Joan Williams
The Essay
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Faulkner's Letters to Joan Williams
In early January 1950 Faulkner took the bus from Oxford to Memphis, ostensibly to drop a manuscript off at a print shop. But in fact he was going to see Joan Williams. She went out and got a copy of Shropshire Lad and quoted it to him. In the few words they spoke Faulkner was the first to say the word love. Later that year after college graduation she visited Faulkner frequently in Mississippi. All the meetings clandestine and chased,. although not for want of Faulkner trying.
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