Going Back to Greenfield

An emerging writer's residency revives Faulkner's farm for a new generation of Southern voices

by Jordan LaHaye Fontenot, Country Roads
October 28, 2025

William Faulkner once said, “If I were reincarnated, I’d want to come back a buzzard. Nothing hates him or envies him or wants him or needs him. He is never bothered or in danger, and he can eat anything.”

Like so many writers and artists, Faulkner sought out isolation to conduct his best work, fleeing from the inevitable distractions of an engaged life in the world. He retreated from the main literary hubs of his time in favor of his family home in then-remote Oxford, Mississippi. His step-son Malcolm Franklin, wrote that when Faulkner had his “silent days,” the telephone, radio, and doorbell were all forbidden.

“What most writers need is a certain sort of thing. It’s time, where the equipment is a desk and the environment is quiet,” said John T. Edge, director of the Mississippi Lab at the University of Mississippi. “And the support is by way of stipends.”

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