“A Rose for Emily” is William Faulkner’s most frequently anthologized and, therefore, best-known short story. It is also the first short story he published in a national magazine (
Forum, 30 April 1930). It was written during a four-year period (1927-1931) of incredible productivity during which Faulkner published five novels, found his mature voice in
The Sound and the Fury, and also wrote and was regularly trying to place nearly other thirty stories in national magazines. So, “A Rose for Emily”, even though it was his first published short story, is not the work of a novice, but is, rather, a highly sophisticated work, written by Faulkner at the height of his powers, in which he combines elements from such popular genres as the macabre, Southern gothic, and the detective story…
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Citation: Meats, Stephen E.. "A Rose for Emily". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 29 January 2013 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=34876, accessed 25 November 2024.]
