In explaining the comic side of William Faulkner's fiction, it soon becomes apparent how indivisible it is from the tragic side and how the two are almost inextricably intertwined. Early critics who mistook Faulkner for a naturalist obviously overlooked his comic vision. It also becomes evident that Faulkner is so thoroughly in the American grain as a comic writer and draws so heavily on the entire body of distinctively American comic techniques and forms that an understanding of the history of American humor is almost necessary to a full appreciation of his comic talent. We have only recently come to realize that the entire canon of Faulkner's works--from the sophisticated, subtle, ironic, and smug humor of Mosquitoes (1927) through the wild, raucous, bawdy, and vulgar humor of The Reivers (1962)--is invested with the spirit of American comedy.

In his private life, as well as his public fiction, Faulkner practiced...