Joseph Blotner

Born in 1923 and active for many decades as a biographer, editor, and teacher, he became especially associated with the serious study of major American writers. He was a professor emeritus of English at the University of Michigan, and his essays and reviews appeared in venues including The New York Times Book Review, Yale Review, and American Literature.

His reputation rests above all on his work on William Faulkner. At the University of Virginia, where he helped preserve and interpret important Faulkner materials, he was closely connected with the recordings and archives that remain central to Faulkner scholarship. His landmark Faulkner: A Biography, first published in 1974 and later revised, has been described by publishers and librarians as a defining resource on the novelist’s life and work.

He died at his home in Oakland, California, on November 16, 2012. Alongside his Faulkner work, he wrote books on Robert Penn Warren, American political fiction, and J. D. Salinger, building a career marked by careful research and an obvious love of literary history.