Then there was the movie, "Intruder in the Dust," based on Faulkner's novel and filmed in Oxford (using residents of the town in crowd scenes and in some minor roles). What a stir it caused! The world premiere showing was in Oxford in 1949, at the Lyric theater (no longer a movie theater). I remember seeing this black and white movie then and delighted in seeing all the local folks that I knew, playing their parts.

Faulkner himself said it was one of the best movies he had ever seen. As well as I remember, it was a box office failure, but I would be interested in viewing it again now, not for the entertainment, but for the sake of considering the challenges issued by Faulkner to our values.

The Lyric theater was also where I saw the newsreel in 1950 of Faulkner receiving the Nobel prize for literature in 1949. Read his speech here.

I left Oxford in 1953, returned in 1958 and left again in 1962, before Faulkner died that summer. I almost feel that I was there on that hot July day to witness the funeral procession as it traveled around the square. I can see the procession, making its way to St. Peter's Cemetery where he was laid to rest.

Oxford has changed much since then, but I still see it the way it was, the way it was when Faulkner walked the streets of Oxford and I watched from afar. Does my heart long to return? You betcha.

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