William Faulkner’s Nobel Prize Speech

How do you understand Faulkner’s extraordinary statement in his Nobel Prize speech “the problems of the human heart in conflict with itself … alone can make good writing because only that is worth writing about, worth the agony and the sweat” ?

To me, Faulkner’s statement emphasises the fact that great pieces of writing are a product of one’s intrinsic selves and deep emotions embedded within. He articulates that the ‘human heart’ is in battle with itself. In the context of Faulkner’s time, that being post World War II, I believe that this battle within the heart is the constant shift between ‘agony’ and compassion. People during the time of this speech were caught between a world of lingering death and rising above these tragedies. They wrote from of a place of sheer fear and emotional turmoil due to the catastrophes in front of them. It is these experiences that have created a shift in perspective in the way in which people see the world. Faulkner highlights in his speech that this turmoil and experience create the basis of powerful writing. However, although this can be true as our emotions allow us to delve deeper into our conscious and produce something that is meaningful, he continues to argue in his noble prize speech that this emotional turmoil should not always be the basis of writings as it forces one to “write[s] not of love but of lust…without pity or compassion” (William Faulkner, Nobel Prize speech). I believe that Faulkner expresses that although the agony and sweat of these experiences are worth the powerful pieces of literature they provide, I believe that he further aims to resonate that real great literature lays within one’s ability to realise that the perseverance of this agony and sweat can lead to more than writings of conflict– it can lead to writings of hope if we allow it to do so.

Feature image: William Faulkner taken from google images https://www.google.com/search?biw=1440&bih=789&tbm=isch&sxsrf=ACYBGNSiM3B0IJ3187E7lPy2wBNDl7SCwQ%3A1571204560335&sa=1&ei=0K2mXb6LFNf-rQG65JmADg&q=william+faulkner&oq=william+faulkner&gs_l=img.3..0l10.171629.177330..177447…2.0..0.1312.9834.3-7j1j4j0j4……0….1..gws-wiz-img…..10..35i362i39j0i131j0i67j0i10i24.zE7HmGBEeEY&ved=0ahUKEwi-s8CNiaDlAhVXfysKHTpyBuAQ4dUDCAc&uact=5#imgrc=v8Jx1HVHrPAWoM: