William Faulkner’s Multiple Personality: Hidden in Plain Sight

In a short story, written by Faulkner and read to his friends as a “joke,” Faulkner’s alter ego says that he, not Faulkner, is the one who does Faulkner’s writing, that he is Faulkner’s ghost writer:

Faulkner, William: “Afternoon of a Cow” (1937/1947). In Uncollected Stories of William Faulkner, edited by Joseph Blotner. New York, Random House, 1979/1997.

For a discussion of that story and related issues, see:

Grimwood, Michael: Heart in Conflict: Faulkner’s Struggles with Vocation. Athens, The University of Georgia Press, 1987.

For most of his life, people noticed that Faulkner had puzzling and inconsistent behaviors and attitudes, but multiple personality, per se, was never considered or identified. Why wasn’t it?

Why is it so common for multiple personality like Faulkner’s to be hidden in plain sight? Partly because multiple personality is naturally and intrinsically secretive and camouflaged. And partly because people have never been told what multiple personality is, and what it is really like: which can be remedied by starting with the June 2013 post and then reading the rest of this blog.