The Friction of Money: Poverty and Failure in Early Faulkner

Abstract

This essay explores Faulkner's early financial struggles with publication in context of the constellation of texts surrounding his short story "Spotted Horses" (1931). These various versions-some published, some unpublished drafts, some rewritten episodes in later novels-vary considerably in their attempts to represent the desperate poverty of an important family in the story: the Armstids. By developing an idea of textual "failure" that encompasses the various contradictions between Faulkner's depictions of the Armstids' special economic failure even among otherwise poor whites, the essay uncovers Faulkner's shifting attitudes toward the impact of money on human identity, personal relationships, and the creative process. Changes in plot detail and formal technique (especially narrative point of view) across different versions of a common story show how Faulkner's reaction to poverty varied from a haunting confusion to a recognition that his own aesthetic material, and economic livelihood, depended on the creativity of poor folk.