The House

This room’s walls were originally covered with wildlife murals done by Ellen Bailey. Faulkner whitewashed the walls, then plastered and papered them. 

Faulkner’s mother, Maud Butler Falkner (William Faulkner added the “u” to his name in 1918), was an accomplished painter. Her paintings in the library, (beginning on the left) depict a magnolia blossom, William Faulkner c. 1929 (above the mantel) and, in order beginning at the far right bookcase – Preacher Green Liggin, Col. Wm. C. Falkner (Faulkner’s great-grandfather), Murry Falkner (Faulkner’s father), and J.W.T. Falkner (Faulkner’s grandfather). 

Faulkner built the bookshelves himself, building in locking compartments on the bottom to store his shotgun shells. Manarz, a Brazilian artists who was a pupil of Jean Arp, gave the sculpture on the table to Faulkner. The bust of Don Quixote was acquired in Venezuela. Faulkner wrote in this room until he built his own writing room at the rear of the house. 

Faulkner built this room after 1950. The plot outline of A Fable is written on the wall in Faulkner’s hand. He used graphite pencil and a red grease pencil to set down this working plan for the novel, which is about Holy Week set during World War I.

The outline is similar to the storyboard techniques he used when he was a screenwriter in Hollywood. The small table where the typewriter rests was given to him by his mother. He used it virtually all the years he lived at Rowan Oak, sometimes moving it outside with one of the Adirondack chairs to enjoy the outdoors while he wrote. To the left of the door is a small fold-top desk made by Faulkner and his stepson, Malcom.

The pantry and kitchen were added to the house in 1910 and outfitted with modern appliances circa 1954. On the left side of the pantry, you can view the Faulkner family phone numbers written on the wall. Past the pantry is the kitchen, where Faulkner often wrote in the winter because it was the warmest room in the house.