World's worst postmaster: William Faulkner

"The world has probably never seen a worse postmaster than him. He did not obey the rules during his office hours. He would open the office whenever he wanted and lock it whenever he wanted. He would open the magazines sent to the recipients. 

He would throw away all the letters that seemed unnecessary to him. He used to play cards with his friends inside the post office. He would go to the back room and sit down to write while people were waiting for him."

Let's get a head start about William Faulkner:

1. President John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy invited several Nobel laureates, including William Faulkner, to dinner at the White House. Faulkner received the invitation to Richmond, Virginia. He did not come to dinner. Because when asked, he said, going sixty miles away and eating one meal ain't work for me.
2. William Faulkner's novel was being filmed in Hollywood at that time. There he met Clark Gable, the world's most handsome hero. Clark Gable asked him to name the top five writers. Faulkner said: 'Ernest Hemingway, Villa Cathar, Thomas Mann, John Dos Passos and I. Clark Gable approached him and asked, "Does that mean you write?" Faulkner said, 'Yes, Mr. Gable. But what do you do? '
3. Faulkner's grandfather, Colonel William Faulkner (1825-189), was a famous military colonel, lawyer, politician, and author of several books. Faulkner emphasizes the quality of this man who possesses many qualities and wants to possess that quality himself. That is writing, as a child, he used to say 'I will be a writer like my great grandfather.'
4. Faulkner tried to join the Army Aviation Corps during World War I but was dropped due to being short (he was five feet five inches). He had no chance to join any war. But he loved to say he fought and sometimes limped to prove he was wounded in battle. He joined the British Army in 1918 on the recommendation of a priest named Edward Timberley Thorndike, a fictional priest.
5. Although Faulkner did not pass school, he was admitted to the University of Mississippi as a mature student and somehow continued for 3 semesters, then dropped out. He got ‘D’ in English. A big reason for the drop in grades was the habitual absence.
6. A-line from Faulkner's novel As I Lay Dying, Chapter 19: My Mother Is a Fish.
7. His reputation as Ladies Man was established. One of his two bedfellows, Meta Wilde, wrote about Faulkner's relationship with him, "A Loving Gentleman," and Joan Williams wrote the novel "The Wintering". Estelle Oldham, one of Faulkner's early lovers, once rejected him and married Colonel Franklin. After a ten-year marriage with him, she moved back to William Faulkner with her two children, and they married and had a daughter, Jill.
8. William Faulkner, the postmaster at the University of Mississippi Post Office, was inattentive to his work. He was dismissed in 1924.
9. William Faulkner was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1949, due to the late announcement, he didn't receive the price until 1950. The Swedish academy was hesitant about the decision, as there were several prominent candidates that year. Other candidates were Ernest Hemingway, Albert Camus, and John Steinbeck. All three were awarded the Nobel Prize later in 1954, 1957, and 1962, respectively.
10. William Faulkner was born on September 25, 1897, in the state of Mississippi in the United States, and died on July 6, 1962. Nineteen days before his death, he fell while riding and was seriously injured - causing thrombosis. On July 6, a fatal heart attack occurred.

William Faulkner's post office life as per Emily Temple's writing:

1921, 100 years ago. William Faulkner was dropped out of the University of Mississippi for the second time. Lived in Greenwich Village. Worked in a bookstore, but became very restless. Phil Stone, one of the main mentors of his life, appeared at this time. He was the Oxford Attorney. His age is not much than Faulkner's. 

At the university's post office, he brought a job as a postmaster for Faulkner. His annual salary was set at US$1,700, and US$1,800 in 1912. But how the salary increased is a surprise to many. Because his work as a postmaster in any consideration was extremely frustrating. There is no reason to increase his salary but to lower it.

David Minter interviewed Phil Stone while writing Faulkner's biography. He said that he was not interested in this job but he forced him to take the job. He said, "The world has probably never seen a worse postmaster than him. He did not obey the rules during his office hours. He would open the office whenever he wanted and lock it whenever he wanted. 

He would open the magazines sent to the recipients. He would throw away all the letters that seemed unnecessary to him. He used to play cards with his friends inside the post office. He would go to the back room and sit down to write while people were waiting for him."

Faulkner and his post office are pictured in Ole Miss, a student comic publication. It is called 'Post Graduate Club: Every Wednesday from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm.' Model: No need to send mail on time. Goal: To make your debut as a postmaster in every fifty people.

Or one of the leading female writers of the century, Eudora Welty at the Mississippi Post Office, presents a sample of Faulkner's duties:

‘Let’s think we’re back in the twenties and at the university, we’re in the old post office. We are standing in front of the stamp window to buy a stamp for 2 cents. There is no sign of a human inside. First keep tapping, then blow. Even after going through one blow after another, there is no response from inside.

Then he came out after his name was shouted. Postmaster William Faulkner! We actually disrupted his work. At that time, he was supposed to sell stamps to the customers standing in line at his stamp window, to seal the letter with a letter from their hands, but instead, he was writing lyric poems behind the scenes.'

William Faulkner at Rousseau Hall in 1956

With as little focus as possible on the postmaster's responsibilities, he was able to hold on to the job despite three years of customer dissatisfaction. But in September 1924, a post office inspector from Corinth, Mississippi, came to review. 

He didn't need to scrutinize everything as he had already received enough complaints. The charges against William Faulkner were based on reports from general inspections and interrogations of two or four people:

• You have neglected your responsibilities. Reading books and magazines at work has become your habit.
• You have done your job by keeping the valuable customers and patrons of your post office waiting for a long time.
• Most of the writing that is going to be printed in your novel at this time has been written by you while you are in charge of the post office.
• Some of the patrons of this post office cannot trust you with the responsibility of their letter. The reason is your previous irresponsibility. You failed to get all the letters that Patrons sent during the vacation.
• John Savage and a few others paid you to continue their post box service and you also gave them money receipts. Then you turn off their post box service.
• You have returned the cash on delivery parcel number W22805 sent to His Excellency Ray Jr. by John Ward of Maine Suez, New York City. He personally spoke to you to forward the parcel to 929 Philmore Street in Corinth, Mississippi, and paid you 10 cents for the redirect postage. Even then you give him notice to send the required stamp. He sends the stamp again even after giving it to you once. Even after all this, you have stamped the 'unclaimed' on the parcel and sent it to the sender.

The inspector mentioned in his report that Faulkner failed to deliver the letters, misbehaved instead of treating all types of mails properly, remained indifferent to the patrons, seldom spoke, ignored and disrespected them; and various failures including allowing unwanted people to enter the post office.

He further writes, "you have opened and closed the post office at your own convenience never considering the needs of the customer (Patrons); you threw parcels in the garbage can near the door. None of the patrons at this post office recovered their letters from the trash can. 

It has become a daily occurrence; some of them didn't get the magazines they sent in their post boxes - you never gave a good answer. You went to play golf during office hours."

Faulkner commemorative stamp first-day cover

The inspector did not have to find out this information by researching the postal department about the postmaster William Faulkner. He must have received enough written complaints from customers or patrons in the postal department, almost all of which was true because he did not refute a single allegation or try to refute it. 

Finally, the inspector writes to the accused postmaster: 'You will inform me in writing within the next five days whether these allegations are fully or partially correct. Show the reason why you will not be fired. Failure to respond within the stipulated time will prove that the allegations are justified and you do not have the power to defend yourself - then action will be taken against you by the law.'

Even though not within five days, however, he sent a letter of resignation in October 1924, citing irrelevant topics about the allegations:

'As long as I live under the capitalist system, I can expect that the needs of rich people will affect my life. Woe to those who can afford to invest two cents on postage stamps if I am waiting to hear their orders not to call them all badass on the journey! Suppose this is my resignation letter.'

The U.S. Postal Service has probably pardoned postmaster William Faulkner for his Nobel Prize. And that's why the postal department released Faulkner's commemorative stamp worth 22 cents in 1986.

Besides, one has to talk about a postmaster from Faulkner's opposite character. He is postmaster Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth and perhaps best president in the United States at that time. At the age of 24, he became a postmaster at the New Salem Post Office in his home state of Illinois.

Abraham Lincoln is delivering letters

His responsibility and devotion were paramount. He knew everyone in his postal area. If there was a delay in receiving the letter at the post office, he would take the letter to the designated address after office hours. If there was any letter to send them, he would bring it with him.

The post office closed the New Salem post office to reduce costs. By then, Postmaster Abraham Lincoln had been in office for three years. The post office closed that day with a cash balance of US$16 in Lincoln's hands.

He was living in a financial crisis. Until the postal agent came and took the money from him, he kept it separately. Imagine what would have happened if Postmaster William Faulkner had replaced Postmaster Abraham Lincoln!

Written by: Andalib Rashdi

University of Dhaka alumni