail, making it ideal for use in an upper-level undergraduate (or possibly even a graduate) course focussing on Faulkner or southern literature.