author
Joseph Blotner
1923–2012
Best known for writing the landmark biography of William Faulkner, this American literary scholar helped shape how generations of readers and critics understood one of the South’s great novelists. He also wrote major studies of Robert Penn Warren, J. D. Salinger, and the American political novel.
1 Audiobook
The political novel
by Joseph Blotner
About the author
Born in 1923, Joseph Blotner was an American professor, editor, and biographer whose work became especially important in the study of William Faulkner. He taught at the University of Virginia and later at the University of Michigan, where he was professor emeritus of English.
Blotner is most closely associated with Faulkner: A Biography, the large-scale, authorized life of William Faulkner first published in 1974 and later condensed and updated in a one-volume edition. University of Michigan remembered the book as setting a new standard for literary biography, and his wider Faulkner work also included editing Faulkner’s letters and the Library of America editions of Faulkner’s novels.
His other books included Robert Penn Warren: A Biography, The Fiction of J. D. Salinger, and The Modern American Political Novel. He died in 2012, leaving behind a body of scholarship known for its depth, patience, and close attention to literary lives.